The Road Less Traveled

Is it just me, or does Donatella Versace look an awful lot like the character Janice from the Muppet Show?

There was a fairly big quake today in So Cal.  It registered a 5.6 on the Richter scale.  It actually felt a lot bigger than it really was, and thankfully most of So Cal rode it out with little or no damage. 

Afterwards, I had the following conversation with my sister on gchat;

me:  are you alive?
 Aarti:  yes
why?
 me:  the earthquake
did you not feel it?
 Aarti:  o yeah
our building is on wheels
so we just rode it out
it didn’t feel as big as it was
 me:  it felt big here

Aarti:  really?
i just saw the lights move and everyone was looking around at each other
no one got up and did anything
did u duck and cover?
 me:  i thought about it
but nothing was falling
so i didn’t

Aarti:  yeah i was about to
but i didn’t want to be the only one
 me:  lol
at first i was like, meh, whatever
but then it got really hard
so i was like………….SHIT!
do i duck and cover?
and i almost did……….but then i didn’t want to be a dork
so i went to the doorway instead

Aarti:  its funny how u remember the grade school protocol the minute it happens
 me:  yeah, i totally did
 Aarti:  i was thinking of how they always told us to cover ur head and forget ur butt.
 me:  lol!  So true!

In this modern era of technology, the word “support” means a lot more than it did a few decades ago.  When I think of support systems, the first things that come to mind are tech support, life support, or financial support, all of which are very important.  More important however, are the old fashioned emotional systems of support that we set up for ourselves.  This weekend, I was reminded of just how crucial this support is.  On Saturday, friends and family came to join my sister and I for a little farewell gathering.  My dad decided to get a little (ok, a lot) cheesy and propose a toast.  As I looked around the room and saw everyone standing there with their glasses of champagne raised, I realized that without each and every one of those individuals, I would not be who I am today.  Every person present (and a few who couldn’t make it) has played a key role in shaping my life.  They have been there for me through both the brightest and the darkest moments, providing whatever type of support I needed at the time.  Words can’t express how thankful I am for them.

It’s nice to every once in a while be reminded of what a lucky person I really am.

Sometimes it’s nice to be a tourist in your own town.  You can live in a place for years and only look at it from a perspective that suits the needs of your daily life.  If you flip the lens, however, you may find that there is a whole lot more to a place than meets the eye.  That is exactly what Burhizzle and I decided to do yesterday on our “cheap adventure day.”  We decided to take the day off from work and hit up Newport Beach.  By car, it takes 10 minutes to get from Irvine to Newport.  If you chose to take the bus, as we did, it takes TWO FREAKING HOURS!!!!  We could have probably walked there in less time!

Taking the bus does have its advantages though.  It certainly gives you a lot of free time.  There is so much you can do!

You can pose with inanimate objects…..

or you can work on your tan.  Other things that you can do while riding the bus from Irvine to Newport include but are not limited to; painting your nails, reading a novel, and filing your taxes. 

Bus number one took us from Irvine to Fashion Island.

Hizzle was very happy to be riding!

Bus number 2 took us from Fashion Island to Costa Mesa.  The corner of 19th and Placentia, to be exact.  Not many people can say they have ridden the bus from Irvine to Alejandros, but we sure can.  Since we were already there, we had to get at least a snack. 

I got some tasty taquitos

Hizzle got a carne asada burrito. 

I sipped on Horchata while waiting to catch our final bus.

Despitethe extensive stops, and the occasional backtracking, it was actually kind of nice to ride the bus.  We got to see parts of Orange County that we never knew existed.  There were parks and yacht clubs and shopping plazas that I had never seen in all my 6 years of living in OC.

After a short ten minute ride from Costa Mesa, we finally made it.

The beach was majorly crowded, especially for a weekday.

Hizzle worked on his tan

And so did I. 

Check out our super hot lifeguard.  I wonder if he is bored up there with no internet access. 

Eh, probably not. 

We laid out for a few more hours, and then it was time to hit the boardwalk.

Hizzle got a shaved ice.  I got a chocolate covered frozen banana, which actually was not very good at all.  I wont be getting that again. 

