hob's
online journal |
||
August 2003Heartbreaker, Dreammaker - Pat Benatar rocks!August 24, 2003: Well, the rest of last week was uneventful - until Friday night, when I got to go see the still-rockin' Pat Benatar at the Mandalay Beach. It was freakin incredible. First, the Beach is a great place to have a concert. It didn't start till 9PM so the heat wasn't that bad at that time, as it was probably only 90 or so. And then you are just chilling on towels on the beach area, and if you want to get close to the band, you can go in the water. It's sweet. But on to Pat Benatar - she's 50 years old and she can definitely still rock like she did in the 80s. She started out with We Live For Love, and ended up playing all the songs I really wanted to hear - Heartbreaker was incredible live. Her and her husband/guitar player Neil Giraldo were great with the crowd, frequently introducing each song with a cool story and background on it. I think the funniest thing was that she admitted she hated singing "Hit Me with your Best Shot" but did it because she knows everyone loves it - so did that mean she performed it half-assed? Hell NO! She belted it out, we got to sing it with her, it was awesome. She also sang Invincible, All Fired Up, Shadows in the Night, Promises in the Dark, Hell is for Children, quite a few new songs which were good as well. I went with my friend JD from work, and it was just a blast. Word of advice: make sure to get there early, as it's not that big of a venue and a lot of people spread out and make themselves comfortable. On to other things, it looks like I have a couple cool trips lined up in the near future. First is this week, as on Friday I will be going to Magic Mountain! Yay! Then next week I'll be headed to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, for work, but c'mon, it's Florida and right on the beach. Oh, it is so difficult being me sometimes. And then I have just booked tickets to San Antonio to see the ol' gang (Robbie, Dan, Byron, Connie, Carolyn, etc.) from 12-17 Sept. Now they can get off my back! I'm coming down - so you better all be there and ready to party! I also got some pictures from Clarissa as you can see on the front page
- there's only two and I'm putting them at the bottom of the Wedding
Shower photo page. Craps is SUCH a fun game!August 19, 2003: It's been a week - here's the latest. Work was busy, and Sgt Robinson was gone, so it made the week go by real fast. Then on Friday, I went to dinner with the dual bachelor/bachelorette partygoers at the Paris buffet. I had to do a lot of schoolwork I'd been putting off till too late, so I missed out on the festivities Friday and Saturday night. On Sunday though, I got a call from the girls who hadn't headed home yet, and was invited to lunch at MGM Grand's Studio Cafe. I met them there for a great lunch with them and their Aunt. Well, we started talking about playing some craps for a little before they left - lucky we did! We found a table with room for all of us and we got to business. So, it was me, Clarissa, Jane, Wendy (who wouldn't play - wuss), Gendy (another non-player!), Anne & Jenny & Aunt Eden playing on a table that had been pretty empty when we arrived. It was a $10 table too, which made me nervous, but I still played. We all started with a $100, and the winning began! We hit a great streak of rollers (including Clarissa & Jane) and then we hit the jackpot with this one Asian guy who had a definite routine to rolling - the V3 toss, which was beautiful. Off of him, I easily made $300. At one point, Clarissa & I noticed that a woman had bet $100 split on 11 and 12 - I commented to Clarissa, what if you bet $100 on 12? Then we said it to Aunt Eden, who Dared Clarissa to bet it. Well, the dice rolled....and it was a damn 12. Un-freakin-believable. Clarissa didn't have it bet, but both her and I were stuck with the image of winning $3000 dollars and the reality of NOT winning $3000. <sigh> Anyways, we eventually walked away from the table, me up $350 from the initial $100 investment. To say the least, this was my best craps venture ever, and it was awesome! Shortly before leaving the table, Paul & Gilbert found us at the table, as they were also staying for a while. I said goodbye to them all and went to Mandalay Bay to buy some Pat Benatar tickets for her show this Friday (yay!), and on the way back to MGM to get my car, I ran into Paul & Gilbert at the Black Jack table. Well, the evening went on with me hanging out with them at MGM (our luck at craps was iffy at best), then we went to Hotel California for dinner and an opportunity for me to forget my last visit there. Some good dinner and some good craps-table action there, and we were done (especially Paul, who was blitzed!). Anyways, that was a blast, and I'm really looking forward to the wedding now, as I've gotten to know some of these folks very well now. Bring it on! Also, if your local news reported about it, Las Vegas just got jacked
by a nasty storm that seriously flooded the entire west side of the city.
