L-A-Z-Y.
EH. Maybe next month?!? *eheheheh*
- John Stevens. Man, he was terrible last night.
- Missing Ben & Jerry's "FREE CONE DAY." I completely forgot. I'll probably forget Baskin Robbin's free cone day today, too. EH. I'll be at the gym...
- Diana Degarmo's dress last night. UNbelievable. Whoever let her dress herself up last night was seriously on crack.
- Allergies. They just suck.
...and finally, the thing that really sucks the most right now (for me, anyway):
- Price discrepancy with Jamba Juice! At Whole Foods outside of Adam's Morgan, the 16 oz. costs like $3.45. But everywhere else, the 16 oz. only costs me $2.95. This, my friends, annoys me to no end...
So tell me... what SUCKS for you?!
But if anything is anything, then these past three days were probably the best my imagination could've ever conjured up in a long time:
FRiDaY After work I made it home for some quick R&R... then I had to haul ass to Lanham for Jun/Flo's wedding rehearsal at St. Matthias. I got there, and the first people I saw were the guys standing outside hittin' jacks. EHEHE. Just like old times, just like old times. And I also saw Eliza and Amelie just arriving. In no time, Liza and Chris pulled up with the two girls, and then Ning, and then Carrie, and then yada-yada-yada. The whole gang started to file in once Jun and Flo arrived.
We moved into the church, and I got to play the "shadow" game with Ave and Kaila (my ina-anak). Ave is such a character. We got into the groove of the rehearsal, and like towards the end of it, Jen and Nido were still not there. They were totally en route like eons before the thing started. LOL! But anyway. They finally got there (HAPPY B-DAY, NIDO! YOU OLD MAN!!), and I brought Ailani (my other ina-anak) into the church to join the other flower girls. Right about then, the rehearsal ended, and then we headed to the rehearsal dinner.
We headed to Chanan's Buffet in Lanham, and got our eat on. Carrie and I got to chill with Jen and Nido and Lani... Jen, always makin' the conversation all the more interesting. AHAHAH. I got to see Elaine again (Flo's cousin), and her sister came up from Florida. Maia came down from Jersey, too, as Eka's "guest." EHEH... cuteness! At the end of the dinner, Jun/Flo passed out the customary wedding-party presents. Thanks, guys!! Then Carrie and I left, hit a jack in the parking lot, then I was off to Ft. Washington. I went straight to the dorm. Siena was home, and she showed me her outfit for the wedding. Primo was home, and he had nothing to show as he was still CLOTHESLESS for the wedding scheduled for the NEXT DAY! *AhEm* Hello!! Gina came over to show us her wedding diggs, and then we (me, Gina, and Siena) got into one of our long-ass conversations about... eh, no need to re-hash any negativity there. LOL.
SaTuRDaY Mark and I got ready for the ceremony, and left around noon to meet Josef at the church. We got there, went to the choir loft, set-up, and then the wedding started. I sat by Chris and Li since I had my chord sponsor duties with Li. And Jen and Nido were at the other side of me. The bridal party looked great... Gina did a great job with the girls' hair! But the flower girls totally marched BEFORE the bridesmaids. TOO funny. I don't even think that Mikey (the ring bearer) marched. LOL. All the girls walked down with their partners, and we laughed cause they were all tagged (tatoos on their backs), with Carrie's being the biggest and most prominent. TOO hilarious... Florence and Tito Ernie walked down SO fast, and WAAAAAY before the actual wedding march... which, Flo explained later, happened because Tito Ernie was getting nervous and antsy. Awww. His baby girl now belongs to Jun! *sniff* So the ceremony went without a hitch. At communion, Josef played for me and Mark as we sang Draw Me Close and You Are Near. The girls were saying how they were all crying... Awww... Afterwards, we had the customary photo session with the Bride and Groom, and then some of us went to Wendy's. After Wendy's we went to pick-up jacks for Carrie, and then headed to the hotel. We hung out with the gang at Jun/Flo's suite and just chilled before re-getting ready for the reception. We left for the reception at about 7pm.
