Erik:

"Fuck!.....

( a few seconds later)
Bitch!

(a few seconds later)
Crap.....

(a few seconds later)
Arrrrggghhh. Shit!

(a few seconds later)
Ahhhh."
[Turns from computer in utter disgust and starts reading a text book]

Just another morning with Erik and his Nintendo game emulator.

"Have a willingness to advocate. Have values, and do not be afraid to let people know them. The worse losses, are the ones you never fought for."

-Alan Jacobs (a well known city planner and author on the subject) who was the guest lecturer in my CP110 class today. This was his closing statement on how to be a successfull city planner. Good stuff to hear. Really good.

“Why is the world so retarded?!” Erik Bellowed. Why did Erik bellow this you ask….well…….

We were flipping channels and ended up on CSPAN. A republican representative from Colorado was giving a speech about borders…..and it caught our attention. Started out sorta normal…we need borders to protect this country…blah blah blah.

Basically the guy tried to relate Mexican immigration to over crowded national parks, traffic, and houses being built on the “open fields” of this country. After talking about increased border enforcement for 15 minutes, and only referring to Mexico, we were surprised when we heard him begin to talk about the Northern border…..that is until he said “and in the Northern Border we have problems as well. MUSLIMS are transporting drugs to America.”

Yes sirreee….gotta stop all those Mexicans illegally crossing the borders, rushing into our national parks, and then buying new homes. Ugh. The twisted logic goes beyond words.
Life in these United States.

Jeesh....my third entry today. I'm in high gear procrastination mode. But I guess as Eric said:

EricE823: well, as long as u're entertaining others; it's productive procrastination

Hey high school friend. Yes you….high school friend who is reading my blog but not IMing me……

Why don’t you just IM me to find out about my life rather then read this thing? Or…maybe even call me. Or…. even visit me! Yes, yes, I know this blog is deep, insightful, it makes you laugh, it makes you cry…but come on now…. I’d like to think that I’m better in real-time.

It’s been at least a month since I’ve seen most of you, weeks since most of us have talked. Ya, ya, it’s my fault too…..but hey now…I’m not the one reading this blog to see what’s up in my friend’s life. Ya. That’s right… I don’t read blogs (none of you have one) So I have to read often cryptic away messages such as “I'm sorry I missed you, I do hope you will forgive me” to see what you are up to without actually talking to you. Hehe.

But seriously, talk to me. If I’m away, leave a message saying hello. Let me know how you are doing. The time period when we were all in the “greater Mountain View” region during summer was short, and even during that period, the time we spent with each other was even shorter. Let’s not loose touch during this school year.

A discussion on the person sitting in front of me in the margin of Lauren's stat lecture notes last week:

Nick: Gross. He picked his nose. Nice Socks too. [ he had his sandles off and was exposing his holey socks by resting his feet on the seat in front of him.]
Lauren: He's hot.
Nick: I think he smells funny too.....does the premature graying hair make you horney?
Lauren: Of Course.

[guy proceeds to scrath off guck from his ear and the ponder the view of it in his fingers for a few minutes.]

*sigh*......life seems so strange sometimes....why things are, the way they are. Yes, I know....deep stuff for this funny lil blog....but I have mortality on my mind right now. I just found out one of my grandparent's best friend's, one I know pretty well, has been given two weeks to live. Cancer.

So....it's weird to think about that situation.....cause it's not that rare at all. And sure you hear about the miracle stories where people ended up recovering (my uncle Mike for instance)....but a lot of times they just don't.

So here we are in our late teens and early 20s...livin it up. We all hope to live a long healthy life......but when I see my grandparents, it's hard to think that someday, god willing, like them....we'll live to slowly see our friends and family pass on. A very sobering thought.

That's the rollercoaster of life I guess. Just gotta take it for what it is, and try to enjoy the ride. Hopefully near the end, you won't be so much sad that it's over.....but happy that you were even able to take the journey in the first place. I think that's my greatest wish for my life, to be happy with it when all I can do is look back.

Now.....back to my stats homework.

