Day 31 - X-Treme Gulp

Woke up, checked texts, checked emails, etc, all of those usual stuff. Then pops came home and he wanted to go to the library. So, we decided to bike to the library. It was literally, a five-minute bike ride. Super close, sub one mile ride.  On our way back, I remembered this X-Treme Gulp cup that I left on the top shelf a while back. Filled it up for $1 at 7eleven!! I need to start using this thing more.

Day 30 - Cold Blooded

So I got up today and decided to get some home grown lychee off the tree, and bam. I see this dude chillin' on the side. Snapped a couple pics using a 50mm f/1.8. I was planning for quite some time to get a 50mm f/1.4 this summer, but yeah. No hours, no money, no lens. Boo hoo.

And finally, it's starting to cool down after a crazy hot heat wave. Lizards have it so easy; sunbathe during the day, sleep at night. No need to worry about work, school, bills, etc. Lmao. Life of a lizard!

Skip to 0:48 to see it run LOL

Day 29 - Blu

My afternoon nap was cut short due to these three dudes--chillin' on the wall doing their usual bird noises. I looked outside from my window and saw that all three guys had a tag on their left leg, so I got my camera ASAP and was fortunate to snap a couple pictures. Super annoying, but I guess birds will be birds. "If I'm a bird, you're a bird." LOL jk!

Birds have been on my hate-list for quite some time now, but after watching the movie Rio, IMDB rating of 7.1, I'm indifferent. I really wouldn't mind having a blue macaw, or even a scarlet macaw! Pretty good movie in my opinion, definitely a movie worth checking out.

I tried making one of the birds blue like in Rio; it looks somewhat blue, sorta.

Check out the short clips!

Day 28 - Spark Plugs Galore

Just got some new NGK Iridium IX spark plugs for my dad's civic today. I didn't realize that we had that many old spark plugs until now. God, that is a lot!! 

Regular versus inverted colored picture. Looks sorta cool I guess. 

P.S. To anyone who's reading this and using a Honda lawnmower: you can use any NGK spark plug, add a washer (since most spark plugs of lawnmower's threads are much shorter), and it'll run way smoother! Just an fyi btw.

Day 27 - Hot n' Cold

 
Again, it's super hot today, but I'm stuck here thinking about snow. Burton just released their 2012 gear a couple weeks back, and my Transworld 2012 Gear Guide just arrived yesterday. This is probably the thickest/most informative issue throughout the year.

And the best part is, there's a  90% chance of a winter break in Montreal after fall quarter! Hello Bromont!! Hopefully I'll be able to find a decently priced 2011 CustomX by then--with new bindings, boots, and gear. And then there's wax, lift tickets, rental car, gas to get there, etc... Oh man, so much $$$$$$$$$$$...

Humor me. LOL!

Day 26 - Last Train Home

So I'm still in search of a HP TouchPad. San Bernardino was a fail. On the way back from SB, I stopped by this train station. Loco-motive. Crazy motive. If only the touchpad shipments were in one of these cargos...

It's been a hectic/long day. L8 bloggers.

"To every broken heart in here"... without a HP TouchPad, this is for you.

"But there's still tomorrow; forget the sorrrow" ... your HP TouchPad order will go through...

Day 25 - Burning Up

Temperatures haven't reached this high for awhile now. It definitely wasn't good weather to camp out for that notorious HP TouchPad for $99... It was hot and humid, and I was sweaty all over, rushing from store to store, hoping to score on some touchpads with new incoming shipments. Unfortunately, it was all sold out when I got there.

My friends and I are considering hitting up San Bernardino tomorrow because his friends at BestBuy says, the last shipments are coming in there, but is it really worth it? The weather is going to be 90 degrees in the OC, but image desert weather.... it's going to be 100 degrees plus! I don't think I could handle that!

Tomorrow's going to be another hot day too.... Good thing the weekend is near! ThankGoodnessIt'sAlmostFriday!

Day 24 - Memory Lane

School is right around the corner, and it's gonna be my third year. Yay for upper divisions haha. I was cleaning out my room and reorganizing the shelf today and ran across my varsity patches from high school in an old shoebox. God, those times were so chill. I mainly prioritized sports, but I guess you can say it was worth it. Priceless memories.

And, about those varsity bars. I cussed out my water polo coach and got kicked off the swim team for fighting, all during senior year. So I didn't "letter" LOL. It also explains why there are no 2009 patches. Yeap, I was supposed to have three bars total!

Time flies, high school was too funny.

Day 23 - Puzzled

So, one month and one day later, this 2000 piece puzzle is finally done. The cardboard box was used to spread out all the pieces, and then stack it to make room come dinner time. Although this puzzle took forever, the end result is amazing. The sky shifting from light purple to black was saved for last. Oh, it was so fun doing the sky...

