Listen to this one:

http://www.myspace.com/muse

Put it on the track called "Starlight." Can't tell you how many times I've listened to this one track in the past 48 hours. Usually I never do the one-track-repeat thing, but this one is so good. So glad I found it again on my iTunes.

So after my entry yesterday, I had a great day and I've been feeling much better since then. After leaving Mad Hatters I joined Miles family at their church. I had never been to an Episcopalian service, and I must say, if they hadn't told me it was one, I wouldn't have known the difference. Almost the exact same as a Roman Catholic mass. Maybe this was "mass streamlined." No music and a concise and intriguing sermon got us all out of there in 40 minutes and smiles on our faces. We then headed to the Stallings residence for Mr. Rowton's goodbye party. It was an overwhelming success. There were ISA grads from the first class ('98?) all the way to just graduated seniors. Oh yeah and MUNSA (our beloved high school conference) is coming up on its twelfth year. I participated in MUNSA V and was a chair for MUNSA VII. Talk about making you feel old! Many teachers are leaving my old high school and the asshole they called a replacement for Dr. A has now "moved on." Rumor is he was forced out. Bad ass. Gotta rep my high school with only the most devoted educators. Russell is heading to LA and we're going to meet up when I'm doing my training there in September. I also got to see so many classmates that I probably wouldn't have seen any other way. The Stallings were great hosts and I talked politics with Billy's parents for awhile. We're determined to kick that damn Frank Corte out of his damn entrenched seat soon. The best part about the party was, as Ms. Moore put it, it was "the party that facebook made possible." I knew I liked that company for one reason or another.

I'm sorry if this entire last paragraph was extremely esoteric, but I was very happy to see some of my best friends and teachers from high school last night. Now I'm back at Mad Hatters and about to go through a couple of lessons. Bring on the frowns:(

In Mad Hatters...

and I'm kinda pissed off. I've been studying fairly hard on this GMAT stuff and so far my scores on the quizzes do not seem to be improving. The data sufficiency stuff in particular is just killing me. These are the questions that a have question stem, then they give you two statements, and you are supposed to respond with the following choices:
A)Statement 1 alone is sufficient to answer the question.
B)Statement 2 alone is sufficient to answer the question.
C)Both statements taken together are sufficient to answer the question.
D)Either statement on its own is sufficient to answer the question.
E)Statement 1 and statement 2 taken together are not sufficient to answer the question.

The hardest part about these is that you could solve the given problem without dripping any sweat, but evaluating the data sufficiency in relation to the question stem is a bitch! I just got a 65% on this last quiz. The Stanford student in me wants me to lock myself in the library, but I really don't like this stuff, so even that is hard to do. I'm done for today, but I'll be getting back to this stuff tomorrow.


Ok, I'm off to Miles' place to take a shower and get ready for Mr. Rowton's going away party. Can't wait to see my old government and Model UN teacher. I owe him a lot, and I hope I get to tell him that before he leaves.

After being so wonderfully productive yesterday...

Today has been one of those nothing days. I couldn't even get my homework done in time for my first GMAT class. No worries, it can be done after. But my mind could simply not deal with numbers today after the random big night out that Jess and I had last night.

After running around all day doing car errands (my favorite kind of errands), I decided I could use a break. It all started with happy hour at Koma Grill at a new shopping complex called the Dominion at MoPac and 183. The shopping area is trying to be Rodeo drive and it succeeds in boasting some big brand names and that type of shopper that loves to get dressed up to go out. I was a little bit shabby with my wife-beater and d-bag shorts (that plaid ones that sigma chi's are so fond of) with some dirty cross trainers. But the food was good, the margaritas were half-off, and like everywhere else in Austin, they really don't care what you're wearing. After being introduced to my first episode of Law and Order, Jess and I decided to make a night of it and we hit up downtown. I got my first comped drink at the bar I work at, which was a vodka martini that didn't bother with the vermouth. It was really good. Then we heard that our favorite singer/sogwriter coverman, the incomparable Ben Burgess was playing at the Blind Pig Pub. Good times all around.

