NYE
Can someone please tell me what's up for New Years Eve this year? What're you guys doing? And if you're doing something lemme know....can I kick it? Lemme know the deal!!! Such is the life of Joe...

Ho hum...
Ahhhhhhh...Christmas is great, I love it. Spending time with the family and eating lots of food. And Christmas now is really special now that there are little kids again celebrating Christmas. I love watching my neice Makaylee open her presents and get excited at each one she opens that she forgets she has a mound of other presents to open and insists on playing with the one she just opened. Sooooo cute.

But Christmas is family time, and what kinda sucked was that I went to Christmas mass with just me and my brother. I thought my Tita's said they were all going to go at 12:30 (I asked them last weekend) and so we went to the 12:30 mass, and didn't see them there at all. We got back to the house around 2:00 and they were all there just starting to eat and everything! WHAT THE HECK! Oh well, other than that miscommunication, it was a good Christmas.

Later that night we went to watch King Kong which was really good. Some parts were too much for me though. You know I don't like spiders...and I guess that goes for bugs too now. YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!! Shivers just thinking about it! When I left the theater I saw Kenny there! If I would've went to the 10:45 mass (like the rest of my family), I would've seen him at church too. Oh well, good to see him there.

Went to Long Beach for a surprise birthday party for my Tita. IT was good being around family once again. I know I go on about this all the time, but my neice Makaylee is the cutest thing! Too bad she's still kinda scared around me. Actually, she's scared/timid around all the cousins (her Titos and Titas) except for my youngest cousin Pia, who's 13. Weird.

While we were driving to Long Beach and back home from Long Beach, I passed up South Coast Plaza. WOW! is all i have to say. THe Bristol exits were backed up all the way to the freeways and looking at the parking lot from the freeway you could see no empty spaces and hundreds of cars searching in vain for a parking space. Whoever went shopping yesterday, you guys are crazy!!!

Back to work...blah. Just feeling blah. Work is crap. Thinking what my new years resolution should be. It's gonna be something like quit this job...that's for sure. I need all of you guys to hold me to it and keep bugging me...because trust me, it'll eventually work. Such is the life of JOe...

MERRY CHRISTMAS
Oh yeah! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! I hope you all were good little boys and girls and that Santa got you some of what you wanted. Hope you all stuff yourselves with all the great food and enjoy the company of your friends and family. Merry Christmas everyone!!! Such is the life of Joe...

Holiday Funk
Dude, I'm so bored...this whole day I did nothing at all. I was so bored that I even worked out for like 30 minutes because I didn't know that the gym closed early today (I should've known, it's freaking Christmas Eve). Seriously, so freaking bored. I could've called up friends, but you know me and the telephone. I don't call people, I just wait until they call me.

I know it sounds bad, but every single time I call someone just to say hello or see how they're doing, I feel like I'm butting in to what they're doing, that I'm wasting their time and preventing them from doing something they really want to do instead of talk to me, or that I'm just wasting their phone minutes. And this is compounded now because it's Christmas Eve and so I KNOW that people are with their families and stuff and so they won't want to talk to me, because it's family time. So what did I do today just watch TV and seriously, that's it.

Yeah, I dunno what it is...I think it's one of those funks that I'm in again. I always get this way around the holidays but this year it his pretty late.

I think it's also that I went to 2 extremes in 24 hours. Last night was a great time surrounded with friends at the The Crew's annual Christmas dinner. Great times with friends just eating, playing games, and just enjoying each other's company. It was great. Thank you Mr. Iglesias for the use of the house and Mr. Ninofranco for planning it.

And now it's today and right now I'm all by myself just sitting in my room. Just thinking and laughing about last night and the funny moments. I mean, how can you NOT laugh at: Stupid and Stupider *EVERYONE jumps up* DUMB AND DUMBER!!!! awwwww....how hilarious is that? Yeah, just one of those funks I'm in. I'll be better tomorrow when I get to see family and my lil nieces. Family always makes me feel better.

Ok, IPOD just finished my Dashboard Confessional playlist...and now it's playing some Tribe Called Quest...ok, no longer feeling depressed. Stupid Dashboard Confessional. Such is the life of Joe...

