Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Weekend Update

What's so cool about weekend updates again? Oh yeah, our future selves are supposed to enjoy it. I honestly haven't gone back and read any old posts about our weekends, but I guess I'm not future enough yet.

A couple of weekends have gone by before an update so I'll try to summarize real quick. Philip's birthday passed already. He's 24 now. I told him to keep aging and told myself to stop; that way one day we can be the same age. That would be cool. People came over the weekend before his actual birthday and we had some shots at my place then went to The Lot. Again. I think I'm officially done with that place. Wendy and I rode with Philip's friend Johnny and he backed up into a car while getting out of my driveway. No sweat, we will continue to party. Philip, Sam, Dennis, Eli, _____, ______ and ______ met us up there. Nikko and Mona passed out(or so they say. oOOOoOo.) on my couch before midnight. Bryan, Marianne and Rex left after their photo-booth session. I don't remember much from The Lot except that this short Vietnamese guy kept showing us his tattoos and saying he was part of some Wa Ching gang. No clue. We indulged him by fake-caring, but really we were mocking him hardcore. What are real-life gangsters doing at The Lot anyway? They should be at The Roxy.

Saturday I didn't really get to hang out with Philip. We had lunch w/ Gerry, Mona, Sam and Nikko at Freebirds and Same passed out at the table. Philip went to church and then Nikko's and I went home to take a nap before going to my friend Firas' "surprise" birthday party. It wasn't a surprise because Wood forgot to hide the mixers he bought for the party. Wood played bartender all night and made martinis that were really stinking good. I think he used Absolut Acai + sugar water + lemon juice + blueberries and mint. I told him to name it and he said, "Deep Throat". So typical. We went to Meteor where you can watch men shower on-stage and then took the party bus to JR's.

Fast forward. On Tuesday we went to CiCi's for Philip's 1st birthday dinner and then met up my friends at Baker Street. On Wednesday we went to Tokyo One with Philip's family for his 2nd birthday dinner and then went to D and B to meet up his friends. Philip and Dennis played basketball on the tall hoops and made someone behind me said, "Wow, they're good together." I documented that so he can feel cool about himself one day. Oh yeah, and the skee ball machine makes me so mad 'cause it never keeps score correctly. Someone needs to write to the headquarters like Ben Stiller does in Greenberg. Anyway, we play a million games and we win a million tickets and then we headed to Woodrow's. I wore heels all day and my feet were killing me to the point where it felt like there were knives in my shoes, but Mona had extra shoes so I borrowed those so I could continue to party. "Hi my name is Jessica and I like to party."

The following Friday we met up with Philip's new work-friend, Tanner and his girlfriend at Sherlock's. Dollar beers baby. We invited them to Donna's birthday at Dry Creek, which is really dry, but it's BYOB to make up for it. Beer pong against his co-workers at Pearl Bar after that and then drove allll the way out to Westchase to go to Brenda's skate party. Philip was thirsty and opened a bottle of water and chugged it all fast. Too bad it was vodka. Drove allll the way back to Washington and finished up the night there. Philip got mad at me for the usual and I got mad that he was mad that I was mad at him for being mad at me and then stayed mad for being mad. Like a dream within a dream within a dream's dream. Keeps things spicy.

On Saturday we went to Donna's 2nd birthday party at Pattie's pool. We didn't plan on going hard at all, but the shots kept coming and the beer was flowing. What can you do? Have fun is the answer. Had to cut the party short because Philip had birthday dinner #3 at Lucky Village with his entire family. We thought we were late, but we pulled up right as Marianne, Bryan and Philip's mom were getting there. After dinner we actually had a lean night. Took a power nap and woke up at 12:30 AM. We were so confused, cause it was a Saturday, and we don't waste Saturday nights. We ended up going to his brother's house to set up his new gift- a new 40" TV. Lucky. Watched Psych and Pirate Radio until the sun came up. Lean.