Today I woke up at 1:40 pm. Late for even my standards. I've been slowly working at getting rid of this headache, but I think sleep will be my only medicine. Side note: I really like my GMAT teacher, and the class seems pretty cool. Now I have to put in the time to get my score up. A 630 on my diagnostic. Def needs to improve.

Midnight showing of the Simpsons movie tomorrow!

Oh, I got's me a ride!

Oh yeah baby, screw the bus! Got me a beat-up '99 Hyundai Sonata for hella cheap! There are plenty of things wrong, and I can't really afford it, but who cares? Today was a crazy car day get everythin in order, and I've accomplished almost nothing significant today besides getting me an overpriced insurance policy. Bummer. Actually, the bigger bummer is the broken A/C in the TX summer. Bring on the rain! Pics soon.

This is too good...

Sometimes I really miss Moscow. This is an excerpt from The Moscow Times' coverage of the Harry Potter release which occurred at 3AM Moscow time in order to coincide with the midnight release in London. Since I'm right in the good part of the novel myself, I clicked on the article to see how the Russkis were celebrating the event. This little charmer was in the middle of the story:

"Some residents living above the bookstore did not share in the revelers' celebration and began splashing buckets of water on noisy fans outside at around 3:30 a.m."


So good! Here's the full story if you feel like taking a look: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/07/23/015.html

Today is a a day of new things....

...because two new events for the summer will be starting. First off, my first GMAT class is today. Unfortunately, the first class is simply a diagnostic, or practice, test where Kaplan strives to test you, stress you, and not teach you anything before they and you know where you stand as a test-taker. I've been boning up a little bit on my GMAT stuff, but probably not enough to get me much higher than the terrible score I posted a few months back when I had no idea what the test entailed. Regardless of what score I get today, I'm excited at the opportunity to really study hard for this test and do well. The last time I did one of these courses was for the SAT in high school, and because I didn't have much time to devote to the course, I don't think I improved as much as I could have. Now I really have no excuse for that.

The other new thing is the new job. The new job that I'm kinda starting to regret taking. I got offered the "door man/bar back" position at Brown bar located at 8th and Colorado in downtown Austin. Friday and Saturday are my first nights. Looks like the hours will be 9PM to 3AM every Friday and Saturday. Prime socializing time. Hopefully this is a good gig. Otherwise I could be quitting fairly soon.

Well, here's to new ventures during vagabond summers.

Studying, or trying to…

…in Dave and David’s apartment. No, they’re not that cute gay couple you know, they’re Dave Cotrell and David Rodriguez two people I knew in high school that somehow ended up living together. I’ve spent the past day and a half chilling with David. An odd event as we were very close in high school, however our dual tendency not to keep up has meant that we don’t really know what the other is up to these days. He seems to be doing alright, with just one more semester to go at St. Mary’s and a guaranteed job with his dad as soon as he graduates. Trouble is, he doesn’t really like what his dad does and isn’t sure he wants to get into his business. Or much any business for that matter. I can empathize. It’s tough to be lost at a time when everyone expects you to have your entire life worked out. It makes me really appreciate the opportunity given to me to have a job right out of graduation. But at the same time, what if I really don’t like it? I mean, I never had that hard-core consulting internship, so I can’t really tell. I think things will turn out alright in the end, I’m just getting a bit ancy about everything.

I've been away for awhile...

So I got into the bad habit of not updating again. I hear repeat complaints of my last blog. So let me try to review what the hell it is that I’ve been doing in the past week.

After James’ and my Thursday adventure we went home for the night and I was ready to head back to SA. My parents were in town and it was time to spend some time with the crew. I forget exactly what Miles and I did on Friday night, but it wasn’t very crazy, and we prepared for the next day as James had invited us to his family’s house in Port Aransas. Oh yeah, we hang out with some old friends that night! Emma, Britney, Trevor, and Kim Gates, to pull out a few memories from the ol’ memory banks.