Here's the kicker though - my side of town, the East side, didn't get
a freakin DROP of rain. How weird is that? 4 more yearsAugust 12, 2003: It's official - I got notice via email
that I'll be in the USAF for four more years, as I've signed up for a
bonus. It's a nice one, to be sure, and will go towards very good things,
to be sure. I'm curious as to where I'll be in four years - my good luck
on bases is surely going to run out (knocking Heavily on wood - ow, it
hurts, it hurts!!) and I just know that I'll be shoveling snow out of
a driveway some day in years to come. Oh....the.....joy. Another fun time in Los AngelesAugust 11, 2003: I'm starting to make this run so frequently
that seriously, the time it takes to drive seems to be less and less each
time I drive it. But back to what matters - what did I DO this weekend
(so to speak - this is a pilot thing - any time you say anything REMOTELY
sexual, you have to either say 'so to speak' or replace the word with
something else - example: never say 'head'; it's always 'cranium', so
you would say 'I have a craniumache', or 'Craniums up!' - I kid you not)?
Well, I got into town and swung by the folks house as I needed to get
out of my car and get some food (i probably could have held out, especially
if I had known how MUCH food was going to be at the party). A little bit
of inopportune timing though, at least in terms of seeing all the folks.
Harv was home (whew), but Mom had decided to travel down to Pachanga (she's
an addict). I chatted with Harv while eating, and then I took off for
the Cypress wedding shower. Initially I was a tad shy because I really
didn't know that many people, but as the party went on, my oh-so-charming
personality had everyone in its grasp and I was the belle of the ball.....wait,
I mean, the coolest guy there! Yeah, that's it! It was awesome to get
to know everyone in this kind of setting before the actual wedding - it
should make the wedding that much more fun. Headed to Los AngelesAugust 8, 2003: Yep, I gotta go to a wedding shower
for Jason & Wendy. I don't know what happens at one of these, but
I am still going. That will be on Saturday, and on Sunday I will hopefully
get a chance to have breakfast or brunch with Lia! Cool, huh? And you
know some shocking news she told me today on the phone? Part of my past
is no more - Bookstar @ the Beverly Connection has been CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apparently Barnes & Noble opened up a big 4-story store over in that
area, and obviously they don't want to hurt themselves by having two of
their stores in such direct competition. I just can't believe it's gone
though - I spent 4 years of my life working there part time during college!
And it's......gone. <sob> It wasn't a good ThursdayAugust 7, 2003: Why not, you ask? Because it sucked.
This class I thought would be cool at UoP pretty much sucks. The instructor
is nonexistant on the newsgroups, which means we are basically teaching
each other. And today I got no lunch. No lunch = Evil Hobie. But the day
is almost over, and tomorrow is Friday, thank God. Back to Monday's hunch,
it did turn out to be Bertha, who now goes by Lia. She's in the movie
industry now, and it sounds like she's heading steadily upward in the
production side of the biz. Good for her! I'm just uberstoked to have
finally made contact with Bertha again. I am heading down to LA this weekend
for a wedding shower and I am going to try to hopefully meet up with her
to reminisce about the good ol days. It's unreal that it turned out to
be her, and that of all things, it happened because of Friendster, something
I almost didn't join because I thought it sounded stupid. Thank you Jason
Rubi! It was a good MondayAugust 4, 2003: Why, you ask? Because this morning I
got to go on a mini road-trip up to a place that had a great view of Vegas
and was actually only 70 degrees or so. It was nice. Then I didn't get
back to work until like 1:30, which means I was outta there in about 3
or 4 hours. Of course, while at work, it kinda sucked, but you know me,
I never lose my sense of humor about things. But then I got home and while
doing homework, I checked my email and got a friendster request from someone
who may allegedly be Bertha from my UCLA days. It HAS to be, but I'm still
awaiting confirmation. If so, then that would completely and totally rock.
I've been really wanting to know what has been up with her for a long
time. So go figure, this Monday turned out great! Gotta love it when you stay home almost all dayAugust 2, 2003: Except for having to go to school in
the morning to start my next class, CMGT 575 Project Management (which
I was dreading before, but after listening to the instructor, I am a lot
more excited about the class than before. I think I can learn a lot from
this guy and the class, and hopefully will be able to use it effectively
at work), I got home and became an utter vegetable. I stopped by Best
Buy on the way home because I had noticed that Grand Theft Auto: Vice
City (PS2) was on sale for $30. I've been wanting this game for a while
now, so I decided to pick it up. So I got home, played more Metroid Prime
for Gamecube (which is a game I decided to pick up again after not playing
it for quite a while - this game is huge and it rocks!), and then I put
in GTA:Vice City, which is a friggin blast. Careening through the streets
with cops on your tail and having Billie Jean play in the background is
pure bliss. It's a lot of fun, this game, and I highly recommend it. I
didn't answer the phone and didn't leave the house after getting home,
and it was wonderful. Ahhhh..... Then I just finished working on the party
pictures page, so go check that out if you want. Tomorrow, I think I'll
go see a movie. Perhaps Seabiscuit, or Swimming Pool. I've been hearing
things about the latter, and it sounds pretty cool. But either one would
be good. Shoot me an email if you want to. I may respond. (okay, you know I will - what else have I got to do?) |
||