Somebody to Love.

Check out this sweet cover of Justin Bieber's Somebody to Love by Matt Cab.

I don't need too much, just somebody, somebody to love.
I promise, girl, I swear, I just need somebody to love.

Like a needle on a vinyl.

Check out this sick dino I got at the mall last week.

I live a "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" lifestyle, but after much discussion with my mother, it looks like I'll be staying in San Jose while she heads off to Southern California again tomorrow to take care of some family business, and while I'll miss her, there's one thing that I'm really looking forward to: having the car to myself for the next few days.

Unfortunately for me, I've got nothing to do! I can't believe June is nearly over. It seems as if it were yesterday that the month was just getting started, my birthday and my graduation being the main attractions this particular June, but those days are long gone, and with them went any sense of regularity I once had. With summer comes open schedules and open hearts, and its up to me to make the best of them what I will. I've got nothing planned these next couple of days, but I wouldn't mind having someplace to be, not at all. Let's go somewhere, yeah?

Like Jhene said, "I can't stand the rain in July". I can relate, but even through the rain, there's always a patch of sun that makes it a little bit easier to bear, and this July, I've got two very, very exciting things planned. First up is my trip to Southern California from July 2nd until July 5th at the earliest, and possibly as late as July 7th. It's been awhile since I've been there, and even longer since I've had some time for just my siblings and myself, but it looks like I'll finally have my chances in a couple of weeks. The second big event? The release of Avatar! As in, The Last Airbender, not James Cameron's Avatar, which was still a brilliant movie. For an Avatar fan as big as I am, this is one movie I absolutely cannot miss, and will definitely be camping out for. Expect to see my friend Eric Or and I waiting in line for the midnight release at Eastridge mall, all while reciting lines from the series, especially from "The Ember Island Players". "It's about your hair...IT'S GONE TOO FAR!!!"

Although I've only got two things planned as of right now, there are so many things that I truly can't wait to do this summer. Among those things: buying a new car, building my new PC, getting my wisdom teeth pulled (all four, ouch!), watching more World Cup soccer, late-night trips to In-n-Out, eating tons of yogurt, splurging on new clothes and kicks, seeing some progress on this new pair of denim I've just started, registering for college classes, finally getting a job, going hiking, a much-needed and well-deserved trip to the beach, and quite simply, just buggin' out and having an amazing time with my friends and family. Anyone else down? Let's do something.



And before I go: Happy summer solstice and first day of summer!

Insomniacs Anonymous

What a week it's been!

When you're an insomniac such as I am, one finds that sunsets turn into sunrises as seconds blend together into a mixture so lucid that it becomes difficult, nearly impossible, even, to recollect any information which, under normal circumstances, would be held in great accessibility. So, for that reason and that reason alone, several details will be left out of this week-long recap, but here's my best shot, anyway.

Although my siblings returned to their lovely homes in Southern California the day following my graduation two Thursdays ago, the weekend still brought promising prospects of enjoyment for me: the barbecue. What began as a usual celebratory family get-together erupted into a miniature kickback of sorts, bringing together a host of people, some of whom I haven't seen in quite awhile. Such a grand occasion called for a selection of a more festive palette of dishes rather than a traditional one, and boy, was it festive. Spare ribs, fried rice, papaya salad, fish congee, thai tea; need I go on? A special thanks to all of my friends and family who came through. Although it was a last-minute event, it was definitely one to remember.

Some people enjoy an "on to the next one" lifestyle, but I prefer to take a day or two off after every party, so I decided to get some R&R on Monday and catch up on a few things. First and foremost, the house was a train wreck! Well, it wasn't that bad, but a couple of hours was dedicated that day just to cleaning. While not spotless, I think I did a pretty neat job, if I must say so. I also took the liberty of soaking my Levi 514s, which have been begging for a nice body of water to enjoy for the longest time. Although it's a bit unorthodox to soak non-raw denim, these babies have seen more in the past year or so of wear than most other pairs of 514s see in their entire lifespan. Personally, I think the fades I've acquired on them are very nice for a pair of Levi's, as well as the amount of shrinkage I got out of them. Who says denim needs to be raw to look good?

Tuesday granted me the privilege of having the car to myself for the afternoon, as well as the luxury of not having to pick my mom up from work, so I spent the day with Thomas, Ajphizzles, and the twins at the mall. Our first stop was Chili's, which was my pick, but probably a bad choice for the health-conscious, something I've aspired to be for the past few months or so. An hour later, we crossed the street to Eastridge, where a few new unexpected faces showed up. After about an hour and a half or so, I decided to cut out, so I made my rounds to Daiso, picked up a new bag of Hi-Chew, and drove off to Yogurtland with the twins before dropping them off at home, as well as dropping in to say wassup to Kuya Don. As soon as my parents and I arrived home, which was around the same exact time, it was on: Lakers and Celtics, game 6! Too bad I fell asleep for most of it.