I know, Port A! The couple of times of that I’ve been to Port A I’ve had a ridiculously good time and this past Saturday was no exception. The ride down threatened rain the entire way, and we got the bulk of a huge thunderstom just past Corpus Christi as we were about to cross over to Mustang Island. But alas, the weather would not ruin my weekend getaway! The storm broke and we pulled up James’ choice place right smack in the middle of Port A. Instead of an expensive meal out, we hit up the local grocery store, got some fajitas, some beer, and we had ourselves an authentic TX bbq. A few beers and a shot of Tito’s handmade vodka later, we were ready to hit the town. But Port A isn’t exactly the kind of town that can be painted red. The closest thing they have to a club is this place called Bernie’s which advertises itself as “Port Aransas’ Night Spot.” You mean to tell me there’s only one? Anyway, the three of us split our time between Bernie’s and this other local bar with outdoor seating and a guy covering all of your favorite country hits. Quick aside: out of all the vehicles on Mustang Island, we estimate that only 3 of 10 are not trucks or SUVs. Seriously, we took a survey. But anyway, the night was fun, the dancing mediocre, and the beers flowed. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I thought I had a bad hangover the previous Thursday, but the one on Sunday gave it a run for its money. Cleaning with a headache is never particularly fun. But we got that place cleared up nice so that we might be able to return soon.

I spent the rest of Sunday and Monday in SA and took it easy with Miles and the fam. My sister also got in town, but I hadn’t seen her at all as she had her own social obligations to attend to.

My dad was flying back to Denver on Tuesday, but the cheaper flight came from Austin, so this, naturally presented an opportunity to get back to that city where I have so much fun. After saying goodbye to my dad, I had my mom drop me off downtown so I could get some work done and figure out of my life. Oh yeah, so at some point I had decided that I really like TX and I don’t want to leave so soon. So I transferred my GMAT course to the Austin location and paid off the rest of my balance to Kaplan. “Muy oucho,” said my bank account. But I’m glad to have a little more of a plan than previously. So anyway, since I’m going to be spending every Wednesday night in Austin anyway, I thought it might be a good idea to pick up a part time job help with the beer tab. I applied at three different places. The Parish, on 6^th, handed me an application and told me to come back on Thursday when they were having interviews. Fadó, on 4^th, gave me an interview on the spot and told me that since I was the first to come in about the ad, they could probably use me. Finally Brown Bar (hehe, that’s really the name) on 8^th and Colorado let me fill out an application and told me they would get back to me soon. I held out the most hope for the Irish pub, where I would be a “doorman” (aka “bouncer”) on Friday and Saturday nights. So I finished up my official business and had Jessica pick me up to go hit up happy hour at a place called “Baby Acapulco.” In the middle of my purple margarita my phone rang with a 512 area code – Austin. Now if anyone has ever had a purple margarita at Baby Acapulco, they would know that it sure as hell ain’t tequila in those margaritas, so I was a little apprehensive to pick up the phone. But since my inhibition was gone anyway, I picked up. Brown Bar wanted an interview the next day. Great! The latest on that is that I was just called 30 min ago to come in for another interview with the general manager, after they two managers gave me a recommendation from our first interview. I know! LEK only made me two interviews and these guys want two as well! I’ll happily oblige so long as I get paid!

The next two days I chilled with Jess and I got to meet her mom and her very cute 11 year-old triplet brothers. I also got to see Jared, from July 4, again. The three of us hit up 6^th street again this Wednesday night, however with not quite so much vigor. Yesterday (Thursday) Jess and I drove down to SA. She’s currently meeting up with her sister and her parents-in-law who live in San Antonio. There is a possibility of meeting up with Jess and her sister for some tubing tomorrow, but that is highly dependant on if the Gudalaupe is open yet. If you remember me telling you about all that crazy rain that we’ve had lately, it’s all bee dumping into the rivers, and they’re not exactly what the officials like to call “safe” at the moment.

