I don't even remember the last time I spent this much time outside. Willingly. I did have this day planned weeks ahead of time.

What I didn't plan on was the fact that it was gonna be so fucking hot outside today. Son of a fucking bitch.

The only reason I put myself through this shit, and even got up early to do it, was because I was going to the Warped tour show today at the Pomona Fairgrounds. Where it was 10 degrees hotter there than where we live Orange County. It was supposed to be Kat, Ian, Chelsey and I, but for reasons we still cannot fathom, her parents made 'family' plans on the same day, knowing full well she has had her tickets for weeks.

Kat was not a happy camper this morning.

The family she had to spend the day with don't even like her, so why they wanted to spend time with her, who knows.

So we texted back and forth with her for awhile, trying to soothe her anger a little. She had basically locked herself in her room by this point.

We were on our way by 9am, only half an hour after our intended start time. Pretty good I think for 3 people running on a collective 6 hours of sleep. Stopped for food, gas, to turn around when Ian realized we were traveling in the wrong direction. Got squared away there, made pretty good time, and arrived at around 10:30am.

Around this time, we get a text from Kat. To make up for the fact that they didn't let her go to Warped tour, her parents bought her tickets to see Disturbed. This made her very happy.

From there, to will call, because I don't trust the post office not to lose my fucking ticket. That took around 20 minutes. Then off to the real line. Great. That was a hike. Whatever, not like I haven't done this a million times before. Chelsey and Ian had not, so I felt a little bad for them. The fact that it was 104 degrees by 11:30 didn't help. We were in that line for a long damn time, or at least it seemed we were.

Because it was ridiculously fucking hot outside.

Did I mention that?

We did manage to keep ourselves amused though, so it was alright. What a relief it was to finally get in there. To the credit of the people running the Warped tour, they allowed people to bring their own water bottles in. They took everything else, the food, sodas and stuff like that, but bring all the water in with you that you want. That, and the fact they were selling it inside for $2, which is almost unheard of. The interesting thing about that is it took about 20 minutes for your water to get hot.

Not warm....hot.

Once inside, we did a lap around the place, so we could figure out where the various stages were located, so we would be able to do the least amount of walking possible. When we had that all figured out, we found a place to sit down. A table with a nice shady umbrella. Next to said table, Kroq (radio station in L.A.) had a small stage for themselves set up, where the were giving free mohawks. We tried to get Ian to do it, but no go. Dammit. What we did manage to accomplish was something that made Chelsey very happy...

















The interesting thing about this is the night before, Chelsey had mentioned how she wanted to "find a midget to walk on her back". This was in no way meant to be offensive. As you can see, Chelsey is little herself, anyone else walking on her back would probably crush it. Just so happens this guy works on the morning show at the radio station, and he was pretty stoked himself that Chelsey wanted the picture.

If she didn't love Ian, this would be Chelsey's new boyfriend...LOL

We sat a while longer, then went to see the first band, As I Lay Dying. Had heard of them, but not heard their music before. They were pretty good, but nothing I'd really go out of my way to get. Ian was holding Chelsey on his shoulders when it started, but it only lasted the first song. It was so hot he almost passed out while he was holding her. As you can see, she's not even that big. Just too much for anyone in that heat. We stayed for another song, then headed over to the next stage.

Perfect timing on the arrival, too, as the crowd was clearing from the last band. We got right up to the front, just a little to the left. I was damn excited too, as this was the band I had come to see. I got some kick ass pictures.

Wanna see?

This one is my favorite...

The band? Story of the Year. Live performances for bands make or break some of them in my book.

I love this band more than ever. They were awesome.

About halfway through the set, we had to bow out, as the heat and crowd were too much for our little Chelsey. Ian bought her some shorts, and she got changed, which helped. Then we went back and sat down close to the stage we had just come from. Story of the Year had just finished, and the band Ian wanted to see, Reliant K, was next. We waited.

While we waited, we came to a decision.

The decision to bail.

It was just too much for any of us anymore. The only other band that we really wanted to see was Pennywise, and they weren't playing until 7:30pm. None of us wanted to wait the 4+ hours. I'm lucky, I've already seen them. I told them not to worry, they are always playing shows.