Friday, July 23, 2010

reverse post about ebc

Just typed out on my phone a huge awesome best post ever about engineering boot camp, but when I clicked publish it asked for me to log in, and then it brought back to an empty text box.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Interview Blues

So I don't know if I want to write about all my interviews since every one I've been on has been a bust. I always feel really good about it, and then comes the dreaded email: "blah blah blah you're too good for us blah blah blah."

On Friday I had an interview at Brand Extract, a marketing and ad agency next to the Aston Martin dealership. Ballin'! I got the lead from my friend Alyson and it turned out to be a random, last minute interview. I emailed my portfolio to them on Thursday afternoon and on Friday they asked me to come in at 4pm. The receptionist was listening to her ipod and had a bunch of lanyards of different colored paper cutouts of fish taped to her desk. She asked me if I wanted a drink. "Yes please. A beer." Fake laughing and then silence.

The laid-back atmosphere is exactly the environment that I've imagined myself working in. The group who interviewed me were all so cool with each other, like they had been friends for a really, really long time- telling each other to shut-it and making fun of each others' drinking abilities. They told me they have "Beerfest Fridays" or something like that. Totally my kind of company. Oh man, I'm getting sad right now 'cause I feel desperate for this job. Anyway, they gave me a lot of good pointers and we discussed my work. They said I needed some more commercial/corporate pieces and then the chief designer asked me which of my pieces I thought was the weakest. So then I pointed at the one I thought was the weakest. Then he said "WRONG! You never admit any of your pieces are weak!" Dang, he got me good. One of his colleagues said, "Wow, can't believe you fell for that." I got really hot and felt like my forehead was greasing over and then I felt an itchy-bump pop up on my chin, which is what happens when I get nervous or hot. Then I started getting really concerned about them seeing my itchy-bump and noticed myself using my pointer finger to cover it as I was talking to them. SO SMOOTH.

Friday, July 9, 2010

office happenings: New for real job

Started that new for real job at FMC Technologies on June 21st. After today, it will be 3 weeks. So far all I've done is study all the junk we make. Feels like school taught me one percent of this.

So I'll run through a typical day.

-Get here at like 8:03 and boot up computer, takes forever with the laptops they gave us.
-Start looking up on the internet on my phone. Download apps, look at cars I might get, play games on my phone, etc. Do all this while periodically looking in a binder with work stuff in it when I hear people walk by.
-Open up work stuff on my computer like the home FMC intranet page, Outlook, the softphone that goes with the bluetooth headset that no one uses, and some power point slides.
-Study for a little and play with my phone at the same time for the next few hours till lunch at 11:30.
-Take a dump between 830 and 10. Play with my phone in there until it there's no one else around, so I can come out. Also, listen to everyone explode into their toilets next to me.
-Lunch time until like 1230. Usually go to my brother's house to eat whatever they got, or go eat out with coworkers or jessica. My coworkers used to ask me everyday, but they figured out that I would say I'm just gonna eat at home unless it's wednesday, which is Wings n More day. First week, I never said no cause I was super new. It's not that boring to eat with them cause they're all only 1-3 years older than me.
-Come back at around 1230 and do the same thing until five that I was doing before lunch. I've spent a lot of time signing up and reading about my benefits and 401k and doing all these computer based trainings. Also, figuring out cool ways to use my phone, like blogging which took a while to figure out the best way to do it.

Today is actually the first day of engineering boot camp and starts at lunch. Maybe I'll talk about what it is after wards if I figure out what it is.

Perce!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Plastic runners video

So I wanted to include a video of the America's Funniest Videos' prank that I talked about in the last post. I googled "AFV pranks plastic runners" and one came up and I was sooooo happy someone else phrased it the exact same way.





I read straight to the bolded section and then when I looked at the title, I was very let down. Still can't find it.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Changes/Weekend Recap

This past week was SO RAINY. Hurricane Alex was en route to Mexico so we had to deal with some major tropical storm damage. Pouring rain, flooded streets, heat and humidity. Just a quick reminder of this week's setting.