Finally, last night I met up with Emma, Jessica Cave, Britney, and Trevor at Mama Margies (glorified Taco Cabana) for some Margaritas. I rolled up Miiles, Rink, and Miles girlfriend Meghan, who had just come down from Arkansas to visit. The Donnelly crew pooped out real early, but I was able to stay and chat with the others for awhile. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the best part of the night: my ride. Last night I was rolling in my great-grandfather’s 1978 Buick. My great granddaddy ain’t around anymore, but his car is still runnin’ real strong. I hauled ass from Potranco and 1604, me and the Buick, all the way down to Trinity University to play some tennis with Elise and Miles. I was running, really, really late, but the Buick was quite the champion and performed admirably. Unfortunately I had to leave the girl at my aunt and uncle’s place when I left today. I look forward to more rides and more stares from the people passing by.

Right now I am sitting in a Greyhound bus on my way back to Austin. I know, I just can’t avoid this city! My good friend Sarah Norris is throwing a little shindig up here I simply could not avoid an opportunity to hang out with my favorite Austinite and ISA graduate. But seriously, Sarah has been such a great friend after high school, and I would never miss an opportunity to hang out with her. My sister is sitting across the aisle as she’s coming up to visit Arturo (an ex of hers) who now works in Austin. His company is have happy hour and I might just tag along to that while I wait for the night to arrive. I’m lucky as this is the first time I’ve had to take the bus to get between cities, but somehow I foresee a few more trips on the blue beast before my time here in TX is up.

Wish me luck on my first class that starts on Wednesday. I’m pretty sure the first session is almost always a diagnostic test. Yuck. Looks like I’m going to have to start buckling down again. Boo! Better enjoy this weekend comin’ up here!

Last Night...

...was an interesting night for James and myself. Let me set the mood a bit. As anyone who has been in the US for the past two years already knows, immigration is sort of the issue du jour. Almost everyone feels strongly on the issue one way or the other. I tend to take a liberalist/economist point of view on the issue, all the while keeping in mind that except for a very few of us in this nation, all of our families made the same journey to this land. But I still feel a little detached. Today there was a New York Times article about corridos (sort of Folk Songs from the North and Central American Spanish-speaking countries) that were being made north of the US border. All I could think while listening to these songs was 'I think this would sound better to Mariachi.' You see while I share a common heritage and language with most of the immigrants coming from the South, it is very easy to separate myself from their story, their plight. It's almost the same feeling of American pride I gained while living in Mexico - it didn't come from a feeling of superiority but rather a feeling of actual difference between our cultures; Mexican/Latino and American. A difference that, at the very least should be respected.

So I don't actually know many immigrants. Many of my friends at Stanford are second or third generation Americans; undoubtedly a tribute to the hard-working nature of immigrant families. But the Mexicanos and Latinos I know in the US usually come from a somewhat privileged background with American roots just as deep as mine. Yesterday my parents and James' parents met up for dinner and we had a great time and we covered a range of political topics (as usually happens when you get at least two lawyers together) and we all came to the same progressive conclusions on issues including immigration.

Once James and I were able to ditch the parents and head out to 6th street for the night, we ran into the immigration issue head-on. Outside of our parking garage a shoddy-looking character, about 5'3" in heights spotted us and managed to utter, "disculpame"to me and James, hoping that one of us spoke Spanish. We both do. The man was dirty and slurring his speech, so I immediately assumed he was like one of the many homeless in Austin looking for some change from the college students going out on 6th street. But he was different from the others. His teeth were brushed, his hair combed, and instead of the handout, he was looking for any work that could be done at night in Austin. We told him we didn't know of any and he started directly into his story when we gave him our attention.