Quiatchon passed his driving test on Wednesday! Congrats, Carbon Copy. And the first thing he did? Stopped by my house, of course. We hung out, played some piano, talked clothes and tech, and then off we went to his house, where we did...well, pretty much more of the same. My mother picked me up around 9ish, and the rest of the night was nothing out of the ordinary for me. Thursday...well, I just stayed home all day.

Friday morning, up bright and early at 7AM to watch the World Cup! This time, it was the U.S. against Slovenia, a topic so controversial that it deserves its own blog post. That'll have to wait a bit. Boredom struck me hard that afternoon, and Daniel, too, apparently. Fortunately, the car was mine for the day again, so I swung by and picked him up to head to a coffeeshop. Much nicer than the one I went to last week with David and Paul, I must admit. The Plant was next on our list of places to go, so we stopped by, browsed Best Buy for a bit, and picked up applications from Five Guys. Dammit, Boiling Crab, why must you tease me so? I'll be the first in line to turn in an application once the new location opens, trust. We stopped by Starbucks before heading home, but unfortunately, the cutie patootie that works every Saturday doesn't work Fridays, or at least not that particular Friday, so we just got our gift cards for our pops and left in a hurry.

Some rather terrible news came to my mom that morning, unfortunately, and we had to make a trip to my cousin's house so that she could talk with my aunt (her sister) about some family matters. My mom and her two sisters left this morning on the bus to head to Southern California this morning, leaving my dad and I behind to watch the house and do whatever. It wasn't until 2 in the afternoon that I finally woke up. Dad and I went to the bank so I could deposit a few checks I received for my birthday and my graduation, and what do I find in the mail when I get home? More checks. Guess I'll come back another day. We picked up my uncle at around 6 to go and get some dinner. On the way to Grand Century, we stopped by Costco to fill up the tank (sweet!), and while waiting, my dad and uncle had plenty of time to crack jokes about my "girlfriend" and I. There's nothing new about everyone in my family speculating whether or not I have a special someone that I go out with all the time when I take the car for the day, but at least now I know my dad expects it, which gave me mixed feelings; it's great that my family allows and even wants me to have a girlfriend, but it's terrible that they don't know what terrible luck I have with the ladies. Cut me some slack here, guys!

Hu tieu was our choice for dinner that night. We met up with my cousin and his girlfriend at the restaurant (the name eludes me right now...), and I decided it was time for me to try a few new things. This time around, I ordered a bowl of hu tieu nam vang, kho, which is just about the complete opposite of what I ordered last time in terms of the way the noodles and broth are prepared, but it was delicious nonetheless. It was also my first time actually eating everything in the bowl, including the heart and the liver, as well as adding jalepenos to it, which gave it a nice kick. After dinner, my uncle and cousins went their way and dad and I went ours. The path we chose? Cleaning the garage for two hours that night. I put my small latex gloves on, slipped into some sandals, and got to work. Mom is going to be so pleased when she gets home! During the cleaning process, I stumbled across quite a few items which I've been looking for, mainly for nostalgia purposes, and they now rest safely in my other bedroom.

After a night of tough and tiring work, all we wanted to do was relax, which was exactly what we did. Before I could unwind, though, I had to get in my 30 minutes of daily exercise, courtesy of the elliptical. Following my post-workout shower and my post-shower nail-clipping, I finally decided to open up the netbook my brother gave me as a graduation gift and put it to good use. It took some time to get used to, but it's pretty sweet. In fact, I'm typing on it from my bed right now! So that's it, really; dad and I watched TV and browsed the web for a couple of hours after cleaning the garage. He went to sleep first, obviously, so I took the liberty of washing all the dishes, which went back all the way to Thursday night. Hope you guys don't mind. Happy Father's Day!

And finally, I'm finished, and I'm sleepy. Goodnight, and goodmorning! :)

Moyo

Moyo! That means "hello" in Tshiluba, the national language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Guess you learn something new every day, after all. Anyway, I wanted to save a photo post for the end of June just as I did last year, but with so many things happening in the first two weeks of June alone, I thought I'd take a bit of time out right now to share some of the shots that I feel have managed to capture the essence of what last Thursday was all about. Enjoy.

















And lastly,

Plans for today:

• Wake up whenever
• Eat cereal
• Clean the house (which is in total disarray from the BBQ I had yesterday)
• Soak jawnz
• Picture blog
• Exercise
• Finish leftover steak and fried rice
• Drink soda (lots of it)
• Watch Dragon Ball Z Kai. PLANET NAMEK, HELL YEAH.
• More exercising
• Eat ice cream
• Watch a movie with my loving parents
• Count the money I received for my birthday/graduation
• Go to sleep happy.

