U Street and 14th

I just got home from Marvin about an hour ago. What a night it was. To say the least, it was very tiring, yet I'm still on right now trying to blog about it.

Notes from tonight:

-Nobody gets up for women on the train anymore. It's sad. I did my part : )
-Reminder to self: parking is free at the metered area from 7:01 PM to 4:59 AM and from 11:01 AM to 2:59 PM.
-The website for Marvin lied. It said that the restaurant is one block west from the Cordoza stop. It was actually 3 blocks.
-Alan's shirt was dope. I wonder if it was J. Crew. He said he didn't know, except that it had a brown tag.
-Liz wore her new boots from Bakers. They looked nice.
-Nikki wore her new mustard vest from Heritage. It was also pretty.
-The last train to VA leaves at midnight from L'enfant.
-The food at Marvin tastes great, but it's overpriced.
-Mad bums in the street. Sad : /
-Nikki and I passed Marvin about 3 times until Alan hollered my name from across the street.
-Faye couldn't make it out tonight.
-The Downtown Locker Room was pretty wack aside from the Nike Sports catalog they were giving out. It closed at 9 PM, while the Foot Locker across the street closed at 8 PM.
-I could see the cathedral from U street and 15th.
-I ordered the Berkshire Pork Chop. It had some mashed potatoes with it and this bacon fava bean sauce with mushrooms, good stuff.
-Nikki and Alan had the chicken and waffles. The chicken tasted like Jollibee chicken, maybe even better.
-Liz had a couple of appetizers. I know one had shrimp and the other had scallops.
-The conversation wasn't bad. It was mostly jokes though.
-Our waiter, Blaz, looked like Mekhi Phifer according to me and Andre 3000 according to Alan. We agreed that he was a hybrid.
-The dessert I ordered, sweet potato cheesecake, didn't taste like sweet potato. All I tasted was the cheesecake. Alan would agree. Joint was $8, too.
-Alan had the peach cobbler blah blah I forget the rest for dessert.
-Liz had some torte stuff that looked good, but I was too shy to try some.
-Nikki ordered this dessert that started with an F, but I dunno the word haha. It was the best out of the dessert I got to taste though.
-The bill was $117 with $20 tip.
-We'll go to the lounge and/or rooftop next time.
-I didn't get to snap more pictures because it was mad dark in there. The flash would've been obnoxious.
-Liz and Nikki had a bad miscommunication upon trying to meet up at the Bethesda metro. Nikki left the metro after her sister couldn't be found. Then, somehow she found me in my metro car. It was like a movie. Her sister turned out to be a floor or two above her haha. Anyway, because of that, we had to wait 35 minutes until we could go inside and order. Thankfully our maitre'd felt sorry for us and let us in. It was cool though, Liz was there shortly thereafter.
-I took Nikki to CP first, the complete opposite way I was to go home. I wanted to be sure she got to Joe safely.
-So when I dropped her off, I had a 19 minute wait for my metro to Branch.
-It took a while to get to L'enfant.
-Once at L'enfant at 11:40, there was another 25 minute wait.
-So, we didn't head for Vienna until 12:05.
-I finally arrived at Vienna at 12:50 tired and sleepy as hell.
-It was pretty cool though as I was the last one in the whole metro besides the cops who stopped the escalator once I got off and locked the gates once I got out.
-You were right, Alan. We do have flat screen monitors in our VA metros haha. Well, in Vienna at least.
-Thank you for patiently waiting an hour, Joe. I hope Nikki gave you that $10.
-I'd like to go there again to try a drink or two and their fries and/or burger. Or, they got that 10 oz steak I think... or is it 10 oz ribs? Either way, that's an option.
-Off to sleep I go for another morning of baby ass washing.
-Oh yeah, I love taking care of them when the other is sleeping. They pay attention, I can feed them properly, and they follow my directions. The other one isn't there to egg on bad behavior haha. So, I gotta find a way to get one of them to be knocked out at all times. Timmy was out today from 11 to 1 which was great.

Here are a few pics I snapped at the metro:


Niks after we got out of our 3 stops together.