Irrelevent at this point. We are leaving. I text Kat, and ask her if she thinks she can escape for a couple of hours. Why?

We've decided on the only possible course of action at this point.

We're going to the beach.

When Reliant K starts playing, it pretty much cements our decision.

Guys, you need a new sound person. Seriously.

Get back to Kat, and yes, her mom will be aiding in her escape from "the family". Told her we'd let her know when we were back in town, so we could meet up, and go in one car.

Driving back was way quicker, so we told her to meet us at work, because we were going to the one place we knew had an air conditioner.

When it's hot outside, we like going to work. Our restaurant's one redeeming quality is the air conditioner.

Had something to drink, bitched to everyone how hot is was there, but that it was still fun, and that we were headed off to the next place. Kat got there, then off to the beach.

One of Southern California's biggest draws has always heen our beaches. One of the very few things I love here. This was definitely the day to go.

































See what I mean? Huntington Beach. Still and always my favorite.

We spent a good couple of hours there, then we all just wanted to go home. Well, except for Kat.

She still had to have dinner with...."the family".

I would tell you all about it, but I'm gonna let Kat do that herself. She be added to the contributor list soon enough.

So Kat dropped us back at work, then Ian and Chelsey took me home. On the way, we stopped off to by some soda and snacks. We had obviously spent way too much time in the sun today. Anyone could tell by our various skin shades, in many hues of red. That, and the fact that our behavior could be described as nothing other than "delirious".

We were far too tired to cause any real trouble, so we got our shit and left. When I got dropped off, I took a shower, which I barely remember doing. The dog saw me come out of the bathroom, came running into my room, and within about 2 minutes we were both out cold.

I woke up about 4 hours later, and started working on this post.

















As you can clearly see, the dog decided against the whole waking up deal.

I was only awake for about 3 hours before I decided that sleep was a better option.

So ended my big day outside. Going to the beach on Monday, Venice this time.

I will let you know how that trip goes.

I haven't been here for the last couple of weeks because I have just been too damn busy. I'm really trying to put some genuine effort into this, I even did a lot of work on this today.

There is still so much to do though.

I've decided to just take my time about it, since this is where I'll be hanging out from now on.

I predict by next week, it will be like the old blog never existed.

That's how I want it.

Yet another untypical night

5am.

Just got home from work, but I wasn't working. Kat, Kyle, Derek, and myself were all just hanging out, bullshiting. None of us wanted to go home yet, and none of us have to get up in the morning, so we just stayed. We hang out at work, simply because we can be as loud as we want, late as we want. Well, as late as leaving before the first person gets there at 8am.

Anyway, we were sitting out on the front patio, and noticed a person across the street, shuffling their way in our general direction. Being as we are in a mini-mall type area, we do have a certain amount of homeless people around. We do know all of them though, as most of us go out of our way to make sure they are taken care of. We didn't recognize this person though, so we just kinda watched to see where they were going. Turns out it was a she, by the way, as we discovered very quickly in a disturbing kind of way.

Have you ever seen a horror movie, where you see something (zombie, or other such atrocity), shuffling in the direction of the intended victim, slow and steady at first, then all of a sudden...

HELLO!!!!!!!!! Thus creating a victim out of the dumbass who just stood there and let it happen.

Derek was almost that dumbass tonight.

I was honestly the last to notice her, but the first to notice something was definitely wrong with her, Kat's awareness of the same coming about half a second later. Kat was like, "uh, I think we should definitely think about going inside, because she is definitely heading straight toward us." Kyle and I also noticed that she seemed to be picking up her pace. She stopped for about a minute, right next to Kyle's car, which was parked right out front. I'd say we were about 2 feet from the door to the building, and she was about 50 feet from us. When Kat and I got up to go inside, she was still hunched over by the car.

Then it happened.

She got up, and I swear to god, that woman practically jumped to where we were. The moment me and Kat took our first step to the door, she was up and coming at us.

I don't remember the last time I moved that fast. I know Kat literally right next to me, Kyle two steps behind, and all of us yelling at fucking Derek, who was just watching her come, to get his ass inside.