He came from Honduras. He had spent 30 straight days on the road, paying various people a total of $8,000 for transport - a sum that he and his family had been saving for a long time. He took mostly trains and had lost his shoes crossing the river. There he also lost his traveling buddy to the border patrol. He said that there are six main crossing points where you can walk through the river, but these points were heavily guarded, and a certain percentage of people are expected not to make it across. In Laredo someone donated a pair of leather cowboy boots to complete his journey. I can recall a few politicians who are fond of these types of boots. He asked that if we didn't know of any work, if we knew where he could eat. There are plenty of cheap food options in downtown Austin at night, so we headed to the nearest pizza parlor and he whaled down two big pieces of pepperoni and juice as he continued his story. He was broke at this point in his journey and he didn't know a single soul in this city. He vowed he would learn English, but only knew the phrase "Yeah." His only life-line are some family members that live in Houston, but at this point he no way of reaching them. He said that the Bible said that "God will take care of you." He had sinned in the past, but he put his faith in God to make this journey safely, and in that faith he felt secure.

Now that he had gotten some food in his stomach, he needed a place to crash for the night. I also noticed that he speech was no longer slurred, meaning that the guy was actually very hungry at the time he found us. James flirted with the idea of having him over at his house, but I said that while we might be able to do a lot for this guy, we still needed to practice a certain amount of discretion. So we learned of a shelter a couple of blocks away and led him there. It was closed by that point and the worst of Austin's homeless population seemed to be up to no particular good outside of the place. There were druggies, she-men, dead-beats and the like. Probably around 40 total homeless people. James and I were in our nicest jeans and button-down shirts and definitely putting our necks on the line. But the person most scared at this point was our friend. He didn't like these people, and refused to talk to a man I found who spoke Spanish. The only time he swore the entire night was when he demanded to leave the place. I couldn't blame him. Even though he had no money, that is not the situation he wanted to be in. A crowd of homeless started to form around us and we left immediately.

We were out of luck. He asked if he could at least accompany us to the bar, but I knew that without any ID, nobody gets in to any Austin bar. A quick call to James parents advised us that a cheap motel on Austin's east side was probably the best bet for our new friend. We walked back to our car and told him that we would find a place for him to stay. He greatly appreciated the ride in the car and moved the umbrella and phone book in the back seat to the trunk to assure us that he wouldn't steal anything. He also appreciated La Ley radio station that we put on as our ride began. He told us of Honduras and its many beautiful beaches that foreign tourists constantly visit. But the country's people are starving, he said. His family that he lived with was a total of 25 people. They lived an agrarian lifestyle and desperately needed the money that he's expected to earn in the US. We finally found a Motel 8. I ordered the room as if for myself and James and I showed him how to work the lock that worked with a plastic card instead of a traditional key. We told him that many people in East Austin speak Spanish and to avoid the police and a certain type of old-school Texan that we tried our best to describe. He said he understood.

All he needed was a small amount to buy a phone card to contact his family and Houston, and the most difficult part of his journey would be behind him. We gladly handed him $10 and finally gave formal introductions. Jose Luis, as it turned out was his name, was very grateful. He should just be leaving the motel room now and hopefully be getting in contact with his family. James and I will probably never see Jose Luis ever again. "Good luck," was the last advice we gave him.

He is one of millions. Good luck to Jose Luis and every other.

James and Dan debate the truly important decisions

Written in the rain today...

I don’t quite want to die right now, but I’m not sure how to otherwise gain any relief. Why’s that? Well, let’s just say that I celebrated America’s birthday last night a lot more than I have celebrated any of my birthdays. Oh wait, maybe not this last one. But you get the point.

Yesterday started off great. All my dad’s side of the family met up in San Marcos. I had invited both Jessica and James to come along with me since my mom told me to invite some people. James decided he needed to spend some quality time with the family (a valid excuse) so it was only me and Jess with the entire family. Funny. I think she was being sized up the entire time as a potential suitor would be presented before the royal family. Jess knows how to roll with the punches though and we were able to laugh about it later. Fajitas, pinto beans, and fresh flour tortillas are the shit! Also great to spend some quality time with the family; especially those who weren’t able to make it to my graduation.

