parking, sweep, bagging, go backs, and repeat

My first full shift at safeway is over. Excuse me, slaveway! I worked from 2:15-11:15. It was ridiculously busy and pushing carts in 98 degree weather is not fun at all. My dogs are barking as some would say. Don't be fooled, Safeway isn't as glamourous as it seems.

You know how when you first start a job you actually don't mind going to work and its semi-enjoyable? That phase has already passed for me. As much as I already dislike it, I'm gonna stick it out. At least till the end of this school year. I won't add to my reputation of being a job whore. Maybe I'll win employee of the month before my tenure is over ala zach

OH another reason why I shall stick w/ this job is because this past weekend I convinced my parents to let me study abroad in the summer. It'll be for a month. I'm hoping to go to london perhaps? Its a once in a lifetime experience. I feel like this is the only time I can ever do this. It'll be pretty difficult once I graduate and hopefully working a steady job. As long as it doesn't interfere w/ me graduating in 2 years then I am leaving the country for the first time =)

Day 1

Today was my first day at UC Davis. Bullet points will aid me in describing my day

• I wake up at 6
• Make a homemade version of moons over my hammy
• Bike to campus and get lost in the "death star"
• International relations class at 7:30
• Get out early and try to familiarize myself w/ campus
• Communications theory @ 10
• Get out early and run into Marina. We chill at the quad and catch up; she spills coffee on me
• Teachers protest: I'm pretty indifferent on the protest. I dunno if thats the right word but whatever. I mean I understand that the teachers are affected by the budget cuts but they choose to walk out and not teach? Its a bit contradictory to me but I don't fully know the whole situation.
• Run into Sylvia, Viet, and Cao. It was a newark memorial reunion. We were only missing jon jon.
• Darwin and I eat lunch among the freshman in the dining hall. I met Darwin towards the end of my tenure at Ohlone but never really talked to him. Since we both got here we've been kicking it a lot. It's nice to have another transfer student going through this w/ you. It doesnt hurt that he's a pretty cool dude.
• Go back to the apartment and take a nap.
• Work out and play ball at the Arc
• Sleep

School was...school. It's almost always annoying. However, seeing familiar faces did help. It sucks being a transfer student. I missed out on the whole dorming experience and everyone already has there set group of friends. But things are slowly picking up here. I am now able to tolerate Davis. Hopefully day 1000 will be more enjoyable than day 1.

CLAUDE Q: The Guest Post pt.2

Hello everyone,

I'm Claude. I'm laying in my bed thinking about you and I want to start off by saying I love you. So lets climax together shall we?

I work 20 hours a week for my brother in South SF. It's about a 45 min drive and I pass the time by freestyling for roughly 30mins. Yes, I drive a Mercedes. No, my windows aren't tinted. My last freestyle consisted of lyrics like :

"Let me enter the womb for thou art divine/ There is nothing wrong with a little bump and grind"

and...

"I would like to sell myself on my block/ to make good use of my c***"

Ok so my rhymes need a little bit more work. And if you haven't figured it out yet or read the last post I did I'm a rapper. I've opened for Fanny Pak at a show in UC Davis where Andrew Yee currently goes to school. OK, so here's the purpose of this whole spiel.

At what point does a person give up his dreams?

I'm 21 with around 60,000 video views and 100 subscribers doing shows around the Bay for free. Some say I'm still young and can blow up at anytime, but I would argue that there has been little progress in my career since the age of 18, which was when I made my 1st song/video. I figure I'll give my dream 3 more years before I accept the fact that the only way I can earn a living is through working a 9 to 5. Hip-Hope definitely needs to come through soon. But even if I don't make it big, I won't be mad. I've met a lot of dope people through my music and have memories that will last a life time. That's all that should really matter.

Here's a list of rappers and the age they were when they had their 1st musical breakthrough:

Asher Roth - 23
Kid Cudi - 23
Drake - 19
Mac Dre - 18
2pac - 18
Lil Wayne - 15
Claude Q - ??

Myspace.com/Claudeq
Youtube.com/Clawodd

Ze Berkeley

I just got home from Berkeley. I find myself visiting Berk quite often now. Maybe its because Maria is leaving for Brazil? I dunno, I really like the city. You can't compare it to Davis. I know I'm being premature in my judgement - seeing as I haven't really done/seen anything yet - but great.

Anyways, I went up to Berkeley cause Maria had a soccer game/scrimmage for her club. She is trying to get acclimated w/ the sport so she can play pick up games and not a complete noob when she leaves for Brazil. I was excited to see her look completely lost and hopeless on the field. The game is suppose to start up at 5 but Maria wants to get there a little early to practice. Maria's friend Laura Daly meets up w/ us to teach Maria some basic soccer drills and they keep practicing. All the time I'm wondering where the rest of the team is. It turns out Maria read the email wrong and they don't start till like next friday?

We decide to just kick the ball around and do some drills to work on some fundamentals. I'm surprised at how similar basketball and soccer is. I did feel pretty lost and intimidated by Laura. I think Maria shared that sentiment. Laura was totally cool chill though and was very patient with us. I sweated a lot more than I thought I would. After the practice we just sat, talked, and watched the other people play. Soccer, in this country, is very under-appreciated by the way.