"How about you, with the eyes?"

Summer is finally here!

I know I'm always talking about how I don't have the time nor the energy for any major commitments anymore, but this morning, it finally dawned upon me that summer is here at last, and with it comes both spaces and schedules to be filled. As much as I don't want to dedicate myself to anything other than my studies, I've had somewhat of a change of heart. It wouldn't be so bad to have something new, after all. Hell, it might even do me some good. Maybe. Who knows?

We'll see what happens this summer. One thing's for sure, though: I'm definitely feelin' it.

Laughable.

And daft. That's all I have to say about that.

Breakin' all the rules.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people don't get back to me.

Do you know what it's like to not have a best friend? Step into my shoes and you'll know exactly what I mean. For the past who-knows-how-long, I've been as lonely as ever. At times I feel like nobody really understands me. Oh great, just another kid who's emotionally troubled. Right? Well, I guess that would be a somewhat-accurate description of me.

I try to keep my distance. I'm not going to lie, there are times when I completely shut others out and focus on my own work, whatever I'm doing, whether it's something as small as cleaning my room or an important task such as a big project, but one thing that I will never do is push someone away, especially not anyone who actually has the heart and takes the time and effort to try to become closer to me. I love my friends, all of them. As malaise as that sounds coming from someone as detached as I am, it's true. Nothing can top spending time with people who you can really connect to, and if I could do that all the time, I would. Unfortunately, I can't; there's no guarantee that I'm able to hang out with you every time that you ask, but at the very least, I will let you know that I'm busy, or whatever the case will be. Even something as simple as that makes a big difference in the long run, at least for me; it establishes a sense of mutual respect and shows that I at least care about you enough to let you know that although I can't make it to whatever it is you're inviting me to, I'm genuinely sorry.

So likewise, I would expect the same from others. It's okay if you can't make it, or if you just don't feel like going. That's fine, because to be honest, sometimes I feel the same way, but at least tell me, dammit. I promise I won't get butthurt, but I really think that it's rather disrespectful the way that some (a lot) of people leave me hanging when I ask if they want to chill. And then they have the nerve to get upset whenever I can't make it to something?! Bullshit. At least I give you an answer.

I'm not asking for all my friends to spend time with me 24/7, day after day. All I'm asking is that you respect me enough to tell me the truth and be upfront with me, and honestly? I envy those who are lucky enough to be able to call someone their "best friend". It seems as if I'm hard-pressed to even be fortunate to call someone a "good" friend. Is that too much to ask for these days? Point is, if you're gonna leave me hanging, then you don't have the right to complain when I tell you that I'm too busy and can't kick it with you. Just sayin'.

I'm very rarely upset, so consider yourself privileged to be able to see something like this written on my blog. No worries though, I've got more than enough good times to blog about, but that'll have to wait for now. On a happier note, much thanks to everybody who came and congratulated me at my graduation last night! I love y'all, all y'all.






-Back in a bit.

damn

I thought I lost you for a second. Got me all excited and whatnot.

No matter, I'm getting rid of you in a few days anyway. Time for something new.




In other news, blogging shirtless is awesome. That is all.

Magic.

Hah, are you kidding me? I wish. Maybe soon.

Yesterday was my last day of high school, ever! Mr. Zellner, one of the English teachers at Silver Creek, is retiring after this year and decided to throw a big ice cream party for all to enjoy. Anyone and everyone was invited to come into his classroom at lunch to get some delicious frozen dairy delicacies, free of charge. Nicole and I simply couldn't resist the notion of free food, and being the fatasses that we are, both went to get our two free scoops. Little did I know that "two scoops" actually meant "TWO HUMONGOUS SCOOPS", and by the time the second and final scoop was unloaded onto my poor cone, I was holding a monstrosity nearly a foot tall in height! As hard as I tried to keep my ice cream from melting all over the place, my efforts were fruitless, and eventually I gave up and we decided to walk around campus, my ice cream dripping every second or two as I attracted odd stairs and stifled laughter from the passerbys. After about fifteen minutes had passed, I finally managed to completely devour my tower of ice cream, cone and all, but not before it did quite a number on my hand. See for yourself!

All in all, I have to say that it was a nice way to spend my last day of high school, but boy, does loneliness come knocking. For the first time ever, I actually feel saddened by the fact that it's all said and done, and that high school will soon be nothing more than a memory to me. I gotta keep my head up, though. It's less than a week until graduation, and then summer really begins. Let's see what you've got in store for me next, 2010!

Perfectionist.

Thomas, Jaimee, me, and Vinh. SJSU, 06/01/2010.