My brother Chris is cool. Just got this on my away message:

Shortstd9: There is nothing better than reading "and Nick bellows"!
Shortstd9: it feels like your right at home! :-D
Shortstd9: its really good stuff

He should be my PR person. Go A's! Go Bears! Ah, and for those of you who don't read my friend Kat's Blog, here's an entry I wanted to share with you:

Last night at the A's game:

Kat: Woohoo! Yeah!
Nick: Your "Yeah" adds so much emphasis.
(next good play)
Kat: Woohoo! Yeah!
Nick: Yeah!
Kat: Nono, YEAH!
Nick: Yeeah!
Kat: Nono...
Nick: Si!
Kat: YEAH!
Nick: Si!
Kat: Yeah!
Nick: Si!
Kat: Si!
Nick: Yeah!
Kat: Haha...

Played Cranium tonight. Candice even came up! As her away message says: "change of plans: at La Loma... can't resist those Mountain View men" What can I say? The charm of my hometown flows through my Mexican-Portuguese blood.

So anyways....Cranium. My team won! Nothing can defeat the power of an Architecture Major who draws like mad, an English Major who knows what a gaffer is and some very enthusiastic freshmen, one who does an excellent impression of the Eiffel Tower. But as Stephanie so eloquently said at lunch today: "Fuck those Humdingers!"

At the barbershop a few weeks ago:

[the scene] Me sitting in the chair of a Vietnamese barber with a very heavy accent and a tendency to not give the greatest hair cuts. My dad pleaded with me to go first so he could get another barber....I'm such a great son. Then this dialogue occurs:

Other Barber: [to Vietnamese Barber] Hey, when were you born?
Vietnamese Barber: Oh yes...ah....1955.
Other Barber: Huh..so when you were living over in Vietnam I was over there killing your people.
Vietnamese Barber: Hahaha. Yes that is right. I was there during war.

Vietnamese Barber: [to me] war very bad. yes. you know?
Me: A huh...ya war is bad.
Vietnamese Barber: Yes, war kill people. you know? The B-52s, they bomb us. I sawww. I did. Yes.
Me: Wow..that's.....
Vietnamese Barber: Yes, my brother.....he DIE in the war. Many relatives die. Is awful! Hahaha! [begins laughing]
Me: [getting uncomfortable] wow...that's awful. you must have been through a...
Vietnamese Barber: [still laughing] You know, intestines fall out...arms flying off. I saw that. Yes. Hahaha! It's bad. war is not good you know? Hahaha!
Me: Ya...war is bad.

Ling: Haircut is an art. You know?
Me: Ya....
Ling: [pulls out mirror] Here look....you like this yes?
Me: Ummmm. Ya [ feeling too guilty to say anything.....but notices that the hair on the back of my head is longer than any other part.]

My dad ended up coming over when he saw the hair cut I had...and asked the barber to cut my hair shorter. It took some convincing but he did. Problem is that he cut it too short.....it's taken two weeks before the hair on the back has become long enough to comb down.

Well...today (err....yesterday) just plain sucked. Not only was I quoted in a very biased piece of journalistic slop published by the San Jose Mercury News on the historic house I am trying so hard to save back in Mtn. View, but it was so damn hot today......argh. At least this room is well ventilated.

Oh and get this......at midnight an e-mail was sent to everyone from my City Planning 110 prof regarding the paper due tomorrow at 2pm. He wanted to offer those of us doing last minute work some advice........I finished the paper last week, and his recommendations go against the layout of my entire paper. Jeesh.....I'm not going to change it unless he e-mails me back between now and 2pm tomorrow.

......What a nice way to end a perfect day. I hope Friday is better.

How would you feel after working on a project for days and endless hours..... and then ....during a FOUR HOUR REVIEW not getting any comments at all....positive or negative. In fact, having your project (one that you were actually proud of) completely ignored until the end of the class when you approach the professor and have to milk him for comments. Ok...so the comments I did get were encouraging....but minimal. Nothing like being ignored to make your hard work and effort feel pointless.

This all reminds me of a.....

Dissapointing memory from Grade School!

Disappointing Memory #2
The scene: Miss Semen's (harhar) 1st Grade Class

Miss Semen: All right class....leave your drawings on your desk and I'll hang them up by tomorrow!
1st Grade Nick [Proudly leaves his waaay better then the average 1st grader drawing of a dinosaur or a forest or something great like that on his desk]

-the next morning-
1st Grade Nick: [walks into classroom and desperately scans the walls for his drawing. Not up there, instead remains in a pile of drawings not put up on Miss Semen's desk]
Miss Semen: [to class] There wasn't enough room to put all your drawings up this time, but for everyone who's drawing isn't up...I promise I'll put it up next time...