Derek and Kyle had to hold the door while they were locking it, because she got there that fast.

It was the most surreal moment you could imagine. It was literally like being in some horror film, like "Dawn of the Dead", or to me, "28 Days Later". Just fucking sudden and weird like that.

Just when you think you've seen everything....

She just kept trying to get us to open the door, and we all just stood way back and watched her. At one point she pulled out her pipe, and started waving it at us, which explained a lot. I'm watching all this from a weird angle on my mobile's camera, as I have zero desire to be in her line of vision. Kyle peeked at her from the office, and Derek and Kat just kept watching her. Derek and Kat also both at different points tried to communicate with her, but no go.

She did a lot of different things while she was out there. She stood at the door for a long time. She went and sat on the curb next to Kyle's car for a bit. Then she got up and came back toward the door. Kyle and Derek went out back, got in Derek's car, and went for a little drive so we could call the cops to come and get her. Those two were not in a condition in which it would be wise to be there when the cops were. While they were going, I called. Told them we were trapped in there, please come and get her, we wanted to go home. We actually were trapped in there, because of where everyone but Derek was parked. As is the case when you call the cops, and no one is dead yet, they take their sweet ass time. She is just acting weirder by this point.

She went around the side of the building, but only long enough to change her pants and come back. She goes straight for the front door, because she sees Kat standing right there. Kat had been at the door, trying to see where she was. I told her it was probably not such a good idea for her to stand so close to the door, it wouldn't be that hard for her to break the glass. She stood there for a bit, then Kat said she just started crying. She did that for a few minutes, then went and sat down on the benches. She sat there for awhile, then just got up all of a sudden, crossed herself, picked up her shit, and started shuffling off in the direction from which she came. When she got up the street a ways, I called the cops back, told them where she was going, we could get to our cars now, we were bailing. The dispatcher told me, they should be there any minute, did we want them to come there? I told her, nah, we were going home, we just wanted to let them know, so they wouldn't come to the restaurant and find us gone. She said okay, thanks for calling back, go ahead and head out if it was safe.

I was getting my stuff when I heard Kat call out, "They got her! Over at the gas station!!"

"Good, let's go."

Kat took me home, so of course, we spent the ride talking about it. Still a little weirded out by the whole thing, to be honest with ya, but it's definitely gonna be a story for the books.

At this restaurant anyway.

I'm supposed to give a shit about the Lakers at a time like this?

As if.

I don't even watch basketball, and the Lakers being in the finals has been nothing but a pain in the ass. When I found out they lost, I started laughing, much to the detriment of the customers leaving the restaurant, who just got finished watching their team get worked. I mean really, how in the fuck do you have a 2o+ point lead in the first quarter, and then lose the game???

I had other things on my mind anyway. More important things than Kobe and the Lakers.

Canuck great Linden retires
IAIN MacINTYRE and PETER JAMES, Vancouver Sun and Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2008
VANCOUVER - Surrounded by friends and family and it seemed nearly every media member in Vancouver, Canuck icon Trevor Linden confirmed his retirement Wednesday during a packed, televised press conference.

"I know the time is right," the 38-year-old said, reading initially from a prepared text at General Motors Place. "But at the same time, there is sadness. Where did 20 years go? I will miss the game. I'm grateful for many things."

He said he is awed by the support and love he has received from fans -- a level of devotion not likely to be repeated for another athlete in Vancouver, and one that Linden said he still does not fully understand.


Trevor Linden

"I've met some of these kids named Linden," he said smiling. "They're getting older. Some of them are in high school. So that's a good sign it's time to move on. It's not every day you get to go from being an old player to a young man. That's a good thing."

Linden said his immediate plan is to step away from hockey and try to decide what he wants to do for the rest of his life. He said he and his wife, Cristina, have a European vacation planned.

The announcement was expected after Linden was given a standing ovation during a farewell lap after the Canucks final regular-season game this season.

Drafted second-overall by the Canucks 20 years to day before Wednesday's press conference, Linden spent all but 3 1/2 of his 19 National Hockey League seasons in Vancouver and finishes with 375 goals and 867 points in 1,382 games.

