Year in Review

July in Santa Monica.

July in Laguna.

June in Supai.

May in Yosemite NP.
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April in Joshua Tree NP.

March... in Phoenix.

February in Huntington.

January in Newport.

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B-Post #6

Created by The Car Connection

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Back in Nov...

B-Posts #5

One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States has been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/world/middleeast/18maliki.html

Ahhh we taught Little America well.

Hmmm... Maybe Our Legal System Has Some Flaws.

Judge's daughter sues driver she ran into during crash

WAIT... it gets better.

Convicted last year of intoxication manslaughter for the death of her boyfriend, the 21-year-old daughter of a state district judge is suing the truck driver she ran into during a drunken driving crash.

Elizabeth Shelton, the daughter of juvenile judge Pat Shelton, is accusing truck driver Lance Bennett of negligence in the Oct. 23, 2007, wreck that killed her boyfriend Matthew McNiece.

Shelton had a blood alcohol concentration more than three times the legal limit, two tests showed. She was sentenced to eight years' probation and had to serve four months in jail.

Apparently... you're suppose to be able to avoid getting hit by a drunk driver. Hm... good ole America.

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An Old Fashioned Christmas Melodrama

& Ice Cream Social.

@ the Orange Coast College over in Costa Mexico.

"Fun for the whole family! Boo the villain, cheer the hero, sing the holiday songs with us and enjoy an ice cream treat! A special visitor is also expected..."


Ice cream and booing? What could be better?

It was cheesy... cheesly entertaining!
Sadly the special visitor was not the mythical Easter Bunny.... sigh.

Huntington Beach decorates the pier(sorta). fun. Saw two shooting stars... (or dropped tool boxes from the International Space Station...)


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Little Drummer Boy

So I picked up what I like to affectionately call Drum Hero I. I didn't want to... but when Toys R Us had them for HALF off... well crap.

I think I like the guitar in Guitar Hero III better... so the guitar just sits there.

"But wait a minute Kaakun... I thought you hated Guitar Hero?!"

I did, til I went to Cold's house earlier in the year, played Rock Band and realized that I enjoy trying to beat on stuff, attempting to keep a beat... and wooden spoons and pots wasn't satisfying.

Yep, just call me Neil Peart... ok Josh Freese... ok Scott Raynor... ok that asian kid that left Home Grown ok... a talented two-year-old... ok a two-year old....with no rhythm.

Hmmm... maybe I should have E-bay'ed this.
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Time to Say Goodbye to My Fairweather Protestors

B-Post #4-started in Nov...

So 2009 is fast approaching, December seems to equal "reflecting on the past year" posts (So we're just going to get these started in November). I had the I-Tunes sort by year and my first thought... there wasn't anything that really knocked me off my feet for 2008... (or 2007 really).

Maybe it has to do with the lack of going to shows... besides the occasional Cary Judd set, the last two shows I saw were Relient K/Mae April '07 and Brand New June '06.

lack of show going = the song does not bring back memories of an entertaining live show??

Or

Is it because everyone seems to be trying to do something "new" music wise... concept albums, including wacky different instruments, attempting to have deep hidden meaning in the lyrics.

Case in point
Margot & the Nuclear So and So's

I hearted "The Dust of Retreat" 2006... "Animal" or "Not Animal" 2008... not so much.

I thought they would have been able to build on top of a very enjoyable album... Animal/Not Animal... I'm just like eh whatever on the surface they seem like very similar albums... Maybe I need to devote a hour to reading the lyrics and uncover what is going on. Eh probably not...

2008 releases...
-Weezer... eh
-Reggie and the Full Effect. Eh
-Panic at the disco. Eh
-No Use for a Name... not bad but thats probably because the last one was overly eh.
-Matt Pryor... so the album by himself sounds like his "side-project" which sounded like "On A Wire" why three similar things with three different names Matthew??
-Joey Cape. eh
-Jack Johnson... eh
-Bayside... total disappointment, shocked I tell you... I'm shocked.
-Fall Out Boy. eh.
-Britney Spears. eh.

So suggestions my four readers... what tickled your fancy in 2008?
I already have the 25th anniversary of Thriller/New New Kids on the Block album/Lupe Fiasco (to try and look more Asian)

2009 could be interesting
Fun, Two Tounges, Say Anything, Saves the Day,

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Last Week

Went to go see Wicked with the ex-wifey. (Originally had the idea in the summer, took Cold. And that ended the Coldship... Hmm.) Well they don't have shows on Monday. You'd think they'd come out in full-force on Tuesdays. Nope, got another understudy for Elphie(OUTRAGE!!! ok not really).

Well, the Glinda character person's voice cracked while singing, that was fun. and that wasn't the understudy. So I guess the under-study could be better than the main person... because they don't get worked like dogs for five nights a week. Tangent: Last time, the girl sitting in front of us was like, "Oh no! The main role is played by the understudy tonight!!! how sad...."

So two times and it hasn't changed my life, I was entertained though. This time I saw it with a bunch of Asians the last time... crazy. I guess all the Asians wanted to get it in before it was done and done.

I also wasn't sitting there trying to remember what happened in the book. (Apparently my memory retention of reading at work in 2006 isn't that great?)
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Ode to Facebook.

B-Posts #3 (started in Oct)

So two things happened today (yesterday really I guess). I picked up my 200th facebook friend and Larrie wrote a blog post entitled, "I Blame Facebook for my Laziness".

