Okay, so the housing office killed my internet like 3 weeks ago (most likely for downloading/sharing). Luckily for me there was an empty room in the apartment and I had an extra long cable. So for 3 weeks that's what I've been using.
And then one of the network guys comes in and sees the cable, so he disconnects it and locks the vacant room.
Sweet. Cockblocked again.
And now I have a hunch that they blacklisted my laptop's wireless, so even connecting to another person's router will get their internet killed just like mine.
So this week I have endless papers and website projects to take care...and no internet. I can't connect to the empty room cuz its locked. I can't connect via wireless because it'll get killed in 5 minutes. So the only option left for me is to do my work at the student union where they have free wireless (that won't ban me).
Just for reference, I got here at 3:15pm.
The time is now 9:25pm.
On a sidenote, I realized that there's actually a lot of hotties here at Cal Poly. For the most part they like to walk thru the Union.
Bros before hoes. Bitches come and go. Some of them stick around, some a lot longer than others. Some are worth it, some aren't. But whatever you do, whoever you're with, never forget your true friends -- they're the ones that'll always be around when you need 'em.
If you're in a situation where a bro might get hurt, give 'em a heads up. If you ever face a decision that could potentially hurt a bro, ask 'em about it first. Its not about asking for permission -- its about showing them respect. Its that simple little gesture that says, "I love you like a brother, and I'll do everything I can to keep you as one." It makes all the difference.
Its not just what you say, its also how you say it.
Its not just what you do, its also how you do it.
I will love you on the condition that you will love me.
I will respect you on the condition that you will respect me.
I will walk that extra mile for you on the condition that you're willing to walk that extra mile for me.
(Unconditional love only exists within family, like between a mother and a newly-born child. Blood is thicker than anything. Everything else requires reciprocation.)
If you stab me in the back, the wound eventually heals but a scar remains forever.
if there's one blog post / survey that i look forward to doing, its this one. this is my third year doing it, which i guess it officially a new years tradition for me.
yeah yeah, i've been neglecting my blog for the past several weeks. for those of you that are feeling mel my finger withdrawal, here's what i've been up to:
School
entrepeneurship class (EBZ306) was aight. i had the professor in the past and he knows i know my shit. finished with an A-.
internet law class (FRL410) was cool. class was mostly computer geeks like me, along with a nice ratio of girls. lotsa times our discussions went off track and bunch of us tech saavy guys ended up talking about the not-so-legal stuff we've done on the internet. on a side note, the classroom's theromostat was broken, so the whole quarter we were freezing our asses off. (oh yeah, on another sidenote...god bless hard nipples. ) exams were easy and the 20 page research paper was a breeeeeeze. finished with an A.
finance class (FRL301) was a biaaaatch!! i retook the professor that completely and utterly failed me for the prerequisite finance class. the entire grading system was based on 3 exams. the first exam i got a 51%. :down: but hey, the class average was a 50%. the class average for the 2nd exam was a 50% too...but this time i scored a 28%. i know the professor curves at the end of the quarter, so basically i had one last chance -- the final exam. i studied my ass off and...
i got a 100%!! in your mouth, biaaaaatch!!!
volleyball class is always fun. my original volleyball coach was laid off so we ended up with the weight-lifting coach. my god, she has to be the buffest woman i've even met. i got pretty tight with her...but it wierded me out when she started saying things like "you have great arms." these pathetic things??? here i am, standing in front of Ms. Weight-Lifting of OC, getting complimented for my arms. "you have great calves too." i do???
she's cool though. finished with an A.
basketball class is always fun too...except this quarter, i sprained my ankle and i was out for 5 weeks. get this: i sprained my ankle walking to the gym to play basketball. walking. i stepped into a pot hole and totally jacked up my right ankle. butt its all good because when i got back, my team, Monstars Part II, marched onwards to our second straight championship. Spring 2005 & Fall 2005 Champs, baby!! that brings me to a total of 13 seasons, 5 finals appearances and 4 championships for me.
so yeah, a very productive quarter...i'm officially left with 7 classes before i graduate!!
5-Year Highschool Reunion
i forgot to make a post about this...but i had my 5-year reunion at Webb in october. i hardly took any pics but it was really chill seeing a bunch of familiar faces again. seriously, a bunch of these faces i haven't seen since graduation (or should i say, the after-grad party). one highlight was getting drunk with the dean.
oh yeah, the night before, some of the guys got drunk and snuck onto campus, knocking on the doors of freshmen in the dorms. wish i was there for that.
Drama
many of you guys know about my drama this past quarter. pretty lame but whatevers...i know who my real friends are because of it.
here's a quick rundown of my food journal entries this past quarter.