So, on Thursday Philip came over around dinner time. (Haven't been seeing as much of each other since he started his job sooooo far away and lives at his brother's house soooooo far away.) Over the phone we planned on having Japanese food but Chris & Shara called and invited us to eat at Huynh's downtown which he said was BYOW. We're there. I was walking to the corner store to get two bottles when Philip pulled up to my house, so I made him walk with me. He was all disgruntled at the way I was holding the umbrella 'cause he was getting wet. I think people who are not holding the umbrella should have to keep up with the one holding it in order to make it work.

Huynh's was pretty good. Philip had the pho which I liked because it was heavy on the star anise (licorice flavor is what I like to call it). I had a charbroiled chicken rice plate which I thought tasted better at Pho Saigon. Two bottles of wine = not enough wine for 4 people. Shara didn't have to work the next day so we ended up going to her and Chris's house to have some bloody mary's. We woulda had some Sweet Tea, but it was a dummy bottle. Someone drank all of it and then refilled the bottle with soy sauce and water instead. So clever. Except my nose works so you can't fool me. Go ahead, insert big-nose-joke here. We played sing-star and I could only beat people when I harmonized with Philip and then we went to Glitter to continue the karaoking for a little bit.

On Friday Rex had a party at his house. He lives way out on the other side of the world too, so Philip just went there straight from his brother's house. I caught a ride with Chris and Shara and we decided to take 45 to the beltway which was THE WORST IDEA EVER. We were stuck in traffic for a straight hour because the feeder was completely flooded and cars were driving through the grass to come up onto the freeway. The whole time we were starving and we kept debating whether or not to exit and get some food. Texted Philip about what food was there and he said they ordered pizza which made my mouth water. When we got there I totally thought it was a pineapple pizza but it was grilled chicken. I'm pretty sure everyone got fooled by that too because statistically more people get pineapple pizza than chicken pizza, and that's a fact jack. Also, 48% of all statistics are made up. We played a lot of beer pong in Rex's garage with a million mosquitoes and million couches. His roommate is like the most useful roommate ever. He made a fan station to flow the A/C from inside the house to the garage and hooked up some speakers for music. But we didn't need either of those things to win the first 4 rounds of beer pong. Win! Win! Win! Philip thought he was such a funny guy that night. It was probably one of his career highs. My ride left me there at the end of the night so I had to beg Philip to give me a place to stay. Psych. More like the other way around.

Saturday. Philip, Bryan and Russell went to work out and left me and Marianne to do whatever we wanted. She took me around the northside and we went to The Container Store where Martha Stewart's biggest fans all work. That place makes you want to buy everything and makes you want to change your life. But man, every time you stopped to look at something a lady would walk up and have a story to tell you about why that thing is so awesome. It worked and I'm a sucker. I got talked into buying a thing that soaks up moisture in a room and collects it in a basin. What's embarrassing is that I talked it up like it was the best thing ever to Philip, hours after buying it. I'm pretty sure I'm returning everything that I bought from there. After that Marianne's like, "Wanna go to DSW to look at shoes?" Yesyesyesyesyeys. So many goodies so little money. Marianne was trying on these black heels and this old Mexican lady sitting near us was looking, so I gave her the thumbs up, like "yeahhh, she should buy them." Then she starts talking to us all fast and in Spanish and I know we have that wide-eyed, looking around nervously but laughing because we don't know what the hell she's saying look. But she just keeps on going. We kind of pretend to know and just talk back to her anyway. Maybe she doesn't have many people who want to talk to her. We get some Starbucks and go back to her house. Oh yeah, and I bought a pair of pink wedges on sale. We sit around and watch an hour of America's Funniest Videos "10 Best Pranks Edition" and it was so worth it. Favorites were: the plastic carpet runners with pointy side flipped up to unsuspecting guests, the one where one friend put an iguana on the other friend who is deathly scared of iguanas and the fake lotto ticket montage (so mean, but so funny). We went to Banana Republic so Philip could get work clothes since my brother works there and gets a discount (kinda, not really). When we walked into Banana, I waved into the security cameras because my friend Marcia's boyfriend Isaiah works in the Loss Control Department. Of course it worked, so he came down and we talked for a little bit. No one was stealing anything that day so he was super bored and was probably so extremely happy that he ran into two of the most interesting people in the world. We ate Taco Bell at the mall and it was unsatisfactory because they forgot the guacamole that we ordered. Did anything interesting happen at The Galleria? Probably not, I can't remember. After that Philip took me home and he went to Nikko's house to eat and I got ready to go to Mo and Abbas's going away party at Boheme's. They are moving to Seattle where it's just as rainy as it is today I guess. The party was fun and I loved the atmosphere. Bet it's the bomb in the spring-time because their patios are really nice. Left early so I could meet up Philip at my place to go to Pearl Bar where Mile's was celebrating his birthday. So many people came out that night! I invited my neighbor Adam to come with us and he did. I think he had a good time. Kept trying to buy shots for everyone which was cool. Oh yeah, and at the end of the night me and Philip got into a bad fight says everyone else. Supposedly he said he was going to kill me and I said "Ok, I'm dead." I don't know if that's true, but that's what Nikko said. I still remember having fun at the end of the night at my place though. Alter egos are cool.

