Decon_IV

For 300 years the Romanov family ruled Russia, through a love, hate and God appointed rule. During the time of Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexis, Carl Faberge and his apprentices and helpers created some of the most beautiful and well remembered pieces of artwork for his time….the Imperial Easter eggs. They were the gifts of a poor man to honor royalty. Stunning works of art encrusted in the most expensive enamels, diamonds and gems the Russian world had seen in too long. They were beauty. I wouldn’t mind having just one.

Absinthe. If you’re looking for the trippy high stuff, you’ve got the wrong drink. Hollywood’s helped perpetuate a lot of myths about this, not to mention a couple hundred-year ban on the drink in much of the Western world itself. The stuff does kind of taste like licorice, and depending on the level of sugar and water you decide to mix with it, it can either feel like drinking novocaine (it will numb your tounge) to tasting like soaking licorice whips in water. I personally like it with a 1-.5-1 ratio of Absinthe to water and Absinthe to sugar. You get that mouth numbing help-put-you-to-sleep feeling. $50/bottle? Sure, I’ll pay. Besides, I can definitely see a market for this stuff at my place of employ. >=)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was 4th grade when I picked up this book…having been bored to tears with the other books in elementary school and being a huge book nerd, my 4th grade teacher and 5th grade teacher conspired to get me to memorize the first line of this very famous book. To this day, I can’t get past more than a couple of the best of’s…

I remember the last line of the book too, much easier for me to remember: It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done ; it is a far far better rest than I have ever known.”

Vegas. I’ve been there countless times, and you know what? I wasn’t even legal! I still had a blast, every time. The older and older I get though, the more the appeal of Vegas fades…I mean, I’m a guy, so all the flashing lights and noise keep me enthralled like a kid in a candy store, but nothing hurts more than the thought of your hard earned cash falling into a little pre-drilled hole in a machine where you know 99 times out of 100 that nothing is going to be coming out the other end. At least vending machines give you stuff. ATMs are great, you put a card in and you get cash, but slots, oi. Tables? You put money down and a man (or woman) collects your money and hands you dice/cards. In most normal cases, you’ve paid for these objects and you get to keep them. No, in Vegas you look at the cards, you throw the dice, and then the man (or woman) asks for these items back, AND they keep your money! Seriously though, Vegas is fun. Do it once in your life. My goal, Vegas for New Year’s. >=)

When I was growing up, I was told like every little kid, that firearms are bad. Why are they bad? Because they are. As a kid, I grew to fear firearms, because everywhere I read, so and so got shot with this, a politician was trying to ban that….which re-enforced my preconcieved notion that guns were bad. Then I grew up. One day I decided, “Hey, I’m legal enough to vote, there’s a new measure on guns coming out soon. I should go and see what everyone is so afraid of.” So I went to my local range and told the guys, that this was my first time, what’s the easiest thing to shoot, how does this work, etc. I started out with a .357 revolver and fell in love. For three straight months I was at the range almost every day, honing my shooting skills, learning how to shoot properly until I thought I was ready for something else…the classic, the revered .45acp. I now own a WWII recreation Springfield .45, and I love the thing. I’m looking forward to purchasing the M-1 Garand before Dec. If anyone lives in the San Diego area and wants to go shooting, let me know!

I did this with my best friend. Back in high school we got out of class early and decided to go for a drive. I told her that until she said “Stop”, I’d keep driving. We ended up driving 45 minutes to go to a McDonalds. Another random car trip while on a longer road trip was up in the Oregon/Washington state area. We had a couple hours to kill and I was the unofficial navigator (bad idea). We ended up going the wrong way while trying to get to the freeway and ran smack dab into the Tillamook Cheese Factory! Hahaha…that was fun times. We also ended up going to a quaint little town in Oregon that was (supposedly) very hard to find called Oceanside! Oceanside is, surprisingly our hometown in California, so that was a treat as well.

Two straight years of high school spanish, a year of college spanish, and the Mexican border is less than 30 miles south. What’s stopping me? Well, probably the fact that I failed spanish for 3 straight years. Que horror!

If anyone wants to have a late night chat, look me up on AIM, “DeconXIV”...we’ve already got plenty of ice-breakers, just check out some of the stuff I’d like to do, or have already done! I’m always up ‘til the wee hours of the morning, I may not be fascinating, but I’ve been told I’m a good conversationalist!

My best friend of 10 years and I keep batting around the idea of getting matching tats…we’ve been through quite a lot together, and have come through on the surviving end every time. I’d want something meaningful to our relationship, our selves, as well as something the both of us wouldn’t regret if we ever had a falling out. Talk about restrictions…yeesh.

I don’t know how it came to be, but one day I went into my backyard and fenced in were 4-5 chickens. Oh my goodness were they a noisy bunch of clucks. I guess because of the fact that half our backyard had some strange livestock running around, the chickens didn’t want to lay eggs…maybe it was lack of good real estate. As if the chickens weren’t bad enough, we also started a collection of quails (really cute birds, sad to see them go), and….2 emu. Yeah. Emu. In our backyard. In the middle of a city. Emu.

I went to go see Metallica, my first Metallica concert in LA, about 2 hours north of where I’m sitting. I drove alone, sat alone, rocked out with thousands of others, and brought back with me an experience I’d never forget. Metallica is THE best band I’ve ever seen live. They were playing with some pretty large names too, at least in today’s musical lineup. Deftones, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit (oi), and of course, Metallica, who played a full what, 2 hour show? I mean, they spanned the whole discography, it was great.

Later that year I would be introduced to a friend’s friend who happened to LOVE Metallica. Turns out she was at the concert too. We bonded, talking about how great the concert was and how much fun we had. Turns out her boyfriend is a skinhead and they both hate asians. Guess what I am?

Skydiving was an awesome experience for me. I hate heights. I hate rollercoasters. I went skydiving, and it was amazing….and I still hate rollercoasters. So many things came to mind as I was tandem jumping…mostly, “Gee, why didn’t I wear a jumpsuit? (Jeans and t-shirt for me. Hardcore!) and “I wonder if my cheeks are flapping in the wind? What do I do with my arms? I’ve got cotton mouth, I want water.” Yeah, lots of things go through your head at 12,000 feet. I would definitely recommend it, and I’d love to go again. The most painful part of the jump was the waiting!

I’ve actually visited the world’s tallest and the world’s thickest trees, the Redwoods and the Sequoias. It’s a great hike to the both of them, though Sequoia is much more a touristy place than the Redwoods. The tallest tree in the world is kind of hard to find…it’s actually in a grove of trees, so you have to step back a little ways and then triangulate the position of the tallest tree, because there won’t be any roadmaps or signs or anything. It helps keep activists, vandels and tourists away. I’d put it at about a 15-30 minute hike and it’s getting there by car is torture on a lowered vehicle. Be prepared for lots of loose gravel and park rangers trying to keep you in line. Beautiful hike, I would recommend anyone go.

HH The Dalai Lama. I got a chance to meet him on his whirlwind tour of the US earlier in 2004. He stopped in Irvine, California to speak about the importance of ethics in the new millennium. I was taken at how amiable and easy going he was. Many religious leaders in my opinion are for the most part, bible thumpers (no offense, they like to preach). His Holiness though talked about compassion, about equality- no matter what denomination you were, and was quick to not judge other religions. He was probably the most down to earth religious speaker I’ve met.