Cheesesteaks @ Philly's Best »this place is freakin' awesome!!! they ship the ingredients straight from philly...can't get any more authentic than that outside of philly.
A great teacher once told me that your personality and character should be comprised of what you Like and Love, not that which you dislike and hate. Dwelling on these things only allows them to consume you. There are a lot of things to hate....but what a waste of life.
that's all for now. have a very merry christmas, stay away from yellow snow and use protection!!!
throughout my life, i have seen numerous guy friends get whooped. whooped by some girl who isn't going to mean much to him in the long run. but during that short period of time when the relationship is rolling, the guy tends to forget about his other responsibilities. this is where i come in to set everything straight.
bros before hoes. that's the one and only rule. well, don't cheat on the gal...i guess that's another rule. but anyways, i'm not saying that all girls are hoes or anything, so ladies, don't get offended. it's just a generalized term used to describe all the women out there who mess with a guy and take him away from his friends.
a lot of times, it's necessary to take a step back and look at the big picture. if all your life you grew up with a group of guys, then you must place them higher than any short term girlfriend. it makes sense b/c the longer you know someone, the more you should trust them and the more they should mean to you. the problem with guys is that we always think with our hormones and not our heads, so when you meet this girl, you are willing to drop everything for her b/c you think she is perfect. (which goes back to my other point in the other plan that guys tend to think they know the girl well when they really don't). so they drop everything for this girl and he loses all contact with his other friends...but after the relationship ends, he finds himself with no friends to turn to, since he betrayed them all. hahaha. who you gonna turn to now, boy??? IDIOT!
but there is also a lot of misconception as to when or how a guy disses his boy by choosing the girl over his boys. scenario: you promise the girl you'd have lunch with her and then later the guys ask if you want to join THEM for lunch. you say no b/c you're supposed to eat with your girl. are you a diss? NO, you're just trying to be a man of your word. guys who consider that to be a diss are a bunch of morons. but if the girl messes with your previously arranged plans with your guy friends, then there's a prob. or when all you ever talk about with your guy friends is your girlfriend, then there is also another prob. or when the guy is willing to do much bigger favors for the girl than for his boys, then there is a HUGE problem. i know guys who'd drive the girl practically anywhere but would have a fit if you asked him for a ride home. bitter? nah...it just makes decisions about how much you wanna invest in the friendship a lot more easier. actually, to be honest, i haven't been dissed a lot by guy friends...but that's only b/c my friends and i are all losers who can't get any girls anyways. But you can still be a diss even if you never have a girl...lots of guys drop their friends in PURSUIT of a girl...and they end up empty handed. haha.
the true character of a guy is revealed by how he treats his guy friends. anyone can be sweet to a girl that he likes, but it takes a lot more character to be generous and understanding to another guy. why? because close guy friends have nothing to offer unless you're a flaming homosexual with overpowering strength (tom kim) and also b/c since the guys are so close, you can observe how he acts around those who he feels comfortable around. so if he treats his close friends like crap, then be ready to expect the same from him later down the line when he feels comfortable around you. that's why i hate guys who are nice to girls and only girls. girls justify it by saying "well, you just gotta get to KNOW him and his sensitive side...he's just misunderstood..." i say that it's a bunch of BS. a jerk is a jerk is a jerk. they just show no character or class.
girls tend not to ever realize that they are taking their "man" away from his guy friends. so girls, try to be more aware of everything. understand that a guy needs his guy friends, just as a girl needs her girl friends. be understanding if he needs to sacrifice time with you to be with the friends he grew up with. a hoe ain't gonna understand and will demand that the guy give her all of his attention 24/7. a real woman is secure enough in the relationship to loosen that leash a little so that he can live a halfway normal life.
guys, don't lose sight of what's important. don't put all your eggs in one basket, cuz if it falls, then not only do you lose all your eggs, but you feel like a loser for dropping the basket, too. but if you want the girl to understand your need to be with your boys, then make sure you can make her secure in the relationship, otherwise you aren't doing your job as a man. don't be with the guys and neglect the girl, either. but all in all, girls come and go, but friends...well, friends come and go, too. but it just looks better to drop a hoe than to drop your friends. remember, she may be sweet, she may be wonderful, but if she tries to take you away from what made you YOU, then she ain't nuthin' but a HOE. =)
Alan: what's this one do? Lady: it goes BOOOM. Alan: what about this one? Lady: BOOOOOOOOM!!! Alan: and this one? Lady: BOOOOOM!!!! crackle crackle crackle.
happy face massage, anyone??
all you can eat reception!!
the saudi sandal mafia.
aight, we're drunk...lets dance!!!
