4th of July.

So this weekend I encountered Johnny Depp, Michael Jackson's glove, cockblocking, and fireworks. All of these things do sound awesome, and they are. Everything in this post is true.

Friday: I left around 3 in the afternoon to go to bellevue to see my friend Devon who lives in downtown Bellevue. I arrived at his apartment around 5, after which we headed out to walk downtown. We first went across the street to the Taphouse grill. It was there in which I had probably the best chicken sandwich I have ever had. Besides the chicken breast being incredibly tender and juicy, something which is hard to accomplish in my experience, it was also topped with avocado, fresh dark lettuce, and pepper jack cheese. On the side was a tomato and pink ginger onion for the topping. The fries were also done to perfection. The wait staff was also very helpful and friendly. It was also here that Devon cockblocked me. For those that don't know what that is, it is when someone is trying to get with a girl, only to be thwarted by another individual. This interloper is the cockblock. Anyways, the hostess here was pretty cute and me figuring that I would probably never see her again decided to put my phone number on the receipt. However, Devon in his wisdom thought it would be a good idea to cross my number out adn message out, as according to him he though that I had written a death threat on the receipt. Why he thought this was any ones guess. He also thought that I was talking about the waitress instead of the hostess, as he didn't know the difference between the two.

After that incident, we had about an hour until the movie we were going to see started. We spent that time people watching and looking at all the beautiful ladies that walked by. Soon after the movie started which was Public Enemies with Johnny Depp. For a short review, it was a pretty good movie that was a little long in parts. The gunfights were amazing, though Johnny and Christian Bale basically played themselves. After the movie was over we walked back to Devon's apartment were we spent the rest of the night playing video games. Mainly Street Fighter 4 and Call of Duty, which though I have kinda dissed in the past have to admit was a pretty fun game that might grow on me.

Sat (July 4th): The next morning we woke up and went to Denny's for breakfast. It was here that two thoughts occured to me. The first was the fact that no wonder people are so fat. Unless you want to pay 10 dollars for a breakfast, you have no choice but to buy there mega-breakfast with 5 huge items. Granted you are getting more for what you are spending, but what if you aren't that hungry? Also, I got treated with much better service then I am usually use to. Maybe its because we were closer to the staff's age at these restaurants than what they are usually used to. After that, we headed to Best Buy to pick Devon up some movies before I decided to head home. I stopped off at Half Price Books real quick to see what they had, before continuing on to my aunts house for a BBQ. It was family time for the rest of the day and I had a nice juicy flat iron steak. The highlight of the night was the fact that my aunts next door neighbor we estimate probably spent around $10,000 in fireworks. In fact, they were more like the mortars that you would see at a professional show.

Sun: It was on this day that I had one of the highlights of the trip. We decided to go to the Science Fiction Museum at the EMP. I had previously been to the EMP a few years ago before the sci-fi portion opened. I recommend that anyone go if they are a fan of sci-fi, cause there is something for everyone to see. The first floor served as an introduction to the genre, highlighting many of the subjects that are dealt with, while at the same time highlighting examples of these through different pieces. For instance, they use one of the suits from the ninja turtle movies to give an example of mutation. On the bottom level is where things really got good. The designed the floor to look like an armory one might find on a space ship. In each glass case they had props from different shows and movies. What made it really cool was that the descriptions for the items were written like they were actual piece of equipment, instead of props from a show. They had something from just about every show or movie made in the past 30 years. In the next room they had a special exhibit on Jim Henson, which was kind creepy as they had all the puppets that we know and love, only they were frozen lifeless in glass boxes for all the world to see. It was also creepy realizing that none of these characters have any limbs below the waist.

The EMP wasn't completely pointless however. Outside the building stood a memorial to Michael Jackson. By memorial, I mean the entire sidewalk was covered in tributes written in chalk. There was also some flowers put out for him, though they had all dried up and were dead. Inside however was the real attraction, as they had his jacket and white glove on display. Inside the museum there were signs all over the place stating that photography wasn't allowed. This in no way stopped everyone from posing in front of the display for pictures.

WTF summer

So since summer started Sunday there has been approximately one day in which it has been sunny out. We just had a month straight of warm, sunny weather in the middle of spring, but once summer rolls around it becomes cold and overcast. Not good. It needs to be 20 degrees hotter.

Continuing the summer theme, Tuesday I went kayaking for the first time for my friend Kera's birthday. It was dodgy at first, being as I had never been in one and I almost fell out a few times as I tried to balance myself in the boat, but it all worked out in the end. I had a rough time figuring out the best way to row at the beginning and I fell behind at the start, but after about 20 minutes I got the hang of it.

I might write a review of this movie later, but last night I saw the movie Machine Girl. Basically a real life cartoon, it was Japanese movie designed to be the goriest movie ever. It also featured such things as ninjas, girls with miniguns attached to their arms, and bullying.