^Pre-Marvin: excited, happy, thrilled, hungry.
Below: Post-good-ass-porkchop-and-cheesecake-consumption, bloated, sleepy, tired, not looking forward to the drive home and waking up at 7:30 AM.



After dropping off Niks at CP metro.


Random picture. I really didn't take many pics tonight.

Move Your Feet

Two minutes after I woke up, Timmy came to me crying. I was like what's wrong? He said "I poo poo." So yeah, I changed him right there half asleep. Effing disgusting. 2 Minutes after that, I went into my parents room and decided to play some music on the computer. Then these kids started dancing. It's pretty great. Here's a couple of videos I took.



Wyclef Jean - Heaven's In New York
Peep Selwyn in the back doing the robot. He's better than me! Sad, sad, sad.



Kanye West - Love Lockdown
I love around the 30 second mark when Timmy is on all fours and thrusts his ass in the air. So cute.

The Soloist

I can't wait to see this when it comes out in theaters.



Hopefully, Jamie can get some recognition from the Academy for this movie similar to how he did in Ray. He was pretty good in Collateral, also.

By George, I Think He's Got It

So, I went to College Park today. Nikki's internet at home stopped working, and her sister really needed the internet for her online class. So, they went up there. Plus, Nikki needed to be dropped off at her house anyway. But yeah, I decided to go up as well. There's always fun food and bubble tea up there, so I couldn't refuse the offer. Anyway, a couple hours after the drinks and the food, we finally went to the library. I got online and tried to do my accounting stuff. For the past 3 weeks of school, I've been so blown because

1. my teacher is Chinese and has a thick accent,
2. my ACCT 203 teacher sucked which makes me barely qualified to be in ACCT 301, and
3. everybody in the class seemed to follow what the F was going on.

So today, I was like aight I'll just wing this online homework. Before I knew it, I was getting everything right. I guess I just need to have more confidence in the knowledge that I have in my brain and the amount of information I'm actually (maybe subconsciously) soaking in while in class. So yeah, I finally got most of the concepts down. I feel smart in my major for once. Oh, and most importantly, the sky was sooooooooooooooo beautiful. It was like red, purple, pink, and orange all at the same time. God is good, reaaaaaal good. But yeah, what's a post without pictures? Here we go.


Smile, Liz!


Liz needs to take her school a little less seriously. I'm kidding, I think she's going for her masters now.


I caught Niks coming out of the library, then I promptly asked her to take a picture of me, too.


Yo, why is my face so girly?

Some SNL love...

That's from last night.

These next 3 are recent favorites.

Stranded music, some much needed hate, and JC

If you were stuck on an island for the rest of your life, which 5 albums from this century would you choose? Here are my picks in no particular order:

Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams (2005)


Album highlights: 1. Better Together, 4. Good People, 5. No Other Way, 11. Breakdown, 13. Do You Remember

Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)


Album highlights: 2. Takeover, 6. U Don't Know, 8. Heart of the City (Ain't No Love), 9. Never Change, 12. Renegade

Hell, the whole album is a highlight.

John Mayer - Continuum (2006)


Album highlights: 1. Waiting on the World to Change, 4. Gravity, 7. Stop This Train, 11. In Repair, 12. I'm Gonna Find Another You

John Legend - Once Again (2006)


Album highlights: 1. Save Room, 2. Heaven, 6. P.D.A., 9. Maxine, 12. Another Again

Kanye West - Late Registration (2005)


Album highlights: 2. Heard 'Em Say, 14. We Major, 16. Hey Mama, 17. Celebration, 21. Late

Next up: "In what respect, Charlie?"



I'm speechless.

And another one.



"I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time." So you've been a senator for 20 some years. Awesome. Yet, your running mate has been a governor for only 2 years. What do you define as 'a short period,' John? Are you as vague with your definition of a short period as your are with your definition of families in the middle class? Way to throw your running mate under the bus before you even got started. Ass.