I'm normally quick to point out the flaws in every little thing, especially pictures, but on a day like this, I really couldn't have asked for much more. Here are some of the chillest, nicest, down-to-earth people that I know, and it's unfortunate that I don't spend that much time with them, especially Thomas now that he's going to school at Overfelt, but being able to spend time with your friends on your birthday is more than enough to please a guy like me.

We were there to do our performance reviews on a choir concert taking place that night at SJSU. It began at 6, and when my mom picked me up from school she informed me that my dad would be home at 5:30 to take me there. Being the sleepyhead that I am, I ended up falling asleep for about an hour on the couch at around 4:15, waking up with just enough time for me to get ready. My dad and I seem to be talking more now, much to my surprise, and what makes it even better is that he's the one taking the initiative to reach out to me. I suppose it's because he finally recognizes that I'm growing up, and I'm not the little boy that I once was. We've spoken about a lot of things lately, but there are two things that come up often in our conversations that I'm really stoked about: building a new computer for him and buying a new car for me.

I arrived at SJSU at around 5:50. We had to take a detour down Senter, as the 280 bridge was backed up for miles of rush-hour traffic. I met up with Quiatchon, who always spots me just moments before I ever am able to see him, and we entered the Concert Hall. I was a bit confused at first and didn't have any idea where to find the building, but once I entered I realized that it was the exact same place where my cousin's graduation took place last year. This time around, it was much more empty. There was a grand total of maybe 50 people, if even that, with the majority of them being Silver Creek students. Jackie came shortly after the concert began, and just before the intermission, I saw Nicole, Ashley, Tiana, and Kuya Don. Note to self: Get my shorts back from Tiana!

After listening to 7 pieces, I decided that enough was enough, and Thomas and I left to grab a bite to eat at La Vic's. Man, the first bite killed me! There must have been a concentrated amount of pepper and spices at the end of the burrito that I chose to dig into first, because my mouth exploded as soon as I sank my teeth into the super-soft tortilla. Oddly enough, as I continued eating, the overall spiciness began to decrease, even as I drenched the giant wrap in more and more of the delicious tangy orange sauce. The thing I love the most about a La Vic's burrito is that it satisfy my hunger just enough to keep me full for a good five or six hours, but doesn't overwhelm me to the point where I feel as if my stomach would burst at any second. Overall, though, I still have to place La Vic's at a tie for second place with Burrito Azteca, and Super Taqueria taking home the title, obviously. My good friend David Lam knows what's up with that Super T! He lives all the way in Irvine, but it's become a necessity, even a ritual for us to hit up the local Super Taqueria every time he's in town. There's just no way we can't!

With a great big burrito in my stomach and a cup of soda in my hand, we walked back to the Concert Hall, where the concert had just ended. There, we met up with Jaimee and Vinh, and the picture that you see above this giant wall of text (CRITS YOUR EYES FOR 79075821752990) is the result. I also saw Kevin Vu, who I'm going to miss very much once I graduate. I first met him in my math class during Sophomore year. The class itself was akin to something you would see from Freedom Writers; it was complete and utter chaos practically the entire period, and only a select few people actually did any work in that class. Kevin was one of those few, and the guy that everybody on our side of the room copied from. Flash forward two years, with a year of no contact whatsoever between us, and there we were, sitting in piano class, and from the very first day of my Senior year, the jokes between us never let up. From stretching our hands trying to span 15 notes like Rachmaninoff to our deliberate mispronunciations of "chords", "scales", "Chopin", and "Debussy" to yelling "THE WHOLE TING?!" and even reliving the antics of Eric and Andrew from math class two years ago, we turned turned an extremely boring class to a room of laughter and knee-slappers for everyone around us. Oh, and how could I forget Mark, Michael, and of course, Ms. Dixon? For someone who counts down the minutes until the bell rings in that class every day, I never thought I'd find myself monologuing about piano class. But, here I am, rambling on and on!

Anyway, I arrived home safe and sound at around 8:15 P.M. last night to a pan of fried rice, which I was much to stuffed to eat even a spoonful of. Quiatchon, who always loves my mom's fried rice, unfortunately couldn't make it to my house that night, so it looks like next time it is, then. Another note to self: my seaweed is still at Quiatchon's house, waiting for me to come over so we can make some spam musubi with it.

All in all, I've gotta say that I had a pretty swell birthday. Even though nothing extraordinary really stood out, it's the little things in life that make the most difference, and for which I'm eternally grateful. I'd just like to take the time to extend another big "thank you" to everyone who wished me a happy birthday yesterday, and for the small gifts I received from my family and friends. Thank you for making my 18th birthday a good one!

First of June.

Happy 18th birthday, Hoang-nam "Mikey" Nguyen Tran. Never stop loving. Never stop believing. Have a wonderful, marvelous year.





Love,
Self.