Before going to Berkeley, Maria told me that Laura would be joining us and I was totally cool about it. Maria said that Laura would remind me a lot of Jenny. And when we were talking, there were some jenny-like moments. She is very interesting to say the least. Right from the get go she comes up walking to the field with a bag that says "lets talk about drugs" that she got in Brazil.

Laura: I was born and raised in Oregon

Me: Oh, how long did you live in Oregon?

Laura: 2 years. I know it doesn't seem like much but people from Stockton like know I'm not from Stockton.

Me and Maria: -___-

Thats like Billy saying he's from L.A.

It's getting late and I'm too tired to finish. I have a habit of ending many of my blogs this way but I don't care right now. Goodnight and good luck

It's 3 AM right now and I am wide awake. Its hella hot and I'm just sitting here with the faint sound of the office in the background.

Not much has really been going on. I watched kicking and screaming this past weekend and the little asian kid in the movie reminds me of my little cousin. This is him:

And this is the guy from kicking and scraming
There exactly identical!

I also saw this on espn the other day; I thought the dads reaction was priceless.

Other rumblings:

• I am now a safeway employee. I am the new bagger/stocker/cart pusher. The same day I get hired at safeway my mom calls and tells me that I got a letter sayingI'm no longer a Silliman center employee
• I went to the Giants/Dodgers game last Saturday. They got whooped. Picture(s) will be up later.
• All of our premium channels got taken away (HBO, Encore, NBA TV, etc)
• Vanessa Curry was a extra on Glee
• I had a dream I was on room raiders and I was chosen because of my guitar. The girl finds out I don't play and regrets her choice
• I made a new friend in Davis. Her name is Noori (sp?) She's my neighbor and she knows just as many people in Davis as I do.
• I have yet to stay in Davis for the weekend and I don't plan on staying this weekend either. It has taken a toll on my gas tank/wallet but I feel like the people back home are worth it. Plus, when school starts the visits home will likely be less frequent.

It's getting late and I have to wake up early to do...nothing. Goodnight readers. Or good morning or afternoon depending on when you read this.

"I love the idea of "the one" but I actually believe that there isn't a miss right. There are 12,000 miss rights out there and it's all timing" - Matthew Perry

You want what you want and you feel how you feel; there's no way around it. You can't try and convince yourself that something will work out. It shouldn't be forced nor should it be something that is constantly questioned. You should just know.

I wanna be like Mike

I'm watching the NBA hall of fame right now and its bringing back a lot of childhood memories. I'm watching the NBA hall of fame right now and it's bringing back a lot of child hood memories. Michael Jordan - the greatest player of all time - is the reason I started playing. I remember waking up early to finish my homework just so I could watch him play. It was the only time I ever did schoolwork ahead of time.

This is a great interview. Everyone should watch this.

Limits, like fear is often just an illusion - Michael Jordan concluding his hall of fame speech.

Davis

I've now been in Davis for 3 whole days and I've already learned a lot:

A) Davis is dead in the summertime

B) Finding a job here is like finding a rational Lakers fan

C) There really isn't that many cows

Along w/ the lack of cows are the lack of activities. Theres no one here. The most fun I've had so far was driving home w/ Sylvia. I am FREAKINGGGGG bored. As Derek put it Davis = (Newark + Heat) - Friends. He's a math wizard.

I'm watching ABC family right now and all these commercials for Greek keep coming up. I want my college experience to somewhat resemble that w/o the whole greek life involved. I dunno if that can be accomplished though.

This house - or apartment - is not a home. I dunno if it ever can be. I'm really hoping I can make the best of it 'cause I really really really miss home.

I may not be physically here but I'm here

You say goodbye and I say hello

I had a whole crap load of errands to run today. In between all the last minute packing and errands I was able to hang out with some people who I really truly care about. I didn't get to see everyone, but I saw a good amount of people. It was a bittersweet feeling. On one hand I'm scared/anxious/nervous/excited to move and on the other hand I don't want to leave Newark. Yes, Newark.

I have called Newark home for the past 21 years. I've had so many great memories here:

• My first kiss w/ Kimi Lovely at Birch
• Walking home from the Jr. High in the rain w/ Jaime and Marcus
• Me, Marcus, and Jester being late to the team picture because we were eating my dads pot stickers causing the team to run liners which then caused the team to be angry w/ us
• Being Tapioca's slave
• All the hours of trying to study at hyman hall w/ Joomee
• Being locked in Hallmark till 10 PM. Opening the door would've set off the alarm. It was a Sunday so the mall closed at 6
• Billy and I going to Berkeley looking for a certain bag that I remembered Jenny wanted for Valentines day. Too bad it was raining hella hard and I remembered that the bag was sold at one of those outdoor shops. We had no umbrellas and pretty much everything on telegraph was closed
• Doing geometry homework on the phone w/ Jinjer and than talking about everything and anything till the wee hours of the night

I'm very excited to go to cow town and step out of my comfort zone but its also a little disheartening knowing what I'm leaving. I know I'm not going hella far or anything and I'm probably just being a big emo loser right now but I don't care. I'm excited for the journey in cowland that I am about to embark on and thankful for the people who got me here.