Kyle Howard
So my lil sis, Theda, told me that her roommate Rachelle is reminded of me everytime she sees this one actor on the WB show Related. Not so much in looks, but more in personality I guess? And Theda agrees with her and is reminded of me every time she sees him. But then her roommate said that EVERY time she sees him it reminds her of me. I've seen this dude in a number of films, the one that sticks out most in my head is OC.

I don't watch Related and all Theda told me was that it was a guy that likes the youngest sister. So I caught like 10 minutes of the show and there are 2 guys that like her. Well, there's the best friend that has a crush on her, and there's the guy that she has the crush on. The moment I saw both of them I somehow immediately knew which one she was talking about. So let me ask you this....does Kyle Howard remind you of me?

Yeah, I didn't think so. But thanks for the complement because he's dreamy.

James was in Irvine today for a little bit, which was a pleasant surprise. His work flew him in from up north because they were having a luncheon. I got to have a quick dinner with him after I got finished at the mall (which I still need to go to, all the people there were pissing me off). Yeah, good to see him and I'll see him this weekend for Christmas too.

Tomorrow is Cat's last day at work. She's moving onto bigger and better things for 2006. Am I sad about it? Yes and no, sad because it's gonna be super boring at work now, but happy because she's moving on to bigger and better things which she truly deserves. Funny how our paths have crossed multiple times at UCI but we were never friends, and we still weren't friends when she first started to work here at Stason, it wasn't until Danielle left that we started to hang out and became friends. Work is seriously gonna be completely boring now that she's not stopping by the lab every now and then for a quick chat, which made the day go by so much faster. And sure I'm gonna save money on lunch now, but the company at lunch completely made up for all the money I spent. Yeah, last day of our friendship...you'll make new friends probably at your new job since they'll all be fluent in English. No more drama at work means it's gonna be hella boring. Good luck in your new job!!!

It's pretty funny how working with aquaintances really strenghtens your relationship. First it happened with Danielle, who I knew at UCI, but I'd put us closer to aquaintances than friends for some reason...but now I can truly say we're friends with no question at all. Now it's Cat that's jumped from aquaintance to friend. Funny how I was scared of both of these girls when I first met them, back on the terrace, smoking their cigarettes, just nodding and saying "hey" when I was introduced to them and then going back to their smoking. Ahhhhhh...how things have changed.

Ok, Thursday is my last day of work this week. No work on Friday, but it's still gonna be a busy day. Gotta finish up some last minute shopping, lunch with Theda, and then the Crew's Christmas Party. How much work am I doing on Thursday anyways? None at all, and I don't care. Such is the life of Joe...

Procrastination
(no I'm not copying the title of Danielle's latest blog...just coincidence)
So my stupid car...once again there's something wrong with it. No, it's not the brakes, no it's not the tires. It's the radiator...it's cracked and needs replacement along with the thermostat. I noticed it yesterday on my way back from the Mall, I was in the Taco Bell parking lot when I noticed steaming coming from under my hood and my temperature gauge at its maximum. GREAT. Yeah, I should've known though because when I was getting my oil changed they told me I needed to get it replaced....and that was like 1.5 years ago! HA!

See, that's totally like me. Wait until the last minute. Sure I knew the problem and could've fixed it before but I didn't, I waited until I couldn't drive anymore. Sure I know I should buy Christmas presents now...but I'm gonna wait until the last minute. Sure, I know I need glasses...but I'm not gonna get them until I have to. Sure, I know I should go get a physical at the doctors just as a routine procedure...but I'm probably not gonna go until something's wrong with me (knock on wood). Call it laziness, being cheap (I don't wanna spend the money until I need to), or whatever....but it's what I do. Let's be honest....I'm a procrastinator, and that's no surprise.

So the car's being fixed overnight and won't be ready until tomorrow. So thanks to Cat for taking me back home and hopefully for remembering to pick me up tomorrow for work. Well, actually it might not be a bad thing if she forgets to pick me up for work tomorrow...I'll just chill at home. That would be grand!!!

So sleeping with the heater on kinda sucks. Well, actually not sleeping sleeping, but napping with the heater on sucks. It seems like every time I nap, I wake up and my nose/mouth are FREAKING DRY! It's weird that it doesn't happen when I actually wake up in the morning, it only happens when I wake up from a nap. Weird, no?

Ok, tomorrow is Wednesday...usually hump day...but in reality it's my Thursday! WOO HOO to short weeks!!! WOO HOO!!! Such is the life of Joe...