I feel sick

My throat is sore and clogged up. I am also achy and tired. I call swine flu. Basically my strategy is to assault my system with all manner of medications such as cough drops, Theraflu, and cough syrup. My throat doesn't hurt as much, though the drugs are making me feel all light.

I had a really good bowl of Pho. Everyone should eat Pho. It is nutritious and filling and good. If you are gonna get it, get the one with everything. Tripe, tendon, all of it.

Also, Warioware is amazing and I won 4 times last night.

We lost a japanese kid the other night.

The other night Danny and I invited our friend Jon's friend who was visiting from Japan out to Reggae night with us, as he is a fan of the music and we thought it would be a fun thing for him to go to. He was fine all night until he started to get tired. While we were dancing, he proceeded to walk off without telling anybody. This lead to us looking for him for 45 minutes before Danny found him. He had decided to find a dark place to hide behind some chickin coops and decided to take a nap.

Also, it is 55 degrees and overcast out. I want it to be 80 again.

Things I have seen the last couple of days.

1. A near riot break out during pub trivia due to the fact that tan and light brown are two seperate colors.

2. According to reggae night at Boundary Bay, guidos exist in Bellingham.

3. You know those pictures that can be either an old woman or a princess depending on if you are holding the picture upside down or not? Well picture that in human form, and instead of a princess or old woman, it would be the person looked like a man or woman depending on what the lighting around them was like.

4. Pescadera's shut down. I am sad. Someone open up another store that can provide me kangaroo and python meat.

5. Sushi is just a tasty as I imagined.

6. Oh, people watching in general at raggae night is just amazing.

7. Alegeant Air has cheap tickets right now. Thinking of going somewhere.

Saturday

So yesterday in I decided that it would be a good idea to go down to the town of Lake Stevens and play Frisbee Golf with my friend Eric. Coming along for the ride was our friend Dave and one of Eric's friends. The course that we played at was 19 holes, though luckily there are many signs pointing the way to the next hole and at the beginning of each hole there is a map showing which way one should go. The course is also in my opinion much more difficult than the one in Cornwall Park. While I can generally get stay at an average of one over par for any particular hole at Cornwall, yesterday I was averaging 2 or 3 over par. This is mainly due to the number of tree's in the course, the odd shape of the baskets, and the overall distance of the holes.

After being firmly beaten. We went out to the teriyaki restaurant located next to the course, before heading off our seperate ways. Overall its was a good course if you are looking for one that is fairly big and challenging.

The next day...

So today I continue on to what happened with me on Saturday and Sunday of two weekends ago. While not as eventful as the previous day, there was still much fun to be had. We began the day by going to the store and picking up some picnic supplies. For this picnic, we would be having homemade potato salad, fried chicken, and lemon bars. After cooking up this tasty meal, we all went down to Lithia Park, the place that looked like the major meeting spot in town. This park is also where the Ashland Shakespeare Festival is held. It was very well manicured, with lots of gardens, ponds, and streams to explore. While we only saw a small part of the park, I guess the rest of it goes up into the hills overlooking the town. After our lunch, Holly, her friend, and I went to see this kid from her school perform in his senior recital. While I didn't think it was bad, they thought it was terrible and mediocre. Afterwards, we went to the most happening place in Ashland on a Saturday night, A frozen yogurt shop. That said, if you are looking for a party destination to spend a night, Ashland probably isn't it.

Sunday was spent driving the 6 hours back up through Oregon. Not much to say except I was dead tired when the trip was all said and done. Before I forget, there was one stop that we made on our way backup. Because my friend Trudy is moving back home in a few weeks, we had to stop by her place in Eugene and take some stuff up for her. It was nice seeing a friend I hadn't seen for a long time and we agreed to explore portland when she is a bit more settled in. It will be nice to do this as we are now both old enough to experience stuff we have only seen on the Travel Channel.

Monday I went to see my Grandparents and check on how they have gotten settled into their old folks home. I talked with them for a little bit before deciding to head home. Going home on Memorial Day was probably one of the worst decisions I could have made, along with taking the scenic way home. While I was able to make it down to Oregon in 3hrs 15min, it took me almost 5hrs to get home. This was mainly due to 3 things.

1.Going through St. Helens instead of Portland. While this is a more scenic route, it is not good when you are trying to get home in a reasonable amount of time.

2. Burgerville taking 45 minutes to get through. While I could have stopped somewhere else, Burgerville is amazing and worth every bite.

3. Taking an hour to get through 10 miles from Lacey to Fort Lewis. No clue why it was so slow. Just people not knowing how to drive I guess.

After this hell drive. I got home and instantly fell asleep on the couch at around 9:30pm.

P.S. For those that were wondering what Grandma's Beef Shack means, it is something Holly's ten year old brother came up with on the trip down. He proceded to yell it out the window at everyone we drove by.