The reception was fun. Thanks to Jun/Flo, we had an open bar all night. So by the time dinner came, I was lit. I was lucky to have been seated with my good ol' friends, Jen and Liza, and their hubbys and their kids. Gina and Siena were seated with us, too, so we had good catching-up conversations and such. Jen couldn't drink due to pre-natal conditions, so she was getting drinks for us. Absolutely wonderful. Ate Francine gave a tear-jerking tribute to Flo in memory of their mom. There was not a dry eye in the house... Luckily, Mark brought things back to speed with his humorous banter. An event like that without Mark Alarcon is just not the same. Mark is THE best... straight-up!
The rest of the wedding went well. The dinner was great (crab cakes with stuffed chicken breast and veggies and wild rice), a dessert bar, and still the open bar. We kept moving in and out for the requisite smoke break, and watching JC get pommeled by the flower girls was a sight to behold. Steve went from khaki suit to white (you chameleon, you!), Nor was gettin' his line-dance on, and Liza and Chris got sleepier as the night went on. HAAHAHAH. We left after saying our good-byes to the gang, and after Flo and I exchanged a few words:
WEN: Awww, I love you, bitch!!
AHAHAAHAH... I love my friends...! After one more smoke, we dropped Carrie off at her car (still at the hotel), and then headed back to the dorm. I stepped into the muddy water puddle in Siena's yard, so my one shoe was all grossed. I changed out of my penguin-diggs and realized that I still had Carrie's license! So I called her, and she had to haul ass to Ft. Washington after dropping her parental units off from the reception. She chilled a while as we watched some dumb dinocroc movie on Sci-Fi. Then we all toted our sleepy asses home.
SuNDaY I got up, got dressed, and headed to the dorm. Gina had gotten there and woke Siena up. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LA SIENTA!! Tes came over, and the four of us headed to Kaila and Ave's party at Chris's parents' house. The girls were all dressed in these fairy-like dresses that Li put them in, and they were running around having a good old time. I got to carry them each, and had some interesting conversations:
AVE: NO!
UNCLE WEN: Do you like Maryland?!
AVE: YES! I WANT TO GO BACK TO YOUR HOUSE!
UNCLE WEN: Kiss me first...!
AVE: *SMOOCH*
What a cutie-pie. Kaila was just as cute:
KAILA: I don't want to go home!
NINONG WEN: Why not? Don't you like Maine?!
KAILA: I hate it! (as she pulls on my hair... OWWWW!)
Too cute. We just stopped by, dropped off the gifts, and then Li took pix of me and Tes with the girls. We missed Jen, Nido and Lani again because of Jen and her lack of directional skills. LOL. We headed to Yum's for a late b-day lunch for La Sienta Quitania. Crabs, crabs, and more crabs. We ate ourselves FAT. Afterwards, we headed back to the dorm for more R&R and Alias. Siena left for another b-day dinner with Janette and Ian, and Primo came home. Mark came over, and we ate some delivered Chinese food. YUM.
So that was my weekend in a nutshell. VERY eventful. The best part was seeing some of my very-very greatest friends at one of the most fun weddings of the year. FLO/JUN: I love you guys! CONGRATZ AGAIN, and have fun in Aruba!!!@! I'm so proud of them... putting this wedding together themselves (for the most part), and then having an awesome honeymoon together... ALONE! Lucky bastards!! What a way to kick-off a wedding-filled year. Can't wait for Josef and Cha's in another week... I'ma get PHADED!!!@!
BEST MOMENT OF THE WEEKEND: Besides Jun and Flo's wedding, it HAD to be Ave giving kisses to her Auntie Eka at her party. WAY TOO FUNNY FOR ME! WAY TOO FUNNY!! LOL!!
BEST PHRASE OF THE WEEKEND: When Chris came outside for a smoke break with Ave at the reception... Tes asked her, "What are you doing out here?!" She loudly replied, "We're SMOKIN' outside!!" LOL. That was simply classic.
Great weekend... *sigh*
H20 on Friday, anyone?! (i am NOT kidding, steve. LOL.)