Let's Be Honest...
...soon it'll be 2006 and you'll be same person! HA!

Started to feel a lil sick on Friday but my super immune system kicked in and prevented me from becoming really sick. Jovan's house for Christmas decorations was no help either because it was SUPER cold in that house. I wanted to start a fire in the fireplace, it was that cold. Good times though. Jay, your room still scares the hell out of me.

Saturday it started off with lunch at my Aunt's in La Palma (right near John John's). Hanging out with the family is always cool especially since the cousins are older and we can joke around more than we used to. Pretty weird, but nice. It was also nice to see my cousin Katrina back from college in Indiana. Yeah, I know what you're asking...why would you wanna go out to Indiana (and not even Indiana University or Notre Dame, it's Depaugh University a tiny Liberal Arts College) for college?

Headed out to the Hamilton House's Christmas party and met up Jevon there. Good times there, lots of food, and too much alcohol. Yeah, Seng's friends drink way too hard for my likes...shoot, Cat and Danielle drink too hard for my tastes! But Seng's friend was pouring shots and you know those glasses that usually hold jack and cokes? He would pour those 1/2 full of Henny for shots....people were saying it was 6 gulpers. Good thing I didn't take any of those. Crazy! Yes, I threw up eventually in the night, but at least it didn't come out my nose this time!!! Yeah, good times. White elephant gift exchange and I got a Lord of The Rings Calendar....booo, I mean, YAY? And SOMEBODY started a water fight...pshhhh...good one somebody!!! Thank you to Cat, Seng, and the rest of the Hamilton house for a great party.

And finally, my condolenses to Lou because his Colt's finally lost a game. And not only did they lose the game, they just lost badly, they were NEVER in the game at all. At least you can rest your starters from now on and not have the pressure of a perfect season over your head.

This week is gonna be sooooooo unproductive, I'm gonna tell you that right now. Got some personal time hours that I need to use up, plus a butt load of sick time to use up as well (don't wanna use it all up because I can get reimbursed for those). Plus it's a short week!!! YAHOO! Hope you all have a great week! Such is the life of Joe...

Would You Rather...
So this question came up when Joesan and I were watching ER one night. I guess that this doctor was giving a patient a rectal exam and the patient really didn't appreciate it and got up and was holding the doctor up against the wall by the throat. So in his defense, the doctor took his poop covered finger and put a tiny dollip of poop on the dude's nose.

When we were watching it we both said that it would be so much worse if the doctor stuck it up his nose. Which led to my question....
WOULD YOU RATHER: Have a piece of poop put up in your nose, or in your mouth???

My answer? Definitely my mouth. Sure I'll taste it, but then I can spit it out and/or throw up and so I wouldn't taste the poop at all anymore. If it's up your nose, you can't get that smell out. Sure you can blow your nose and get most of poop out, but there'll be remnants and you'll smell the poop for at least a couple days. There's no way you can get that smell out now matter how hard you blow your nose. So yeah, definitely the mouth. How about you guys????

Had our Christmas lunch today...on Wednesday. What the heck is that about? Who does this on a Wednesday? Can't they wait until Friday so after lunch we can just go home? Why do it on a Wednesday, stuff us with food, and expect us to go back to work the rest of the day...then come back and work Thursday and Friday. Such a let down. And in our raffle I won a Bailey's gift set! WOOOO!!! Too bad I didn't get the big prizes like the TV, Bike, DVD Player, Digi Camera, or PS2. I really wanted that Bike though...I seriously would try riding that thing to work if I did win it. It's only about 5 miles or so, I think. Oh yeah....and another thing...Bailey's is NOT wine. So don't call it a wine set...annoying!!!

Ok, short update for the middle of the week. Gotta do some shopping today for presents. Oh yeah, and for presents for OTHER people too. Such is the life of Joe...

Ropa Vieja!!!
Friday, did nothing. Saturday, did nothing. Sunday, lunch and church...the end. Fun weekend, huh?

Some one tell me not to take a "nap" after work on Friday's, no matter how tired I am. Because what was supposed to be a nap, turned out to be a 2 hour nap. Waking up to a headache is not fun, and waking up more tired than you originally are, is not fun. Yeah, that was Friday.