Lastly.... my middle brother and sister-in-law are having a daughter soon. I think she's like 5-6 months or something. I'm not quite sure. But here she is. Both of them have JC as their initials (Julius Carl and Jean Carla), so they're trying to conjure up something cute for the baby that's a JC also. I think it'll be Jayden Cassidy, but that might've been for a potential boy. Who knows? So yeah, prayers for a healthy baby, please! I appreciate it.

Bball at Dewan Hall... Oooo I can rhyme

Fun filled day today. Oooooh, and good food. I wish I had pics of the food.

-Went in to the clinic to work 1 hour haha. I know, I'm a loser. 11:45 AM- 12:45 PM.
-Went up to UMD to help Nikki travel around campus.
-Ate at Yammi Yammi. Creamy avocado drink with bubbles and chocolate syrup FTW! Boy was it crack. Then Niks ordered a Tiger Roll and a Rainbow Roll. The Rainbow Roll was crazy good. Oh Loooord. I got punished in Speed by Nikki though. I think I only won once. It was a crazy comeback, too. She only had one card left and I had about 7 or so left.
-Picked up Nik's sister from her work at Old Georgetown Road.
-Picked up Nik's mom from the metro a couple of blocks over.
-Ate at Haandi. Great Indian food. I recommend it, but too bad they don't have the fruit bread. Boooo! Trail mix and Italian bread basically haha. They're 'Zagat Rated,' whatever that means. All of the restaurants boast that there. I guess it's some website whose opinion on food is highly acclaimed or something.
-Youth Night. The kids were doing their households in the classroom. So, I asked Nikki to take pictures of me shooting. I've never seen my form before with a good angle. They've always been pretty crappy and not on my camera. Here's a few snapshots.







Oh yeah, when I got there, the kids were honoring each other by writing compliments on pieces of paper taped on each of their backs.





Have a good weekend, folks.

TGIF

Thank God it's Friday. I got the day off from school. I'm going to go into the clinic for a few hours to work. Then, St. Columba tonight. Hopefully, we can ball for a bit. Oh yeah, I played ball yesterday. I did pretty well my second game. I think I had 5 out of the 12 points, and we won. I was cold my third game though. I shot 2/5 or something. It sucked. Oh well, we still won though.

Then, when I got home, my whole family huddled around the television to peep '102 Minutes That Changed America.' The footage was chilling. The craziest parts were when the second plane hit and the girls in the apartment shooting the camera were yelling like crazy, panicking, and telling each other 'I love you.' It gave me chills down my spine. The other part was when people were jumping from the high floors and ending their lives that way as opposed to burning alive in the flames and smoke. The program was insane overall. I wish America could be as unified as we were 7 years ago.

http://www.history.com/minisites/9-11



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On a lighter note, my second favorite shoes of all time are dropping at the end of this month. September 27th to be exact. Hopefully, I can scoop up a pair or two for retail and another one on sale. I've never copped multiple pairs before, but this is an exception.



I wish Nike would retro the White/Atlantic Blue pair though. This was the pair I was fortunate enough to wear to the ground when I was still living in NY. Oh well, I always wanted the black pair when I saw them on a fellow young kid's feet at a family party.

Dear Summer,

You've been good to me this year. You gave me the opportunity to meet new people, to mature, to catch up with old friends, to be in love, to go to San Diego, and countless other things. Thank you for not being unbearably hot, especially in San Diego. Thank you for Jollibee, Sombrero's, Santana's, and all of the other places we got to eat at in SD. SFC conference was a delight. Too bad I didn't get to go to Jacksonville. Kids Village was also very promising as I watched the kids serving and leading. I turned 21. I got to go to my first baseball game. I drove way too much, but when do I not? Haha. I got to play plenty of futbol with my friends in southern MD. There were trials, conflicts, drama, yada yada. But they all blew over, and everyone involved in the various events are stronger people. An old friend came back into town while a wonderful family left for the lone star state. The Olympics were a joy to watch. USA Basketball is back on top, baby! Phelps OD'd. Shawn Johnson and Nastia did their damn thing. I was introduced to Misty May's butt. I lost weight, gained back some. The Office and Pushing Daisies comes back on TV this month. Gas went from an all-time high to a respectable (not really) $3.33. I hit 40,000 miles on my odometer. Yikes! I got to buy a few pairs of shoes, but sold some as well. They will be missed. All in all, it was a wonderful ride. It's not time to say goodbye to you yet, but I at least want to say thank you, summer 2008. Hopefully fall 2008 will be an even bigger joy.