Since we endured the bus for two hours in order to not have to worry about having a designated driver, we figured that it was about time that we started drinking, and started drinking a lot!

First stop; Mutt Lynch’s for some beer.

We got schooners of Sam Adams summer ale.

It is my absolute favorite drink of the summer!  Muy delicioso! 

The damn schooner is almost as big as my freaking face!

Drinking all that beer made us work up an appetite.  Next stop; the best pizza place in the world, La Ventina’s. 

When I say that it is the best pizza in the world, I am not exaggerating.  I have had pizza in New York, Chicago, India, Japan, France, and Italy, and no where have I found a pizza pie as good as La Ventina’s. 

I swear they lace their pizzas with crack…they are so addictive. 

One of the coolest things about La Ventina’s is that there is no seating, indoor or out.  It literally is a hole in the wall with only enough space to make the magic happen.  You always have to get their pizzas to go, and if you want to enjoy it right away, you basically have to sit on the sidewalk.   That wasn’t a problem.  We finished the entire pizza, and decided to wash it down with some margaritas. We headed across the street to El Ranchito.  As if we hadn’t eaten enough, we ordered some nachos as well. 

They were pretty freaking good. 

No matter how full I may be, there is ALWAYS room for Mexican food.  Oh, how I am going to miss it in Connecticut! 

Those margaritas weren’t half bad either. 

 After all that we had consumed, I started to feel really nauseated.  We figured it would be a good time to head back home.  There was no freaking way I was getting back on that bus, so we called Jeff to come to our rescue and pick us up.  He had us home in ten minutes flat.  Thanks, Lumpy! 

Due to all of the food and alcohol we consumed, “cheap adventure day” turned out to be not so cheap.  It certainly was an adventure though!  I had so much fun taking a mini vacation, seeing the sites, and sampling the fare in my own hood.  I am trying to soak up all the So Cal I can before I leave.  “Moderately priced adventure day” was a damn good start. 

On Sunday a group of us headed out to lake Elsinore to go skydiving for Bur’s 27th Burrrrthday.  Skydiving was a desire I conjured up in elementary school and has been on my bucket list ever since.   Skydiving marked the second item on the list that I was able to cross off this year (the first being scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef).  The skydivers in the group, consisted of Bur, Tracy and myself.  For all of us, this would be our very first experience.  We also had a ground crew that consisted of Jeff and Mike.  Their main job was to stay on solid land, drink beer, and provide moral support. 

When we first arrived at the site, we had to watch an instructional video.  We were reminded that some of the risks we were about to take included death and dismemberment (fancy).  After the video, we were given documents that we had to sign and initial.  Basically, we were signing our lives away and promising that neither we, nor anyone we knew would be able to sue the company for any reason.  This included cases of gross negligence on their part.  I found myself thinking “great, the guy could basically push me out of the plane with no chute on, and nobody could do anything about it.”  I looked over at Bur and Tracy who were vigorously initialing and signing away, and I thought, “Ok, fuck it.   We are in this together.  If I die, I die….and I would rather go this way then any of the other million ways I could go.  Let’s do it!” 

After the video, and the signing away of the life (this was also the 2nd time this year I had signed a document stating that I may die by engaging in the activity I was about to partake in) it was time to go to and get some practicing done on the ground. 

Bur practicing arching his back

Tracy in the pre jump position. 

Then, it was time to wait………..

While we were waiting 1/2 of our ground crew decided to have a little cigarette break

Then, after what seemed like FOREVER, they finally called our names, introduced us to our instructors, and got us suited up. 

Those harness were the only things separating us from certain death.

Not only were those helmets really ugly, but they were also rather uncomfortable.  For me, the worst part of the whole experience was the damn helmet. 

After we suited up, we got on a small plane.  It only held 12 people.  Since it was our first jump, we all were jumping in tandem with our respective instructors.  All three of our instructors happened to be roommates.  I overheard them talking about a party they were going to have the next day, and who was to buy what at Smart and Final.  “Good” I thought, “if they are making plans to do something after this, it means they probably are banking on living.  If we are strapped to them, we should be ok”  I never thought I would be so relieved to hear people making plans to go to Smart and Final. 