I moved on to Tysons Galleria (Tysons II - for you locals, ahhah...)and went into Macy's. I brought my suit jacket to exchange for a smaller size in case they had one. The jacket fits fine, but I figured I could go a size down. Unfortunately, they didn't have a size smaller, so I shifted back to the shoe search. I noticed sale signs in the men's shoe department, momentarily forgetting that Macy's men's shoe department (at Tysons II, at least) sucks royally. My memory was refreshed so fast, and I was quickly over it. I decided to go into the mall. I walked around... was tempted to look for a belt at Lucky Denim, but passed. I was then tempted to just screw it all and go into Bally for both a belt, shoes, and perhaps a new wallet (ahahaha...), but something told me not to. Actually, it was my stomach grumbling. I was tired of walking around aimlessly, and I was hungry. No wait, I was HAWNGRY. I went to the Corner Bakery and got a chicken pesto sandwich. THE absolute best. If you don't love Corner Bakery yet, you will. Anyway, I took it to go, and then decided to leave.
So there's still prime time rush hour madness going on as I trailed through Rt. 7 towards Falls Church (with viet subs and bubble tea literally a few miles away). Just then, I remembered what Jason commented on my Xanga entry: "check DSW." So my mind started to race. I thought about the DSW at Pentagon Row, but that was way off the course I was on. But I realized that there's one on Rt. 7 near Columbia Pike, and since I was already on 7, I figured - "why not?!" So I drove through the trifeness of Bailey's Crossroads, past Eden Center. All of a sudden my eye caught this: OFF BROADWAY SHOE WAREHOUSE. SCORE! I didn't have to go all the way down to DSW afterall. There was an Off Broadway that had just opened right down the street from bubble tea land. So I turned into the shopping center and rushed in. I was doubting every pair of shoes that I saw. They were all relatively close to my styles, but the whole "warehouse" thing just wasn't sitting well with me. For some reason, shoe warehouses scream "last season" or "not-the-real-thing." But I had to let my guard down. The final thought that went through my mind was this: "These shoes are like 50% or more LESS than what I'm used to paying for... hey... I could wear the shit outta these without giving it any second thought since I didn't pay top coin for them. Eh, might as well, Wen..." BTW - talking to yourself while shopping is way therapeutic. 
So I settled on three different pairs. I tried them on, and I walked back and forth to this mirror. I even found a mirror with a large space in front of it and walked from as far back as I could up to the front of the mirror...just to see if the shoe looks weird while I'm walking and blah-blah-blah. I know, I'm OCD even when it comes to my shoes. I finally settled on a pair, and I was off to the register. Just as the sale was completed, I heard someone sing: "Mr. Wendel...!" I froze at the prospect of being "found-out" that I had actually went to a shoe warehouse for a pair of blacks, so I hesitatingly turned around and saw Jane and Ling. Ahahaha. All good. Those katz are from home and they know how it is. LOL. So I left the store and headed home FINALLY. I took out one shoe from the box/bag, and the whole drive home I kept looking at it and asking myself: "will this work?!" I got home, tried 'em on with my pants, and BAM. Worked just fine... *whew*
Funny thing is that my bro comes home to show me his new ALDO boots which he scored for $99.99. Nice boots...! I showed him my knock-off shoes, which I got for $49.50 btw, and he said, "Damn, I should've just done that..." Ehehehe. I felt all warm inside. I felt like Frugal Franny was actually my friend.
So anyway... here's the low-down on my old ALDO boots: My absolute favorite black ALDO dress boots, which I bought back in 2002 I believe, had the cheapest sole. They were a flat dress boot (those chunky dress boots are so 1990s) with a somewhat elongated square toe. Very simple... very chic. It quickly became a part of my daily (well, maybe like at least 3 to 4 days a week) work wear. Like 3 months into their new life with me, the sole was totally scraping and wasting away. I was blown. I took 'em to a cobbler and he told me that he could replace the sole for like $50, and that it would last MUCH longer. He changed it, and he was right. It's now 2004, and the boot's soles are still in great shape (Despite the fact that it's reaching its "you're getting way-too-old mark..." those boots may be at your local Salvation Army in the very near future... LOL.) See. Don't get ALDO shoes with wooden soles. Get leather soles, or even rubber ones. (But rubber soles begin to squeak once they get wet. AHAHA.) So yeah, that was my major issue with ALDO shoes. Now, I'm very picky when it comes to buying shoes from them.