Yay, picture time. Here's a recap of my summer.


Everyone was on the other side of the table, so I look like a herb being the only person at my party haha.


Happy B-day, Jojo. Farewell, Lani.


Here's the view of Nationals Stadium once you get off of the metro.


This was my first baseball game ever. I'm soooooo late haha. When people started stretching in the 7th inning, I was like "Ooooooh, this is why it's called the 7th inning stretch." My brother got some free tix from his patient. So, my dad, my bro, Erickson, and I ended up going. The Nats were playing the Rangers by the way.


Faye, Joe, Armel, and I vs. RJ, Carlo, Vinnie, Alan, and Jepoy. Of course we won. Your boy was beastin' at the plate. What a great way to celebrate the 4th of July.




CP's golden birthday. We ate at Sakura's on Leesburg Pike near Tyson's. It was a pretty different dining experience. The best part of the night was grilling Adrianne and obviously, catching food with our mouths.


Kids Village. Here's a picture of me 'helping' with the rosary making workshop. August 15-17.


They're supposed to spell 'pray.' My man Oyo is having problems though. 'Ppay.' Hahaha.


At George's at La Jolla.


Presenting to you the most expensive plate of food I've ever had. It was worth it though.

Here's what the others ate:
Nikki's:


Jordan's:


James's:



This was our view from our dinner table.


James and Jordan were great double datees. Cranium later that night was very fun, too.




Here's my new room after a lot of hard work. My brother and sister recently borrowed a steamer from a friend. I wish we had that thing taking off the wallpaper in my room. What a waste of time haha.

Alan, Nik, and I were supposed to peep that place called Marvin in DC in memory of Marvin Gaye. Stuff happened and we ended up just meeting up at Alan's and then taking Fune to National Harbor for the first time.


Niks and I eating our Potbelly's. Thanks for the photo, Faye.

We then proceeded to walk along the shore and went into the Gaylord Hotel.


Speed! I'm pretty sure I lost. It's pretty difficult to beat Nikki. Her and her dance hands.


My dude, Ivan.


James, Faye, Fune, Ivan, Moi, Niks, Joe. Nice 'fish-eye'. I mean wide-angle. Sorry, Alan.


"I don't really want a card, I just want to touch people's hands."


We're submitting this to Playgirl magazine. If you listen carefully, you can hear the collective moans of women all over the planet.


This past Monday night, I painted my lower grill black. I know it's really subtle, but it made a big difference in my eyes haha. There's the after picture. Below is the before picture.

In the beginning...

Man, it's been a while since I've blogged. Soooo, I created a new one. I don't know exactly what type of blogger I am. Am I the preacher? Am I the entertainer? Am I the venter? Or am I the very random blogger that just posts anything and everything? We shall see.

So anyway, I've had a pretty good first 3 weeks of school. I felt like I was finally getting my stuff together. I finally got my room done, and I felt like I could breath in there completely. I applied for jobs. I just came from San Diego on an emotional and spiritual high. Now, I'm kinda back down again. No jobs have called me back yet. My car is kinda dying. Andddd, Accounting 301 is mad confusing. It's cool though. God is with me.

I can't believe that it's going to be 7 years tomorrow. I still remember it like it was yesterday. What a sad day. A friend of mine was working around the twin towers. For some reason, a friend of his asked him to get breakfast across the city instead of going in to work right away. It was crazy that he could have been one of the casualties of that tragedy. He's a photographer, and he showed me a bunch of his shots from that day. Utterly unbelievable.

I miss my brother. Ever since he got a better position at another location for his job, he's been working OD hours. He leaves at 6 or 7 AM, and comes home at 1 AM every single day. Well, he's having a child soon, so that explains a lot, too haha.

'Til next time.