Sunday was Philip's cousin's engagement party. Ate a bunch of food, played with a bunch of kids, realized how delicious jalapenos were, played the hand-slap game, got owned and sweated a lot. Walked to the park and pushed kids on swings for what felt like forever and then tried to get on the monkey bars. Philip made fun of my armpits so I scared him when there was a wasp nearby. He ran away. I win. After the engagement party we drove out to Katy to party at Nikko's house. I stopped by Jolene and Matt's (and baby Joseph's) new house since they live like one neighborhood away. So weird that my old partner in crime is now settled down with a fiance (fye-ance says Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona), a kid, two dogs and a house in the suburbs. We popped some fireworks and drank a beer just for festivities sake. While Philip and I were standing the driveway Joseph bragged to us that his dad was so strong that he could smush him back into a baby. That's pretty strong. We convinced Matt, Jo and Joseph to come back with us to Nikko's to drink and party. We popped way more fireworks and firecrackers (those things get addicting) and played beer pong and flip cup. Joseph made Philip play Pokemon cards with him because Philip is king of Japanese loser boy games: Digimon, Pokemom, Yugigoh, Bloons TD4.
After that we all went to Baker Street in Katy and the waitress was a total B. (Dumb waitress was being rude cause she's a loser, probably a bad day, but that just means she sucks at her job. Her and jessica got into it because jessica asked for a pitcher and the girl got rude. Then jessica purposely said out loud while she was standing behind her that she shouldn't be sucky to us because other people sucked to her. Also, she got joseph's order wrong twice, and he was the only one to order anything, and rolled her eyes. Joseph's thing is what started it. Anyway, I go to close my tab cause it's about to be uh... Girlfight. I mediate a little, and while I'm talking to her she's rubbing my back like I'm friends with her cause I'm the one with the tab. Loser. I slap her in the face a couple of times and she pays for the tab. Perce! Went back to nikko's and I ate the whole bag of hot cheetoh's that I was mad at them for having cause I knew I was gonna kill it later, and the rest came back with whataburger.)

Monday. Philip and I ran some errands at the bank and grocery store and then went to his Tito Boy's house. He's not really a boy, he's a grown man. We ate a bunch of leftovers from the engagement party and then I got really, really sleepy. Philip laughed at his little cousin Kate after she tried to sit on a stool and almost fell out. She got mad and ran up to him with a fist (a fist grasping a pen) pretending to stab him and then she got in trouble so she balled up and hid her face in a pillow for what seemed like forever. Diego wanted me to race paper airplanes with him so I did. I never learned any airplane folding techniques as a child, so I just make them up and make them symmetrical. Usually mine just plummet and don't do anything cool. I challenged Philip and he made one and we raced them and and mine fluttered and plummeted while his glided for a SECOND (been doing this my whole life). Took Chris back to his house and then we went to Kroger again to buy groceries to make healthy dinners for the week. Kroger's twice in one day. We had rotisserie chicken and spinach with a side of The Book of Eli. I thought that movie sucked "ball hairs". (Thought the movie was fine, aka fioooooooonnnee)



Jess/(Philip)

Sunday, July 4, 2010

First blackberry post, baoss.