Thanks to Jason for reminding me that the last minute search for inexpensive shoes IS possible, even for men. LOL. I'm slowly, but surely, becoming a DSW/Off Broadway fan. Don't get me wrong, I'll still frequent my usual shoe haunts, but when it comes down to a fashion emergency ---those freakin' shoe warehouses are like a God-send.
Tell me why I keep hearing this commercial about some dumb movie that's produced by Britney Spears and her mom? It's about some girl who wants to become a star, and how her mom goes through any lengths to help make her daughter's dream come true. If this is an attempt for Britney's mom to get "her" story out there, then please spare us all. No one cares about THE MOM. Shit, I don't even care about Britney...let alone her mother. I'm grossed-out. 
7) John Stevens
6) George Huff
5) Diana Degarmo
The rest of the four would probably work out this way:
4) Fantasia Berrino
3) Jasmine Trias
2) Jennifer Hudson OR Latoya London
1) Latoya London OR Jennifer Hudson
But last night, they had that all straight-FLIPPED. I am convinced... someone is makin' an ass of John Stevens.
(how mean.)
This is a busy week. I've got different things to do each day in preparation for the weekend. Saturday is Jun/Flo's wedding, and I've got a few things to take care of before then. Then Sunday, Liza is throwing the girls a lil' b-day party at her in-laws'. I went shopping for them after work yesterday. It's so hard looking for stuff to buy little girls. I am absolutely clueless. But I think I did aight - LOL!! I think they'll be able to drop it like its hot with their gifts... *wink*
So anyway. Not sure if I have much time for my regular work-outs this week. I'm just busy, and I refuse to work myself to extreme death. I think I'll have to improvise. It's totally time to eat my morning bowl of Special K, so let me get to it.
Please stay warm outside... PLEASE!!!
Several things: super yay for updating me on the Cold Stones that are already here (ewww, they already have one in VaBeach?! ahahah... VaBeach, Waldorf... they're all the same to me. LOL!), super-duper yay that Jasmine Trias wasn't in the bottom three last night, super-duper-scooper yay that JPL was finally knocked outta the competition... BUT thumbs down that John GEEK-ASS Stevens wasn't sent home before JPL. This guy should've been sent home FIRST. What else?! I was able to do my laundry last night, and I burned like 10 CDs for my friend... and while I was doing all that, I was doin' the ab-roller. LOL. Hey, had to get my workout in somehow. OH --- sadness for Kwame for not being the winner of The Apprentice. I think that about covers everything. Yeah. I'm addicted to television.
DAY 5 of the Special K diet. Part of me wants to let it all go and just EAT today. I seriously want a burrito from Baja Fresh. That, or fries from Wolfgang Puck's Express. ORRRRR! Caramelized Pork in a Clay Pot from Miss Saigon. *YUM* But that would be counter-productive. Weight loss... NOW!
Anyway. It's Friday. If you're not gonna be out to spend ridiculous amounts of money on the latest trends, like me, then hopefully you're gonna be out to at least party the weekend away. DO IT! DO IT!
I was completely tired yesterday. I was on the phone for a little bit, then I got off at about 6PM. I guess I passed out, cause next thing you know, it's 8:10PM. BLOWER. I felt all tired and boring. I think it was totally cause I only had like 3 hours of sleep the night before. Getting home from a hip-hop concert at about 2 in the morning, then having to get up for work around 5-ish can be death. So I was knocked out from 6PM-8PM, and then again from about 11:30PM until about 6:30 this morning. Sleep deprivation: doesn't do the body good. I keep forgetting that I'm not a young, agile college student anymore. All-nighters?! What the hell are those? AHAHAH.
No American Idol tonight because George Dubya is gonna address the US. *eh* At the concert, BEP kept urging us to vote. I'm all for people in the entertainment biz to keep proactive about our freedom, and our right to vote. But what if you're just "eh" about it?! Personally, I don't like George W. Bush. I'm for some of the Republican stances (I'm PRO-life, for instance), but I'm not necessarily PRO-Bush. I also don't care too much for John Kerry, or whatever the hell his name is. I, too, am for some of the Democratic causes, but I'm definitely not PRO-Kerry. For me, it's a lose-lose situation. And I refuse to vote for one just because. It's all or nothing, and I honestly want nothing to do with either side. The race for the presidency is just whack. Why don't we digress and do like our people back in the Philippines. I say Keanu Reeves for President... riiiiiiittteeee.