Linden had instant success in the NHL, scoring 30 goals and 29 assists as an 18-year-old rookie with the Canucks in 1988-89. He quickly became the face of the franchise and was named the team's captain when we was 21 years old.

He was a fan favourite in Vancouver, with some hockey fans naming their children in his honour.

After spending the first 10 years of his career with the Canucks, Linden was traded midway through the 1997-98 season to the New York Islanders for forward Todd Bertuzzi, defenceman Bryan McCabe and a third-round draft pick.

After stops in Montreal and Washington, he returned to Vancouver midway through the 2001-02 season in a trade with the Washington Capitals.

"When I left Vancouver in February of '98, it was a very sad day for me. Even though I knew it had to be that way, it was still very difficult," Linden said. "When I received the call from (then Canucks general manager) Brian Burke in '01, telling me I was coming home, I did not know what to think.

"My 10 years had been so special, I was concerned it wouldn't be the same. Well, it wasn't the same; it was better."

Linden helped the team reach the Stanley Cup final in 1994, losing to the New York Rangers.

"It's not something I dwell on. Certainly I would have loved to be part of a championship team here in Vancouver," Linden said. "I can say I performed as well as I could and tried to do what was right.

"It's a tough game, it's a tough sport. It takes a lot of things to go right."

He won a pair of Memorial Cup championships with the Western Hockey League's Medicine Hat Tigers in 1987 and 1988.

In 1997, he won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership on the ice and contribution to the community.

He was also known for his involvement with the National Hockey League Players' Association and was elected president of the organization in 1998. He led the organization through the 10-month lockout in 2004-05 and resigned from the top post in January 2006.

Linden's best offensive season was in 1995-96 with Vancouver when he scored 33 goals and 47 assists for 80 points in 82 games.

He saw a reduced role this season under head coach Alain Vigneault. He was a healthy scratch 23 times. He scored seven goals and five assists in 59 games.

Linden said he's spoken with the Canucks about continuing to work with the organization after his retirement, but described the talks as "very general."

"Time will kind of sort things out. Where my heart lies and what direction I see my future going," he said.


Todd Bertuzzi is my favorite NHL player...right above Trevor Linden. I had a cat who was a bruiser.

His name was Trevor. :)

When I left Bellingham to come to California, I did so leaving a majority of my property behind. I don't own a lot, but what I do own is precious to me. You see, I'm a collector. Some of it is just little bullshit, like stuffed animals and other girly type things like that.

Then there is the more serious stuff.

Some of you don't know this yet, but I am a complete and utter NERD. I'm damn proud of that fact, just to keep the record straight. I played Dungeons and Dragons for about 11 years, have played video games since the Atari 2600 ('cause I'm probably older than you), will read damn near anything put in front of me, I have seen EVERY "episode" of "Star Wars" at the theatre, love "LOTR" and "Harry Potter" and yes, I even wear glasses, have since I was 4 years old. The biggest tell, I've been told, revolves around my biggest collection...

...my comic books.

Boxes and boxes of comic books. I'm what I like to call very "Brodie" about them. If you've ever seen the movie "Mallrats", you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. All in boxes, fully organized, back boards and plastic, the whole deal. I'm also a collector who refuses to give up her collection under any circumstances, so someone will be benefiting from than one day.

This is going somewhere...


Probably the last midnight show with my friends in California, and well worth it.

They are finally doing our comics justice. :)

I've officially begun the transferring process. Thank god for copy/paste, or I'd scrap the idea all together. Good thing I'm not posting everything. It's not all worth being posted again.

Meaning, some of it is just straight crap, and I can't believe I posted it...at all.

This is gonna be a pain in the ass, but it's worth it.

Today is my day off. The only one I get off this week, but I'm okay with that. I'd rather spend my days being annoyed at work, because it will make time go by faster. I had to run to the store and get Coke (Pepsi is gross), it's pretty much all I drink. Well, that and water, which makes my friends very happy, as it was something I pretty much refused to do before. Sugar just damn tastes better. Probably had something to do with the fact that I used to be as big as a house, and now I'm not.

