Friday night, despite being tired from the workday, I had fun at the Velvet Lounge in San Francisco. Umang hooked us up with one of the rooms at the VL and we (Iris, Maya, Adam, and me) chit chatted and lounged on stylish furniture. That was until Iris made her move and got her groove on. Then Maya, Adam, and I went into the main room to stop our ears from bleeding. I’m all for some thumpity music, but my god people when you can’t hear yourself when you are SHOUTING, then something is wrong. The main room was still very loud, but a relief compared to the first. After some chitchat and trying not to fall asleep (party pooper, I know) we left the club in search of Maya’s home. After touring SF, Maya finally remembered where her mother lived and we dropped her off. A quick stop at Nick’s Restaurant in San Leandro (where we would have had to do dishes had Adam and Iris not had cashola) and the night was over.

The rest of the weekend was either spent infront of a computer screen, a movie screen, or a big-screen tv.

I saw Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow with Adam and his ‘rents — FUN movie. I loved.. loved.. LOVED how they filmed it. They tossed in some 40’s(?) style movie details (ya know how they overlap scenes and they’re at wonky angles?) that really added to the movie. The mixture of the era and storyline was very unique. Go see it, I can’t say any more on it. But if you’re only like standard dramas or comedies, don’t go.

As you can see below, I purchased The Sims 2. I was on the Sims patch for some time, but I ripped that baby right off and now I’m addicted again.

So far I have created Adam, myself, Iris, and Maya. Adam and I had two twin girls (Mom, Dad, it’s a GAME. Please don’t freak out on that last sentence, mmkay?) and while Adam was tending to a screaming Samantha in another room, I tried to deal with a screaming Chloe. Apparently you need to make sure to keep your Sim fed and well rested because … well… my character was not and she died. Fell down infront of poor, screaming Chloe. So I did what any normal game player would do — I restarted the loaded game from the last time I had saved it. Pre-children!

Oh and I watched the Raiders game.. and may I say.. WHOO HOO!! EAT THAT CHUCKIE! ::clears throat:: Hee.. Sorry

Damn compulsive purchases.

Now here’s hoping my computer loves me and works well with this game.

UPDATE: My computer hates me.

In my make-believe life, I am not ruler of a world.

In my make-believe life, I do not have a trillion-zillion dollars.

I daydream of a life in a small coastal town (Sea Ranch, Gualala, Mendicino, Jenner) where I wake up smelling the breeze off the ocean, watching fog roll in and burn away by noon.

I sit on my deck and have coffee and read the morning paper, being sure to attempt the crossword and check the daily horoscopes (merely to see what Iris would be up to )

Off to work! Working at a local paper or travel agency, or both. Taking photos, laying out the advertisements, and creating travel brochures, flyers, and other collateral – all bragging about the beautiful town I live in.

Evening brings dinner, evening photography, and walks on the trails along the coast. Some nights I paint on my deck.

…

OK, apparently I’m ready to retire.

I watched the sunset from these chairs, four nights in a row.

We had the most incredible view at the house we rented at Sea Ranch. From these chairs, if I took a mere four or five steps forward, I’d slip down a bluff and fall to what can only be described as “quite a mess” onto the jagged rocks and crashing water below.

I will post more photos soon… I promise!

Tonight I allowed myself to be Officially Excited. For the past few weeks, every now and then, I’d let out a burst of excitement.

I’m going to Sea Ranch!

Followed by a few shrieks and perhaps some waving arms. So what is this Sea Ranch that I speak of?

Coastal bliss.

In just two short days I will be on the beach. Nor-Cal beaches are much different than So-Cal beaches. In a matter of 15 miles the beaches of Sea Ranch change significantly. One moment you might be on Blackpoint Beach; soft sand, many people out to tan and children running around. Sandcastles and blankets sprinkled about.

Later in the day you’ve made your way to Shell Beach; aptly named because, well it’s littered with shells. Pebbles and shells.. everywhere.

Rocks, cliffs, sand.. Cool breezes…

I can’t wait to stand knee deep in the freezing water and just stare out into the ocean. It’s my favorite thing to do. I can’t wait.. two more days…

I’ve been to a handful of concerts; from small club gigs to multi-band music festivals to full scale mass-marketed concerts. I’d have to say that the Prince concert I attended on September 9th in Oakland had to have been one of the best – if not the best – concert I have ever been to.

Venue: Oakland Arena (next to the RAIDERS home – Network Associates Coliseum whoo!) Awesome venue. 5 stars! Whoever built the arena should have built the HP Pavilion cause that thing sucks.

Seats: Not the best I’ve had, but not horrible either! Matter of fact, at first glance they made us worried. But you know what, we had pretty damn good seats. Sure, we were not on the floor or even the first level. Oh hell, we had the bloodiest nose-bleeding seats in the house – but I saw Prince. I didn’t have to squint, and I didn’t have to watch the monitor the whole time. This is saying a lot considering the man is a tiny, tiny man.