The next few minutes passed in a blur.  We reached 12,500 feet, and our instructors started shuffling towards the already open hatch.  Since we were already strapped to them, we had no choice but to shuffle along.  At one point my instructor actually picked me up and carried me towards the hatch.   I think it was his way of speeding up the process.  Soon it was Bur at the front of the line, and me next to go.  I got up behind Bur, and watched him jump out of the plane.  It looked as if he was floating and falling at the same time.  Then at the count of “1″ I was out of the plane myself.   

The first 3 seconds was the most exhilarating.  I screamed.  I couldn’t believe I had just jumped out of a freaking plane.  Was I insane?  I felt my body free falling, the adrenaline pumping through my veins, my heart pounding in my chest.  We were descending so rapidly, it was a rush like I have never felt before. We approached a cloud, and I saw my shadow, surrounded by a rainbow.  Holy crap!  Then we plumed through the cloud and we were surrounded by mist.  I had always wanted to fall straight through a cloud, and now I was doing it.   Suddenly, I felt a huge jerk, and in a split second my legs moved from behind my body to in front of it, in a seated position.  The chute had detonated.  Thank God.  Ha ha, to all those people who told me that it wouldn’t. 

From there we slowly floated back to earth.  The view was incredible.  I got to steer the chute a bit.  One movement of my arm had us spinning in circles to the left.  The movement of my other arm had us spinning in circles to the right.  That must be what a bird feels like as it circles over its prey.  Only I had no prey to hone in on, just a landing spot.  From the air, I could see that Tracy and Bur had landed before me.  Then, as soon as it began, it was over.  I was back on the ground.  Safe and sound and in one piece.  The three of us hugged.  We made it. 

I didn’t buy any pictures or get a dvd of my jump, so I have none of those exciting shots to post.  It was going to cost me another $100 so I opted against it.  Bur and Tracy got pics though, so I figured I could just post theirs.  Maybe superimpose my face on to Bur’s body, or something like that.  I’ll post those as soon as I get a chance. 

We found our ground crew waiting for us, nice and tipsy.  Apparently they were having fun on land while we were having fun in the sky. 

Thanks ground crew for all of your support!  It wouldn’t have been nearly as fun without you!

Skydiving was an amazing experience.  Would I do it again?  In a blood rushing, adrenaline pumping, heart beat.

This past weekend was so incredible that I will have to detail it in two posts.

Part I

Started of the weekend in one of my favorite cities (San Diego) with one of my favorite people (Janice).  When Jan and I were in college, we used to have what we called a “Daygo Day.”  The two of us would make a day trip down to San Diego, chill at her parents house, and do things that we couldn’t or didn’t want to do in Irvine.  Sometimes we would invite other people along on our trips, but mostly it was just the two of us.  It was/is our special thing.  On Saturday, we decided to have one more Daygo Day before I moved to the East Coast.  We headed down to SD on Friday night and hung out with her parentals (love them!)  On Saturday, we had an entire day dedicated to surfing and eating.  Before we headed to the beach, we hit up JV’s and got some massive burritos which we ate on the sand. 

I opted for carne asada, my favorite. 

After the food, it was time to catch some waves.  I sucked really badly this time around, and found myself saying “oh, shit” more often then “hang ten.”  Despite my sucky surfing skills, I had an awesome time.  There is something about surfing that just gets to me.  I think its the fact that when I am out there in the water it is just me and a glorified piece of styrofoam up against a force that is infinitely bigger than myself.  I like to stare out at the expansiveness of the ocean and take wonder in the fact that for a moment, I get to be a part of it.  No matter how much water i swallow, or how many times I fall, its still one of the greatest feelings in the world. 

Jan taking in the waves. 

After surfing, we were exhausted, so we headed back to Jan’s house for some home cookin’!  Then it was back up to OC.  Overall, it was a great Daygo Day.  One of the things I am going to miss the most when I move to Connecticut is being able to spend quality time with the people I love the most.  That is what made this day in particular so special.  It was nothing more than two good friends enjoying each others company, yet it meant the world to me.