When I left my house on this errand, I got another huge sign that it's time for me to leave here. My tia Eileen, who lives directly across the street, was out at the end of the driveway with my other tia, Irene (her twin), and my cousin Nadine. Next door (to us), my father was watering the neighbors' lawn. You could literally feel the animosity between the three eldest, my cousin and myself being in caught in the middle of a bunch of bullshit. I almost turned around and went back inside, as I had to walk right through the middle of that. I could get into a lot of the reasons why, but it really just too damn depressing.

The first thing I learned at an unfortunately young age is the fact that blood is NOT the tie that binds. Not by a long shot. I have spent the last 10 years building solid friendships with people who have become my family. It's one of the reasons I am so careful about who I let into my life.

Not that mistakes haven't been made. That's why I shut my other blog down. That's why my pseudonym is all your getting for a bit. That'll change in the next few days or so, depending on how much stuff and how long it takes me to transfer the things I want to keep from my original blog. I was just gonna leave the old one up, but some of it needs to be here. Then I'm gonna delete it. Its existence is just no longer necessary. I don't want to backtrack, just move forward.

With everything in my life, I'm only going forward.

Never back again.

This is just too funny not to post again

This just does not get old..

Neither does this!!!

For someone who doesn't really talk much, sometimes I don't know when to shut the fuck up. It's just that when I think someone (only my friends..I don't care what anyone else thinks) hasn't gotten exactly what I want to say to them, whatever the subject, I have this overwhelming need to explain myself....in detail. I don't do it often. Probably the only reason they don't get mad at me.

Sorry, Church :)

Anyway, I'm so glad that I've writing again. I really needed to. This has been such a wonderful outlet for me, I've hated not being able to do it. Unfortunately, obligations at work, and my desire not to spend any more time than absolutely necessary at home has kept me from it. It has also been bad for me keeping in touch with everyone I'm supposed to, something I've admittedly always been known for. It's not that I don't care, I would rather just keep to myself most of the time.

It keeps things uncomplicated.

There are people I communicate with almost daily, but very few. That will change a lot when I move back to Bellingham next month. The people I do like to spend time with are either there, or close by. Everyone that is welcome in my life, I go out of my way to make sure they always know how to find me. Those that aren't, well, they figure it out pretty quick.

I've always just been bluntly honest like that, what can I say?

Today was my first night back at work. It wasn't as bad as I thought, but I did notably feel my tummy roll over when I stepped foot into the building. It's definitely time to get the fuck out of there. That place is truly trying to make me insane. I found out Monday night that my boss needs to have yet another surgery. Which means if it happens while I'm still here, I will be in charge of running the store for the third time this year.

I don't want to.

I did bring home boxes from work tonight, so I could start packing.

Vacation is boring for me

Today is day 3 of my vacation.

I woke up at about 1:30pm. Which is about right, since bed was around 8am this morning. As per my usual routine, I watched cartoons for about an hour, then started flipping channels to try and find something more interesting.

There were no really good cartoons on yet...

As I am more attached to my remote control than most guys are, I have it set up so it will only flip through the channels I love to watch. Which is about 5 or 6 regular channels, and all the movie channels. I found a movie after about 2 minutes. It's something I've seen many times, that I actually do own on DVD, I was just too lazy to get up and put it in the DVD player. Oddly enough, I'm watching it for the second time today, while I'm writing this.

The movie?


"Deathproof". Just more evidence that girls kick ass, courtesy of Quentin Tarantino.

I can finally get back to it. Back to my real writing, I mean. I have another blog, but honestly, it's been tainted. I won't get into the reasons why, because it's beyond the scope of what I'm willing to share.

I've learned my lesson, believe me.

Some of you will be led here, by me, or any one of the contributing writers, which at this time is only my best friend and brother Dan, but I expect that to change in the near future.

This blog, like my other, is in the basest of terms, my diary. Some things I will not repeat, as they were hard enough to write the first time. I like to rant a lot, which you will discover as well. For those of you new to the game, well...

I like to swear....a whole lot....

Back to being able to write without editing myself is the greatest feeling in the world.

Let her try it now, Church...