Now, it was no easy feat getting these 200 facebook friends. I wanted nothing to do with facebook originally... I had a myspace account and thought it allowed people to make the most cluttered websites on the World Wide Web, which bogged it down, which made it an A+ waste of time. So I shunned facebook and it's "We only accept college students" smugness.

Of all people, it was Irene's "hey do you have facebook?.... well you should" that broke the camel's back and I caved and started on last year. Go figure.

So now there are probably 20 to 30 people on here that would let me know about major life events, call up and I'd be like, "Hey! I haven't talked to you in a while."

Instead I have those 170 to 180 people announcing to me everything from what they just ate to the moment they passed what they just ate.

So Jimmy can't sleep and there are stains on his hotel bed.
Erin is making a list of manga to buy
Stephanie can't sleep.
Timothy just picked up the the Flight of the Chonchords cd.

Exciting status updates I know. Where would I be if I didn't know those things were going down right now (well technically in October).

Anyways, I created a fake facebook account to see just how much is actually broadcasted to your friends earlier this year (stupid applications... really does anyone care that I used it in a moment of weakness?!?!)

That account slowly started picking up friends... and well now has 400 people.

Yep, fake facebook profile is WAY more cooler than me.

awesome.
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Youtube

B-Posts #2

So Michael Gondry comes up with great ideas. He just can't finish them off on his own properly. He had a hand in one of my favorite movies, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Ever since then, I've given his newer movies a shot.

They start off great, but they putter out near the end.

Be Kind Rewind had an enjoyable idea, Jack Black and Mos Def well.. I'll just copy and paste from IMDB

Jerry is a junkyard worker who attempts to sabotage a power plant he suspects of causing his headaches. But he inadvertently causes his brain to become magnetized, leading to the unintentional destruction of all the movies in his friend's store. In order to keep the store's one loyal customer, an elderly lady with a tenuous grasp on reality, the pair re-create a long line of films including The Lion King, Rush Hour, Ghostbusters, When We Were Kings, Driving Miss Daisy, and Robocop, putting themselves and their townspeople into it. They become the biggest stars in their neighborhood.

So people starting re-creating movies and throwing them up on youtube. Some... kinda suck. but some are quite enjoyable.

Jurassic Park


Lord of the Rings



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Phone Pics

The B-Posts #1 (Getting rid of the drafts)


The Pantages lobby 12/2

Breakfast of Champions- Carnintas/donut/cheesecake thingy 12/2

Some Obama fan's Car 11/17


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Yorba Linda is on fire 11/15

Turkey Day Present.. sorta

Off to home I went from Sunny Southern California to Sunny Northern California. Man life is rough.

I ate food, I heart Thanksgiving... all the food of Christmas with none of the gift-returning hassles after the holiday.

The 3rd Annual Golf with David in San Jo included his brother. It was enjoyable. It was Jimmy's first time playing "real" (if you call a short course real) golf.

Hole #4 (Jimmy hits the ball, "oh crap!")
the ball lands on the green and rolls to about 12-feet from the pin...
kaakun: (mumbling) yeah... oh crap...

grant it he four-putted his way to victory on that hole. poor kid

The 3rd Annual Drive the coast was also enjoyable.

I dropped in on LeeElle to cheer up my bloated pregnant associate friend. She in turn, poured chocolate milk on my face/chest/etc.

Tangent:
L: Are we friends?
K: sure.
L: since when?
K: April...2004.. no 2003!
J:good answer.

yep since april 2003... five and a half memorable years.

JD was wearing a tie with a non-white shirt. Greg would be proud.


"Is the Sharks game on?" = Im a proud uncle.
"Is dancing on? (Dancing with the stars) = there goes the proud uncle.


Ahhh Good ole San Jo.


Drive Drive Drive... You'd be surprised how many cars you see from 3:20-8:45 AM


Big Sur I guess.



100k, in Harmony, CA (who the crap knew there was a Harmony, CA) Then the dash blower restrictor said "F-you, I'm 10-years-old and I quit." awesome.



Happy Cows = Happy cheese... apparently cows need ocean views.




Hm... its foggy.


Mill Creek.


Pondering at Mill Creek.

Turkey Day Past

So three years ago, the sister was off in Wisconsin. As much fun as sitting on a plane next to a fat person is, my chances had now doubled with the sister no longer in Provo. I decided to sit this Turkey day out. I stayed in Provo.

Gregory being the kind soul (I thought) allowed me to come with to his brother's and I (for some reason) accepted.

Now the brother's house is an enjoyable memorable (eg, double date with his sister-in-law's former miamaids, and Greg's nephew got to 3rd base, while we giggled like school girls and didn't chime in a word of conversation during the "hey lets talk about the family ward for the majority of the evening" convo) place to be. I don't think I'll ever forget any encounter with that portion of Greg's family.

TV watching led to wrestling.
wrestling led to "hey lets wet our hair and swing it out and slap kaakun and greg in the face with wet hair"
which led to angry niece and nephew when Greg laid down the "hey getting smacked in the face with wet hair is not cool" smack down.

which led to cooling down
the nephew is sucking on an ice cube.
ice cube falls on the carpet.
nephew picks it up and puts it back in his mouth.
Kaakun yells, "ewww he put it back in his mouth!!"
which led to sister-in-law, "what!! is my house not clean enough for you?"
which led to me looking at Greg, and the "is she serious" look?
which led to me taking a break from Turkey Day and returning back to the apt to get Ellie a meat thermometer because I'm nice like that and for some reason she decided to call and ask if we had one.

Oh well, I'll give this to Greg's sister-in-law, she makes a mean turkey. It's worth going there... maybe once the kiddies all go off on missions/college/boarding school.
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