No drama!

You don't want no drama,
No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama
~ My Humps, Black Eyed Peas

You're right, Fergie! I don't want no drama.

Unfortunately, you can't always get what you want in life, now can you?

Tonight, the company hosted a party to celebrate the long hours and hard work that we've done over the past month. Kinda ironic that the people who worked the longest and hardest hours over that time period weren't able to make it, but I've gotten used to -- nay, come to expect - such situations.

Anyways, most of the company parties in the past have been pretty drama-free. Not much gossip, mostly because everyone in the company is there and since my co-workers didn't talk about such things so much. Ah, but tis a different year, and a different crowd. People have started talking, and the gossip mill is running at full-speed!

As is the nature with gossip, the two things I learned tonight were not things I expected to learn, nor are they things that will be discussed here ;) Suffice it to say, they were some interesting, albeit disappointing, news items. I thought I had heard enough crazy gossip on Friday night, but, wow, that was child's play compared to tonight.

The party itself was surprisingly enjoyable (despite the notable lack of alcohol). We went to Speedzone, which is an all-in-one racetrack/mini-golf/arcade. The racetrack was pretty awesome; it was called Slick Track, which meant that you had to navigate the curves just right in order to avoid the walls. I'm pretty sure I made a complete fool of myself because I really didn't get the hang of it until the 3rd or 4th lap, and ended up running into the walls on pretty much every curve. At one point, I ran head-first into the wall, and they had to stop all the drivers behind me so they could straigten out my car. Ah, good times.

Mini-golf was pretty interesting too. We had about 8 or 9 people in our group though, so it was kinda slow. Also, I've realized it's a bad idea to have a 6-year-old play with you, because the tendency to curse out loud when you hit a bad shot is incredibly high (especially when you've been drinking). Her father might have some explaining to do about what some of those words mean...

Free food! You in?

Last night, I went to the local pub with some co-workers and friends. A co-worker received an email from the bar offering a party (including 2 hours of free pool, and free appetizers like pizza, chips and wings) for 20 people. Well, you'd be damn foolish to pass up a deal like that!

Let me tell ya: nothing brings people out like the promise of free food. In terms of number of people, this was one of the better social events in awhile (close to 20). Everyone seemed to have a pretty good time, eating and drinking away.

Ironically, the co-worker who set the whole thing up decided not to come. Apparently, she hasn't been getting enough sleep lately, so she decided to rest instead. We felt guilty at first, but after a couple of drinks and a few slices of pizza, that feeling quickly dissipated.

Surprisingly, we had a pretty good guy-to-girl ratio. Most of the time, we end up having too many guys, but tonight a lot of the gals came out too. It makes for an interesting dynamic when guys and gals converse; especially when the guys know the gals are in relationships, and it's just chatting (without the unnecessary sexual tension).

There were some awkward moments, some anger, some crying, much office gossip, and many things were said that shouldn't have been said under any circumstances. In other words, it was a great night.

Self-promotion

"I, like, cry, when I listen to it, it's so good."
- Paris Hilton, on her new CD

I feel the same way about my blog. Sometimes, I'll be reading past posts, and all of a sudden, tears will come streaming down my face. And I'll be like, this is really great writing - perhaps even the best I've ever read. Who wrote such eloquent, beautiful passages? Who is this literary genius? Then I'll remember it's me! Thank you, Paris, for putting it so succinctly.

"I, like, cry, when I read it, it's so good."
- Yours truly, on my blog

Who do you look like?

A friend showed me this really cool site.

Ignoring the pictures where it couldn't even recognize my face (yes, I'm just that invisible), apparently I look like Jason Biggs (of American Pie fame) or Chris Tucker (from Rush Hour).

Unfortunately, it seems to place a bigger emphasis on the angle of the face than on the features. So if I had turned a little more to the right or left, it would say that I resemble a completely different celebrity (if it recognized my face at all).

In somewhat related news, Google acquired a company which specializes in automatic feature extraction from photos (including face recognition), so there's no longer a need to tag the photos yourself.

It's interesting that Google is now taking the Microsoft approach of buying out companies that have the technology instead of investing time and resources into creating it themselves.

Pick-me-up #2

The only (ok, maybe not the ONLY) thing better than waking up to Madonna has to be waking up to Paris Hilton's "The Stars are Blind" video on VH1 .

That video is hot. I daresay the girl has a future in the music biz. I also thoroughly enjoyed her single, "Screwed," and expect the video to be just as hot (if not hotter).

I've tried downloading "The Stars are Blind", but apparently it's so popular that it's become a target for "fake" songs. All the versions I've heard have been pure static for like 10 minutes! Quite annoying.

Movies

For no real reason, I went on this crazy shopping spree at Fry's and spent $100 on DVDs today.

I bought Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Made, Memento, V for Vendetta and Sin City.

I've wanted to get these movies for awhile, and finally decided to get them today. (The cashier lady was retarded; it seemed like she was learning how to use the barcode scanner for the first time ever - um, what have you been using ALL DAY to check out customers?)

I also saw the new Will Ferrell movie, Talladega Nights, last night. I had pretty low expectations (since Anchorman sucked so much), but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was one of the funniest movies I've seen in a theater in a long time. I didn't stop laughing during the entire movie.  Will Ferrell movies seem to be hit-or-miss.  They can either be really funny (Elf or Talladega), or miss the mark completely (Kicking and Screaming or Anchorman).

In other DVD news, the second season of Veronica Mars comes out on August 22.  I'll have to get the other DVDs they didn't have when I buy VM (Mulholland Drive and the second season of Entourage).

Just me?

It's weird: the more I get to know someone, the less I like them.

At first, I try to find all the good qualities about someone, and put them on a pedestal. After getting to know them better, I notice their "bad" qualities as well. Really, they have flaws just like everyone else, but it's a little disappointing that they aren't who I imagined them to be in the first place.

The people that I like the most tend to be those that I know the least, because I can fill in the question marks about their personality with my own ideals.

Oh, and this is just a generalization and doesn't apply to you. I like everything about you ;)