Saturday was a looooooong day spent traversing the land and shopping for presents and also for myself. Good times, but tiring times. So freaking tired when I got home, but I didn't take a nap! I actually was amped to go out! Too bad no one else was...which was alright with me because I was SUPER SUPER tired. Instead, I just watched "Serendipity" which Cat lent me and called it a night. Pretty good movie, although it was pissing me off. Why was it pissing me off? Because they kept on missing each other by like seconds! It was so frustrating!!! I kept on yelling at the TV and yelling at Anna who I was chatting with that this movie sucks. HA HA HA. But yeah, good movie...

Sunday, I was treated to Lunch at Habana in the Anti-Mall for lunch by Chris and Iya for my birthday (since Iya couldn't make it out on my real birthday). Thanks Iya and Chris!!! So freaking good...mmmmm...ropa vieja!!! Mmmmm....banana fritter!!! SOOOOOOOO Good!!! Thanks for Lunch guys! I took them to church at St. John Neumann's where I was hoping that they would play "Lean On Me" since Iya was there, but alas, it's too deep in the Christmas season that they didn't play it. Yeah, I warned them of Father Bernard's soothing voice that practically lulls you to sleep. It totally lulled this guy who was sitting in front of us because he was alseep the whole homily.

Oh yeah, CONGRATULATIONS to my lunch buddy!!! The new year is gonna bring you a new job!!! HOORAY! But sucks for me. Sucks for me because my favorite people at work always end up leaving me. First it was Danielle, now it's Cat. Boooooo!!! Yeah, but it's alright, it's good news because she totally deserves a better job. I think the only reason that Cat was my friend is because after Danielle left, she had no one to have lunch with and since I'm one of the only native English speakers at work she had to make friends with me so she wouldn't eat lunch by herself. HA! But congratulations again! I KNEW you would get it! HOORAY!

Ok, so ummmmm.....thank you Chris and Iya for a delicious lunch, congratulations Cat, happy belated birthday Rex, hooray you're finished with finals Theda!, and good luck on Tuesday Anna! I think that's it? Ok, new week! Aren't you guys excited?!?!?! blahhhhhhhhhhhh....Such is the life of Joe...

lazy ass
Nothing to talk about at all...nothing. Just randomness:

I got my new driver's license. I really like the picture I took. I remember seeing in a magazine somewhere of this one model's driver's license picture and it was her staring at the camera over her shoulder with perfect hair and everything. It was pretty crazy. I didn't know you could pose like that. In fact, when I first took my first picture when I was 16, I didn't know you could smile. Like I thought you had to just look straight forward like a mug shot (although I'm pretty sure you can smile in mug shots, right?).

When I stayed over at Pat and Gwen's this past weekend, I was pleasantly surprised with a pair of house slippers just for me!!! They had "joe" written under the left foot and "elmo" written under the right foot (BOOOOOO!!!!!). WOW! Guess that shows how much I stay over at their place. But I'm not the only one who has their own pair, it's everyone who frequents that place. Thanks Pat and Gwen!

Went shopping on Monday at Macy's to take advantage of the 20% Friends and Family coupon. Too bad I went there on the last day instead of on the first day on Wednesday. There really wasn't anything that I bought. All I bought was this one shirt for myself and I did see this awesome jacket that I wanted, but wow, still too expensive with the 20% off. I wanted to buy something for Dad but there was nothing his size on what I thought he would like. Oh well....

So the shirt that I did buy from Macy's was this green shirt. But not emerald dark green, but like GREEN! Like green green. Dunno if it's too green for me, but one of my favorite t-shirts is green green. That green t-shirt is the only article of clothing that I've actually gotten complements on. I guess the green green goes with my skin color. We'll see...

So who's tried Google Talk, google's chatting program? Just wanna know if it's any good. Probably not so different than AIM. AIM rules all.

Been itching to go work out, but it's so freaking cold out there!!! AND I'm freaking lazy. My work out clothes are just sitting there in my car waiting for me to put them to use. So maybe I'll go tomorrow, on Thursday.

Yeah, I know I should've went and worked out today since there really wasn't anything on TV today. No LOST and I totally forgot about Veronica Mars (I hope that it was a rerun?). What did I do instead? I just went home and watched TV...I have no idea what I was watching, but I watched it. Damn, I should've worked out.