Later we went to Jess’ place to drink a couple beers and get ready to head out. We were joined by Travis, his brother Jared, and their friend Todd. All fine gentlemen who paid for way too many of my drinks that might be responsible for my current state. I don’t remember the last time we were able to get in that many bars in a bar-hopping adventure. If anyone is in Cheers bar on 6^th, request the “Blue Wave.” I promise it’s the best shot you’ll ever have.

The previous night was also an adventure in Austin. We met up with some of James’ high school friends. There was a much better ratio this night, as at one point, James and I were accompanied by seven lovely ladies. We went to a very typical UT party (at least what I think is typical) which consisted of a cover-charge for guys, one keg, some liquor for the ladies, and one very crowded apartment. They ran out of everything by midnight! Amateurs. So we headed it back to James’ friends apartment and had our own party. There was def some craziness going on. I’ll leave it at that, and ask James for details if you see him.

That’s all the writing that’s in me at the moment. In a couple of hours James’ and my parents are meeting up and we’re all going out to dinner. Tomorrow probably finds me back in SA to celebrate my first First Friday in awhile. It’s contemporary art month. Sweet.

My trusty steed:

Last Night:

I am currently sitting in James’ room back in Austin. I know: how the hell did I get back here? I’ll get to that later. Currently James is having an intense debate with his high school buddy Dan as to the best first date idea for a girl that the guy just met. Some past suggestions have been star-gazing (a favorite of James’), smores at a private club (one from Dan’s girlfriend) and going to see the new movie Transformers. I personally could not vouch for this one. I think the final vote is “Ocean’s 13” at Alamo Drafthouse. I still haven’t been to this place, but apparently it’s amazing. It’s kinda like a chill Austin joint where you can have a dinner, have a beer, and mack with your girl. But of course the last part is up to you. Or rather, up to James…

My computer is working again because I am the soldering king. Not really. I just put a whole bunch of that metal stuff all over my make-shift wires and prayed that my computer would turn on when I plugged it in. It did. Praise the lord, the Toshiba lives! Too bad there is a massive bump on the top-left of my computer that I now can’t get rid of. Oh well, I can deal with it given my newly refreshed batteries!

My family is freaking awesome. Today I got back to Austin using my Tia Gloria’s really new (I’m not really sure of the year) Toyota Corolla. Meanwhile she’s driving a late 70’s or early 80’s Buick that used to belong to my great-grandfather. Ok, it’s not as bad as it seems when she and my Tio David got in contact me with me, they offered to let me borrow the old Buick for awhile because they know how hard it is to get around San Antonio without a car. I had to accept. After we both went to mass today (I forgot that my Parish mass started at 12:15 instead of 12:00; sort of awkward), I mentioned that I wanted to head back up to Austin today. Since I was traveling a bit far, they insisted that I take the Toyota instead of the Buick. Sweet. I’m returning it soon. I’m not that bad!

Ok, enough for now. James wasn’t able to get to his lady tonight. Hopefully she calls tomorrow so I can get all the good dirt soon.

My poor computer!

It's in pieces! Well I sort of did it on purpose. It seems that the positive jack on my DC power supply is loose, so I'm currently learning the basics of soldering and hoping that my computer doesn't blow up when I put it all back together again tomorrow. Meanwhile this is probably the worst updating I've ever done. No pictures and even less updates. Sorry.

Miles and his family have been sooo nice in letting me crash at his place almost every day. I also think that I am pushing Miles to his limits as I'm dragging him out almost every night, but the poor guy also has to get up Mon-Fri for his summer research gig.

I just met up with Emma Holliday and Britanny Derby for drinks tonight and it was great to see those girls for the first time in so long. Emma is happily engaged to a great guy named Omar who she coincidentally dated when she was in middle school at Ike. They met again a few years later and I'm happy to report they're very freakin' adorable together. Can't wait for more engagements. I love going to weddings!