Alan:dude, you look like a gay rambo
Sunday, October 16, 2005 - the morning after
cherry bomb: $2. fine for blowing up shit: $40. blowing up shit like when we were kids: priceless.
parting shot:
candids:
just another one of those amazingly long yet amazingly short weekends. the days were so jam packed with fun it seemed to last forever...but looking back on it it didn't last long enough. but nonetheless...congratulations again, amy!!!
// ah man, the first day of class...summer is officially over. just a quick recap for shits and giggles.**one new toy that kept me entertained throughout the summer was my new digi cam. this baby entertained me when i was alone for several nights.
classes were actually really cool too, even though they were all freakin' freshmen classes. i've been pushing back my public speaking class for years because i dreaded the subject, but i managed to make the best of the situation with my speeches (How to Gain Weight Fast, Imperfection).
once again i maintained my straight A's and B's.
(on a sidenote, i slept in on the fisrt 40 minutes of my history exam. but the cool thing is i still pulled out with a B. )
almost everyday after class i'd kick it at the pool with chin, where he would teach me the art of the bellyflop.
we even collaborated on the invention of the backflop.
the crappy nights in my crappy apartment are finally over with. i'm finally living in the village with a buncha montecito crew OGs.
for phoebe's birthday, chin hooked us up with tickets for disneyland.
towards the end of august, some of the saudi crew was back in the states so we had a little saudi shindig at my place.
beginning of september, the highlight of my summer, was eating white castlejulie's wedding.
last weekend, mike and i decided to road trip over to arizona to visit chelsea. maaaan, that was a long ass drive...but it was worth it. (sorry, we only managed to take a very few pics)
on the flight to new york i was flipping thru those lame Sky Mall catalogs. normally the products they sell are pretty lame but i found a few pages dedicated to those Inspirational Posters that you see around. there was this one poster in particular that caught my eye:
The Power of Attitude
Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens; not by what life brings us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst....a spark that creates extraordinary results.
daaamn, that was deep; and its so true.
if you remember my Energy & Emotions deep thought, i talked about how positive and negative emotions are just like energy -- than can not be created nor destroyed, only converted from one form or another. if you think about it, your attitude is what determines whether outside forces are converted to positive or negative emotions.
i'm sure you can think of a few people that are pessimists. you can mention just one word to them and they could go on for hours just bitching about it.
i remember in highschool i was talking to this one girl...
Girl #2: hey, i like your shirt!! Girl #1: thanks!! Girl #1: (bitch...)
instead of being happy for the compliment, the girl i was talking to started bitching.
Girl #1: she's jealous of me. Girl #1:she's supposed to say 'you look great in that shirt.' Girl #1:the way she said it, it implies that the shirt looks good but i don't.
you see what i mean? clearly, Girl #2 was just giving a compliment but Girl #1 managed to twist the whole situation and turn it into negative feelings. crazy, eh? that's the way pessimistic people work -- everything that happens becomes personal in a negative way.
okay, so that's the pessimistic side; that's one end of the spectrum of attitude. but lets not forget that there are two sides of every spectrum. if there's someone that can always find something to bitch about, then at the opposite end of the spectrum there has to be the person that can always find the light in any situation. this person is the optimist. (duh)
you see, the optimist understands that life will have its ups and downs. the optimist understands failure and learning from mistakes. the optimist understands imperfection.
so why is it that we find so many pessimists in our lives and not enough optimists? why is it that we can easily scroll down our buddylists and find at least one person saying something negative in their profile or away message?
all it takes is changing the way we think. and when we do that, life becomes a whole lot more pleasant.
having said that, i'd like to leave you with one last quote (which is a personl favorite of mine):
Stress is not caused by others; its caused by our reaction to others.
ah man, i was waiting all summer for this weekend. 4 days, 3 nights in new york and a buncha saudi crew that i haven't seen together in a loooooong time.
here's a photojournal of what happened:
Thursday - September 1, 2005
i flew out of LAX @ 11pm and landed in newark, new jersey @ 6am EST. my next flight wasn't until 9:05am so i decided to do something productive...
at the airport taxi booth:
Taxi Ladi: destination, sir? Mel: white castle!! Taxi Ladi: excuse me? Mel: WHITE CASTLE!!!Mel: the closest white castle around!! Taxi Ladi: Taxi Ladi: you want a cab for some burgers?? Mel: damn straight!!
so about $13 later...
unfortunately when i got there, only drive-thru was open. its all good though cuz when i got to the airport...
(what you're looking at is 10 cheeseburgers...and that's not even including the other 10 cheeseburgers in the other bag!!)
so anyways, about 9 burgers and a couple hours later i met up with alan @ albany airport.
Alan: so amy's picking us up, right? Mel: yeah, i'll call her right now Mel: ....hmmm, no answer. its all good, she knows we're here.
45 minutes later...