Anyway, in an effort to remain free of political issues I will now talk about my new cell phone. I finally changed my dinosaur phone to a new one. I now sport a color screen, graphics, and internet capabilities like the rest of the modern world. Hey, just cause I'd rather upgrade my jeans before my cell phone doesn't make me less consumer-savvy. Sheesh!
Oh, did anyone catch Miss USA last night?! Miss Missouri took home the crown, although my vote was for Miss Tennessee. Man, she was the hottest of all. SOOOOO HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. Man, I'm salivating just thinking about her. Hey, I think I just found my muse for the April SPOTlight. Wonderful! I was just a little disturbed that none of the 'SISTAS' made the Top 15. Where was DC? Where was MD? Emmm... I guess this year went to the blondes. Then again, this pageant IS owned by Donald Trump. Boo. Word to my black sistas!!!
Happy Tuesday.
Hmmm... Come to think of it, I didn't yawn. Not once.
Anyway, my bowl of Special K is calling. Today, Wen starts a week-long "Special K diet." Fad-dieting is so en vogue... ehehehe.
These past few days, I've felt myself to be in this predicament. I have a bad case of T³. My emotional state at the moment is nothing but TOTAL TRIVIAL TRAVESTY. "Why?! you ask?! That, I'm still unsure of. But that's the whole point of being in the T³-slump. You're in it just because you're in it. You don't owe anyone, not even yourself, any explanation for feeling the way that you feel. In fact you're just in a zone. Although it may not be an awe-inspiring zone, it's a zone nonetheless. Women usually call it "PMS..." But me, and the rest of the fellas, don't really have a term for it. Maybe there IS a scientific term and I just haven't heard it yet... Who the hell knows, and who the hell cares? All I know is that I'm in a slump. I'm NOT excited, and I just can't hide it. I'm far from losing control, and I don't know if I like it. (ahaha.)
I don't know what it is, but even my usual "make-me-happy" instances aren't buckin' up to expectations. Usually, I can go out and grab some chocolate and turn myself to the other side of my schizoid coin. I was at Wal-Mart late last night, all sorts of chocolate in my face, and I didn't move. I didn't even budge. Or, if it's not chocolate, it's jeans. Or shoes. Or something of material value that elates me to a state of complete hilarity. But the other day, when all the Paper Denim, Energie, and Joie jeans were in my face . . . I couldn't even lift an eyebrow. Even the Von Dutch jacket, which was calling to me over and over and over again, got the cold-shoulder. So if it's not chocolate, or shopping, then it's definitely working out. Exercise = release of endorphins. Endorphins = happiness. My workout these past few days?! Uber-lameness.
Perhaps I need a new hobby. Or maybe I'm just in need of change. Or, maybe on a more deeper level, I'm just in that boring-boring holy week slump... Who knows?! And, at this point, who cares? I just can't wait to be over the *eh*-ness, and be back to my regular ol' self. I don't even feel freakin' MEAN!! Now you KNOW something's up.
So anyway, I've babbled enough. Let me go wallow in my sorrows on this gloomy day. Let me be saddened that the two Filipina girls were in the bottom two of last night's American Idol. That, my friends, was true bullshit. America is obviously voting for all the wrong reasons, otherwise John Stevens and John Peter Lewis would've been in the bottom three last night. Gross.
I think I'm just sleepy.
And would the radio jockeys get off William Hung's dick? Forreal. Hot 99.5 is annoying me to the point of self-mutilation. They can't get off the fact that William Hung's got a career, albeit a totally weird one. And they can't stop talkin' shit about people on American Idol. And the one female DJ talks about her boob-job on air ALL the time. Someone please feed them some really bad sushi or something. Anything for them to shut the hell up.
(smiling now.)
WHAT THE HELL IS YAT?! Is it something totally made up like Chow Mein, or Chop Suey, or whatever else is sold in a Chinese restaurant near you (but isn't authentically CHINESE)?! If anyone knows, let a brotha know...