Ok, that's my mini update for today...nothing really to say. Looking to the weekend as I always do. Gotta start some Christmas shopping. Such is the life of Joe...

2 x's 14
BEST WEEKEND EVER!!! Yeah, that's what this weekend was. BEST WEEKEND EVER!!! Why was it the best weekend ever? Because it was super busy spent amongst the people I love the most...my friends and family.

First off, a big THANK YOU to all my friends and family that took me out to lunch, wished me a happy birthday, sent ecards, sent emails, called, and even texted on Friday (and even on Thursday). Pretty funny because my Dad texted and left me a voicemail a day before my birthday...but that was because family in the Philippines texted him to tell me happy birthday. AND Belle sent me an e-card 3 hours too early (ha ha ha). Thank you everyone for wishing me a happy birthday.

I can't believe that I'm so freaking old now. I mean, I don't think I thought and felt as old as I do now on my last birthday. In fact, I can't even tell people my freaking age. I have to tell them that I'm 2 x's 14 years old. MAN! That's such a big number. BOOOOOOO!!! Maybe in a couple months I'll be able to say my age with no problem....

Yeah, so the weekend started on Friday at D&B's to celebrate my birthday. Thank you to all who came out, especially to those who drove a long way to help me celebate. Thank you (I guess) to all those that got me drinks. It just confirmed that I cannot take shots, especially if they smell like tequila. BLECH! Mr. Nathan came out to play! One of the highlights of the night because I haven't seen him in a while. Also seeing the bald headed LA guys drunk off their asses (more specifically Edwin) and the things that came out of his mouth. But thank you to every single person that came out. I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Oh yeah, so I'll talk about throwing up since it's everyone's favorite topic. So after that Patron shot Belle and Lou got me, I threw up, but just threw up the shot, it was all liquid, wasn't that much at all. THEN after more drinks I took a long sip of Jovan's Vodka Tonic, and I dunno why...but it made me really nauseated and so I ran to the restroom where I threw up my whole stomach...it was awesome. And when I throw up from my stomach up it's uncontrollable because not only does it come out my mouth...it also comes out my nose. So after throwing up I blew my nose and all these food chunks (remnants of my fries and burger that I had just ate a couple hours earlier) came out. AND the whole rest of the night, it smelled like vomit (since it came out my nose) so I tried to breathe threw my mouth the rest f the night. HA HA HA. OK, I dunno if that's TMI, but there you go...that's what happened.

Saturday I went to my Tita's because it's my neice, Makaylee's, 2nd birthday party!!! YAY! Makaylee is so cute and so big now, but she's still a little timid around me since I rarely get to see her. Her little sister Malina is a lot bigger than the last time I saw her. Both so cute. So I basically hung out with family the whole day and ate so much food. It was great. I decided to take off and meet up with some LA Peeps to head out to the Abbey to meet Mel's new girlfriend (aka, my nemesis...ha ha ha, j/k j/k). Thanks for surprising me with the song and flan at Aculpoco's. Sorry to Cat and Danielle for not getting to hang out with you, but I'm glad you had fun at the Kanye concert. And of course thanks to Pat and Gwen for letting me sleep over at their place once again.

Got to head back to Tita's to go to church with the family and spend more time with my neices Makaylee and Malina. I can't get enough of them...they're so cute!!! Oh yeah, and I KNEW that none of my relatives would remember my birthday because they were so busy preparing for Makaylee's, and I really didn't mind. But I was surprised when my cousin Kathy (Makaylee and Malina's mom) remembered and told everyone. HA HA HA. They kinda felt bad, but it's alright...I had more fun celebrating Makaylee's birthday. It was her day. After eating and watching most of "Sky High" (pretty entertaining movie, by the way), I headed over to play some softball, where I realize I need some hitting practice!!! 0 for 2!!! with one strikeout! Who the heck strikes out in soft pitch softball? I DO! HA HA HA! Good times though, even though we lost.

So yeah, the whole weekend caught up to me and now I'm dead tired. So much fun spending time with friends and family. That's the best part. You gotta love it.
Birthday Weekend Pics

Ok, start of a work week. Everyone loves that. BLAH! Maybe do some Christmas shopping afterwards (gotta use my 20% off at Macy's, lemme know if you want a copy, expires on Monday). Oh yeah, VERONICA MARS is an AWESOME show. Ok, the end...such is the life of Joe....