Mel: yeah umm, i guess she doesn't know...
a bagillion phone calls (and a quick visit by julie & mr. craig) later, alan and i were finally picked up by amy. praise the lord!!
this was the first time that we had seen baby anna isabelle.
the rest of the afternoon was mainly munching on the extra white castles, swimming @ the pool and taking a nap until josh flew in @ 7:30pm. oh yeah, throughout the afternoon the white castles from breakfast started kicking in:
Mel: Alan: yuck!!! Amy: your farts smell like white castle!!! Mel:
not too long after we picked up josh, the guys headed over to saratoga for a little bar hopping while the girls had their little Girls' Night Out. we spent a lot of time playing some drunken shuffle board @ some irish pub:
after the bar hopping, we had the munchies so we headed over to the closest gas station. i stocked up on pudding, cookies and half-and-half (i thought that stuff was milk ). oh yeah, how can i forget the cashier chick...
Cashier Lady: i just have to ask...are you hawaiian? Mel: hawaiian? nah, i'm filipino. i have a little hawaiin in my blood though. Cashier Lady: oh okay... Cashier Lady: well, i probably shouldn't say this because my co-worker might tell my husband Cashier Lady: but you are a very nice looking man
yeah that's right, she wanted my balls.
so after our munchies, we passed out.
Friday - September 2, 2005 - josh's 23rd birthday
the next morning alan, josh and i got a rental car @ enterprise. (note to self: enterprise's underage fee was only $22.50/day compared to $115/day @ budget.) we drove down to poughkeepsie then took a smelly train to grand central station.
oh look, there's some turkish dude waving to us!!
(for the guys that are wondering, erol is now workin 100+ hours/week @ JPMorgan. )
we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around new york city. and of course, there was a hot dog stand literarly on every street corner.
by the time we got to erol's kickass apartment ($3,000/month between two people ), we were tired as hell. we ended up playing some FIFA 2005, ordred in some chinese delivery and watched some crazy movie until we passed out.
Saturday - September 3, 2005
it was a good quick trip to nyc, but we had to get up early so we'd make it back in time to albany airport to pick up samir's ass.
some parting shots:
we got in around 12:30pm, just in time to pick up this brown man:
after picking up samir, we went to the mall to meet up with amy, cathy and daniel h. but of course, that little drive didn't happen without a few wrong turns (i was the navigator)...
driving nowhere:
Samir: i don't think the mall is this way Alan: minus 5 for melvin!! Mel:
a few miles later
at some random toll booth:
Alan: wtf, we have to pay to get off this toll and then get back on?? Mel: fuck it, just flip a bitch [do a u-turn] here!!
we found our way to the toll booth that got us onto the freeway...
Toll Lady: ticket, please. Toll Lady:reads Toll Lady: Toll Lady: i'm supposed to charge you all the way from buffalo for doing this. Toll Lady: its illegal to do a u-turn on the freeway!! Toll Lady: but i'll let you guys go this time. Everyone:
fast forward a few hours later...it was wedding time!!
Toast!!:
Drunken Josh: cheers!!! Drunken Josh:pounds champagne like a shot Alan: sloncha!! Alan:drinks Mel: KINKY!!! Mel:drinks Alan: ...dude mel, its "clinky" not "kinky" Alan: and josh, you take a sip, not pound it.
yes, the meditaranean chicken was good.
the wedding cake was f'ing orgasmic.
the group shot:
Alan: yo, remember that one 9th grade prom picture with us guys??
well, we didn't have mike there so we got josh instead.
all in all the wedding was beautiful, the stony brook crowd was cool, the mother-in-law was drunk and Cotten Eye Joe will always be a kickass party song.
after the reception we headed over for some bar hopping in saratoga again.
(note to self: a buncha guys walking into a bar while rockin their suits is an awesome way of making a fashionable entrance)
drunken josh and sam kept us entertained for the rest of the night. as you can see from samir's post, the drunken josh show went a little longer than necessary...
in the parking lot:
Alan: dude, i have to piss so bad!! Alan:runs behind the corner Drunken Josh: yeah, me too. Mel: well get in line then, bitch!! Drunken Josh: ...i can't hold it anymore... Drunken Josh:pisses in the middle of the parking lot police light flashes on josh*
Sunday - September 4, 2005
ah, good 'ol sunday brunch. a time to catch up and reflect on the previous night; and tell everyone that wasn't there about the drunken josh show.
and now for some parting shots:
and the obligatory poses:
you know, i think the best thing about our crew is the fact that when we're all put into the same room -- even after a long period of not seeing eachother -- its like we never skipped a beat. its never awkward. and if it ever is, the awkwardness doesn't last very long.
congratulations once again, will & julie. we wish you all the very best!!