Now I'm just waiting on my full sheet labels I ordered off eBay to get home, then it's time to put it together! This puzzle definitely killed some time haha. Good thing school doesn't start until late September!

Day 22 - Mundane

It's late. I'm bored. Today's is just an ordinary day. It's like a 9-5 routine. Get up, go to school, work out, go to work, go home, eat, take a nap, and surf the net before starting all over again.

Nothing really interesting happened today, so I decided to clean my room. Found this stuffed Pikachu lying around, so I took a picture of it. It's hoovering!

Day 21 - Nirvana

Today is such a b-e-a-u-tiful day! I woke up late, had a huge brunch, and just relaxed all day. I finally caught up to Jersey Shore and downloaded all the episodes of Pretty Little Liars... Lol.

After getting bored of watching videos, I went over to my parent's room, opened up all the windows, and just laid there staring outside. I could see all the various trees my dad had planted; from oranges, to limes, to bananas, to papaya, etc. my dad plants everything! The view was so tranquil, I wish I had the time to do this more often. Also, the cool summer breeze was calm and settling--it made me feel so at ease.

Then, I noticed a single red rose blossoming near the window, and wondered why would my dad plant a rose bush there. Later, I asked and he said it was to make it more "romantic" for my mom. Hahaha, my dad is such a player!

Day 20 - Escape Velocity

School's about a month away, and I am getting a head start ordering my books for fall quarter. I am somewhat excited, yet intimidated for upper division mathematics and physics. It's going to be tough, but hopefully I could absorb a lot of information from these classes and do well.

Also, my Flash action figure came home today. I got it off Amazon for only $15! It also came on a frisbee/stand for display. Sooo coool! I feel like a kid again. Hahaha.

Day 19 - Surf's Up Brah

What's better to do than going to the beach after a hard workout? So after training, I decided to go to the Laguna Beach with my friend. We just happened to have a camera, so we snapped some pretty epic shots.

After that, we took out our skim boards and started riding the waves. It's been so long since I've been one that I failed miserably. I ate shit the first attempt and my back was all scratched up and red. Tried a few more times with no success, so I stopped and just chilled in the water and tried to catch a wave or two. Eventually, I got cold and tired, so I went on the shore and started working on my tan. It was pretty homo at first, but then I didn't really care after that. Lol.

Finally, we packed our stuff and trekked all the way back to our car. The stairs were such a pain going up.... Got cleaned up and started heading home. The ride back was pretty chill, not as much traffic as I expected. Good day, good day.

Day 18 - Need For Speed

Today is a good day. I just took my motorcycle test today and thankfully passed! With no prior experience to motorcycles or shifting gears, I'd say I did pretty well. Granted I did drop the bike a couple times.... and stalled numerous times.... But all in all, when it came down to the exam I only missed six points (maximum before disqualifying is 20). 2ez!

When I started out, I was really intimidated. The Instructor was constantly all over me--always criticizing about every little mistake I made, which lowered my confidence--immensely. However, I was a trooper--kept my head up--and managed to control the clutch and throttle smoothly and efficiently to boost my confidence back up to a point where I was comfortable riding again.

It was a long hot eight hours on the field but boy was it worth it.

Check out the new toy I got. Ladies, watch out for me on the road ;)

Day 17 - Halfway Around the World

One of my really good buddies, long2691, just got back from studying abroad in Europe for a month, or so; something like that.  He traveled to Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, and lots more probably. I'm not sure if that's real gold on the lip of the shot glass, but nonetheless, it's a freaken cool. That's some classy artwork on it too. It's about 1.5x as tall as regular standard size shot glasses. This one definitely stands out in my collection, artistically and physically.

Day 16 - Finally

I was browsing through eBay for a backpack the other week, and I stumbled upon these DVS's. In my exact size, and being only for $5 with another $5 for shipping, I could not resist. Although it took forever for the seller to ship it (almost three weeks), it was well worth the wait. These are probably going to be my gym shoes.

Day 15 - Cycle

I have been on a strict training schedule ever since I joined the NASA space team. We are conducting a study to see the effects of microgravity in space on the human muscles, specifically the leg and thigh.

The program requires the participant to undergo arduous training, but first, they had to do a control experiment to establish a baseline. They performed 3RM unilateral and bilateral testing, and measured the VO2 max potential. After that, the training began. We started with 30 minutes of nonstop weight resistant pedaling at 70% max heart rate, which slowly increased every week accordingly. In addition to cycling, weights are involved to further work out the leg and thigh muscles. Leg presses and toe raises were performed at 80% of our max, which also increases weekly.