Stage: In The Round is the most awesome idea ever. Whoever thought it up should get some kind of shiny award with their name on the bottom.

Music: I had forgotten how many Prince songs I actually knew. Offhand I could name a few, but as he continued to sing (and omg did he SING) songs were popping up left and right that I could sing along with. He did a montage-y song where he sprinkled in a lot of the classics. He sang some new ones off his new album.. and then he sang some songs that weren’t his.

Dancing: THE DANCING! He had people up on their feet.. he had a coolest little (again, he’s a tiny man) choreographed moments with various dancers. Oh it was fun to get up and dance to his music.

Attitude: The man has completely fooled me. I’ve seen countless videos/live shows on television and he seemed pretty wild ‘n crazy. Crazy hair. Crazy clothes. Crazy dancing. Then he pulls a 180 on you and portrays a completely somber, somewhat strange, man while answering questions in interviews. Very private man, which is cool. But when he was on stage, he thrived from the attention (which is good/natural for an entertainer) and warmed up to the audience immediately. There were even times (while singing Cream or On The Couch) when he’d crack jokes and play to the camera.

Loved it, loved every damn bit of it.

Oh and how could I forget…

Morris Day & The Time.

Whosit what? You say? Well pffft to you if you say that. They were the surprise opener for the concert. Funk is fun. Jungle Love baybee!

After meeting up at (apparently) the 1,000th Carls Jr. to pass out our tickets and discounted parking passes, Adam, Lonny, Cathrin, Thuy & her boyfriend, and I set out to Six Flags Marine World.

The last time the majority of us had been to this park, it was merely known as Marine World Africa USA. A name that I still call it today (much like how my parents continue to refer to Paramount’s Great America as “Marriot’s” because it was once owned by Marriot Hotels.) Some habits are hard to break.

:: Shouka the killer whale, as we were told, did not seem to be in the mood to participate in various tricks. Guess this means they did not feed her later that night and probably prodded her with various sticks while calling her names.

:: The walruses (walrii?) seemed very friendly and swam around the window. The trip to the walrus tank prompted many 50 First Dates quotes and general merriment.

:: The Stargate SG-1 2-D ride is located in the area that a Jurassic Park / Dinosaur ride used to be (various dinosaurs decorated the entrance/exit area to the ride. However, the Stargate story dealt with some futuristic-Cleopatra-type woman (Citra) who steals the key to all the Stargates. No worries however, our rag-tag team of 50+ themepark goers have saved the universe – all in a matter of 3 minutes. But apparently this means we still have to pay taxes and rent.

:: The Butterfly Garden – a favorite of mine since I was a wee little child – is still the same (yay!). Although, I had forgotten that it is a greenhouse and therefore the most humid location in California. Perhaps a new fad diet could be called Sweatin’ With the Butterflies – Spend a good hour walking around that building each day and you could drop to your goal weight in no time! We looked forward to walking out of the Butterfly Garden and into the 90+ degree weather outside.

:: Giraffes are fun to photograph.

Will update more later… for now..

Here are some photos.

And here are some more.

*NOTE: Vallejo is neither frozen tundra nor a war-torn county… but we like to think so.

Just curious.. if someone out there can help me. I’ve noticed that no matter what link I click (off my links page) that it says ‘www.jenguin.com’ and not the url of the site I’m actually at.

Any smarties out there willing to help me out?

Maybe it’s a coding problem… or it deals with my domain name/isp setup and reroute-goodness.

Perhaps Kendra would know – considering she’s Queen of Jenguin-ServerSpace..Land.

omg.

I could just scream. I just spent 45 minutes writing a post about great and wonderful memories… and I hit “publish” and it decides to tell me that my session has EXPIRED and therefore everything I just typed is now gone.

::seethe::

TiVo is my new friend.

Ok it has been my friend for awhile (from using it at home, to the last few months of using it here at the apt)… however I have FINALLY set some Season Passes up.

1. General Hospital: I had been out of the loop for several months (Elizabeth had a child?? Lucas is all grown up? Wha??) But thanks to my mother and TiVo I have been sucked right back in and am fully aware of random plots and character quirks and connections. Don’t roll your eyes at me – just be happy I’m not rambling on and on about the stories here… yet.

2. Queer Eye For The Straight Guy: I think I have yet to see an episode this season. I kept forgetting it was on.

3. Joey: It’s not on yet, but Adam and I will be out of town the day it premieres and I figured I might as well Season Pass it.

4. The Surreal Life: This one is a random selection. I was watching the Top 20 One-Hit-Wonders on VH1 and saw a commercial for this seasons Surreal Life. Duuude Jordan Knight, Dave Coulier, and Charo (and others, but these interest me the most). I promise not to get sucked into the world of reality tv (unless it’s Road Rules or the Real World marathons) – but I figured I’d give this one a try. (NOTE: I have seen the first episode and omg it was hilarious. I’m officially hooked on this show.)

That’s it for now.

I’ve watched more TV this Labor Day weekend than I have in WEEKS. I need to spend tomorrow outside!