Ouch.

A's game tonight with the whole gang. Compared to the rest of this week, Thursday and Friday are a going to be a breeze. So in that case, let the weekend begin! Woohoo!

So, I have about a weeks worth of reading to catch up on in my city planning and music classes. This brings up a…..drum roll please:

Disappointing memory from Grade School!

Disappointing memory #1
The scene: Mrs. Knoll’s 2nd Grade at Saint Simon’s Catholic School

Mrs Knoll: We're going to do something fun now. Who wants to play a game?!
Class and 2nd Grade Nick: [raising hands] Me! Me! Me!
Mrs. Knoll: All right then. We are going to play a game called Ketchup!
Nick: [thinking] Wow! A game named after ketchup, that red stuff that I don’t like to put on my French fries (yet)
Mrs. Knoll: Yes. CATCH UP! Catch up on all the work we’re behind on. (laughs at the class while handing out math work sheets)

Mrs. Knoll was not exactly known as the nicest teacher at good ol’ Saint Simon’s.

I was on campus in classes and studio from 9:00am to 10:30 pm yesterday......and from 9:30am to 9:00pm today. I'm tired. I'm hungry. I don't want to do statistics homework. Bah bah bah.....hmmm....that many bahs makes me sound like a sheep. Doodeedooo. Ok this is dumb.

Wow.....hard to believe that 9-11 has come and gone. An entire year has passed. Went to the candle light vigil last night held at Sproul Plaza. Surpringly, it was not political at all. No one making statements about the war, no one criticized US foreign policy, no one accusing the people criticizing US foreign policy for being unpatriotic.

So...that's good. It was time for mourning and reflection, that's what I hoped for the night. But at the same time...I feel like Berkeley went from one extreme to the other. The event seemed to try so hard to not offend anyone that well...it reminded me of a Southpark episode where they were holding a Christmas pageant...and all the parents complained about things that offended them. First went any mention of Christianity, then Judaism, Kwanzaa, Pagan celebrations, Santa Claus, Reindeer, snowmen, etc. Eventually it just ends up being all the kids dressed in black swaying to modern techno music.

The candlelight vigil was in no means that extreme...but most of the songs were uninspiring. Especially the singing of "Desperado" and "To the Limit." What was up with that? Reminded me more of car commercials then anything else. Where was "Imagine" or "I will Remember You?" or anything with the word America in the lyrics or....well....anything. I have the feeling that if something doesn't offend SOMEBODY somewhere, then it probably has no meaning.

I enjoyed Ben and Jerry's with Hanah and Erik after though. Good times. Today I got interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News. I hope the article comes out good, balanced....it's about the historic house i'm trying to save. The Merc has a rep of....well taking quotes out of context....so I took a risk by granting the interview. We'll see what happens next thursday.

The second part of my article came out. The Voice did a crummy job of posting it on-line....so if you want to read it e-mail me. So anyways.....gotta get to work on some homework.

(while I write this Ryan is playing a song where the only lyrics are "does anybody wanna have sex tonight") Dirty Dirty Dirty.

Today I went to Chinatown in San Francisco all by myself. Had to do it for a city planning paper. Had to be able to get enough info solely through observation to write about the history, present, and future of the neighborhood we were assigned. It really ended up being a lot of fun. Never been to the city alone before. Sorta nice to go wherever I wanted to go, see whatever I wanted to see. Went on the cable cars (twice), sat in Union Square, Portsmouth Square, visited a church built in 1854, stopped in random places and took notes and sketched like crazy. Chinatown is a really interesting community, very vibrant, with buckets full of history, cool architecture, interesting people, parks, streets, alleyways. I love that type of stuff. I felt like I was a world away from Berkeley and classes and studio (grrrrr). Studio sucks this semester...more on that later.

So....Kat has one...Candice has one....and a subprofile just aint enough for me anymore. I need something NEW to procrastinate with this semester. I like writing, I like thinking, I like amusing people, so yep....we'll see how this works out.