Everyone in the cohort has different measurements and maxes, but currently, my status holds at 60 minutes of nonstop pedal on 1.7kg resistance for each foot while maintaining a heart rate of 183 beats per minute.... every Monday, Wednesday, Friday.... In addition, I have to do 4 sets of leg press at 480lb and 8 sets of 410lb toe raises every Tuesday and Thursday, 12 and 15 reps respectively.

According to the heart monitor, after each workout, I burn an average of 840+ calories. Damn, that's more than a Double-Double and a soda.... Even though I feel so refreshed after each workout, I dread every morning going into the training room--it seems like an endless cycle. Pun intended.

The photo is a picture of my bike all scratched up, but I don't care--I still love it! It's my gas saving, green friendly baby that I use everyday to and from class. Can't wait to ride this baby to the beach!

Day 14 - Withdrawls

So, last winter, I was in Montreal for the holidays. It was truly a white Christmas. Luckily, I flew there after the first huge snowstorm of the season. You're probably wondering what "Ski Bromont" is. Well, I can tell you that it puts snow resorts here to shame. Bromont made Mountain High look like a two-year old and the famous Mammoth Mountain look like a tiny fifth grader.

Bromont is a snow resort located about two hours north of Montreal. It's primarily a ski resort, but it didn't stop me from snowboarding there. I kid you not, I gunned it down the slope from top to bottom, and it took a little bit over five full minutes. Not to mention, it gets plenty of powder throughout the season. And the best part, no ice patches!

Definitely going back this winter break.

Day 13 - Do-Re-Mi

It's been awhile since I touched this old thing. I started out practicing my cords--trying to get my fingers loose. Then I opened up my music sheets folder, searched for Yiruma's River Flows In You, and attempted to play. It didn't sound too good, so I gave up. Haha.

I was pretty bored, so I decieded to sharpen my photoshopping skills. The first picture is unedited; the second is a black and white photo, conveying a more classical effect; the third one, I adjusted the cyan to be more dominate for a more vintage look. Pretty neat huh?

Day 12 - Cloud Nine

Ever had one of those days where you were just being lazy the entire day? Well, yeah. It was that type of day for me today. I laid out on the lawn, pictured some clouds as animals, and then it hit me. Was there anything up there?

Day 11 - Night Cruise

Just finished the enter first season of How I Met Your Mother, thank god for Netflix! So, I took a quick cruise to Laguna Beach. Driving with the windows down on a summer night is just the way I wanted to finish my day.

Seattle Recap

So here it is, some non-photoshopped pictures from my trip to Seattle, sunshine capital of the world. Haha although, I was fortunate enough to have it not rain for my stay. A four day trip, squished down to a small set of pictures. I really wish I could upload all 6.4 GB of pictures but that'd be way too much! Anyways, enjoy!

Self-explanatory. We should have more statues and/or monuments of famous people in Orange County, really liking the respect from Seattle here.

Shifting from wooden telephone poles to concrete/steel ones here has made our local streets all grey and boring. Seattle has stuck to the original wooden poles, less boring in my opinion, and ad friendly!

It's Niketown, in downtown!

Skyscrapers and CEOs and Wall Street and... Oh wait, this isn't New York City. Haha.

Everything is in walking distance here!

An ant's view of the world. Much much different than our's I'd have to say.

The newly constructed Student Center along with the newly created Redhawk logo.

Christmas lights in August? I sorta approve... Sorta.

I took a little stroll through campus one night and I'd have to say it is still pretty crowded, considering it's mid-summer.

Clam chowder with free sourdough bread was great in response to the windy city.

Strangest combination ever, but I guess that's what makes it so special. Those things will take out any vampire in no time! Haha.

The world famous Public Market, better known as Pike Place! I kid you not, there were at least twenty or more seafood stands!! I can now understand why Seattle is famous for its seafood and clam chowder.

The Gum Wall! So I'm guessing it started out as one person sticking their gum, and it just became a tradition and it added up, yeah. You get the picture. I added a neon green piece to the wall. Trident Layers green apple and golden apple flavor!

This was in the tunnel leading to the Gum Wall.  It really reminded me of something from the MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, in Los Angeles. I'm really liking the vibe up there, completely different than that of Socal.

Somewhat kinda weird? A bunch of baby faces? Haha who knows...

Blue skies, but the clouds moved moved pretty quick. All of a sudden, it got really windy here in downtown Seattle.

The port of Seattle, over looking the 5-Interstate freeway. Check out the lens flare! I was using a Nikon D90 with a Tokina 11-16mm, aperture set on f/22, if you were wondering.

A penguin at the mall in Downtown Seattle, composed of only recycled metal. Go green!

Hawk eye's view.

Check back for more updates + 365!