My Very Ethnic Thanksgiving

It was lots of fun. There were 30+ people and only three of us were white, and the other two were girlfriends of Persian guys. Okay, one wasn't a girlfriend persay, but rather the bitchy fuck buddy of Cameron's brother Ali, but the net effect was quite the same. I had a great time. They were impressed that I knew who Andy was. Indeed, there were hot Iranian girls there. All I need to do is learn Farsi, my friends. Then my life will be complete. That was of course the one akward part. 90% of the conversation there was carried on in a language of which I have no knowledge. It reminded me of the first time I went to Brazil, when I spoke virtually no Portuguese in my first week and I spent most of my time standing around and nodding. Smiling too. It works out well for me because then I don't have the opportunity to make any asshole comments and everyone thinks I'm a nice guy. And as a further bonus, Cameron's mother sent me home with a whole turkey. Festive music and dancing + beer and jager shots + hot iranian girls + free food and a turkey for the road = one great Thanksgiving.

Productivity

So far today I've gone to the gym, swept our porch, and cleaned my bathroom top to bottom. It's amazingly clean right now. I keep it clean usually, but now it's cleaner than the day we moved in. What a productive day. I'm going to go find something else to take care of and make it more so.

By the way, if you haven't seen Walk The Line yet, you should. Outstanding movie, and Joaquin Phoenix absolutely nailed the part, including the vocals. It was almost like seeing Johnny Cash himself up on the screen.

This could turn out to be a happy holiday season afterall...

So I talked to my boss at my recently former job this morning, and he said it's looking good that I'll be able to come back. That would be awesome. I'll know more next monday. It's not certain yet so I'm not going to get my hopes up too high, but I can definately have a more relaxed week knowing that things are looking to be in my favor.

The hilight of my next week, by the way, it a very ethnic Thanksgiving at Cameron's house. 40 people and I'm going to be the only non-Iranian. I'm pretty stoked about it. Especially if they have Iranian food there. That stuff is amazing.

I would have booed him too

Good news for the Cal Bears. Well, news at least. As bad as Ayoob has been, it's hard for this not to be good.

The pink slip hits The Puma's desk

So, it's been a while since I've posted anything. No, as John Walsh speculated, I do not have a girlfriend. In fact I've been pretty much just working my ass off, trying to make some money. Until today that is. You see, this morning I got laid off. My company's downsizing and I'm new. You do the math. It's too bad because I really liked working there. There's still the small chance that I'll be able to be rehired next month. That would be awesome, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. I have no hard feelings towards the company. They're running a business and it's their job to be as profitable as possible. I was the least senior guy in our office, and even though I think I was better than some of the people they kept, I totally understand where they're coming from. I'm still unproven in their eyes since I was only there a month. Like I said, I hope I can go back. If I can I'll do it in a second. If not, I'll look for a new job and at least they're professional enough to give me severance pay if they can't hire me back.

What I really don't want to do is have to look for a new job. I hate looking for jobs. What a pain in the ass. Especially after looking so hard last time and finding something I liked. If I have to find something new, chances are I'm not going to be able to find something I like as much as I liked this one. Back to another shitty job, just like the last three I had. Fuck. I might try to get into the December to January, month-long EMT class via UCLA. It's full right now, but I'm going to put myself on the waitlist and so if I can't go back to my old job, I could be working on an ambulance in Compton or South Central by the middle of January. I don't know. We'll see, I guess.

You know what's really funny is that since I've moved to LA, all kinds of things have gone wrong: I spent nearly a month unemployed putting me in a bad financial state, my car was destroyed in an accident that was deamed to be my fault so if I want to fix it, I've got to pay for it, and now I've been laid off from my job. Yet through it all, I'm still glad I moved. I hated my life up in SF so much that not even these calamitous happenings have been able to dampen my spirits or sway my resolve.

Whatever happens with my employer, I don't have to work through the end of the month and I still get paid, so if you're in LA and you want to hang out, let me know. I've got time.

My Friday and the Rolling Stones

I went and hung out with Cameron, his brother, and their buddy Ali H. in Costa Mesa last night. I knew from the get-go that I was going to be drinking a lot. It was a good time, but Costa Mesa did not impress me. There weren't any cute girls at the bars we went to, but that was probably an effect of being led around by friends of Cameron's brother's ex-girlfriend, who were not that cool. Anyway, we decided that next time we go to the OC we're going to Huntington Beach or Newport or somewhere else with young people.

I'm going to the Rolling Stones concert at the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow courtesy of my company. I've got to say, that's pretty cool. I've been there for three weeks and already I get a free ticket ($130 face value) to what should be a great concert.

Now that Cal football has virtually assured themselves at least a four-loss season with today's loss to Oregon, any hopes of going to a decent bowl have be anhialated. Too bad. So much for the glory days. At least there are only 6 more months until baseball season begins. I'm going to the Giant's season opener against the Padres on April 3. It's a two hour drive, but totally worth it. I've never been to Petco Park before and there's nothing like the atmosphere of an opening-day baseball game. After enduring the long, cold months of January, February, and March when all there is on TV is basketball, a sport of which I am not a fan in even any tiny way, it's great to have baseball games on every evening, Baseball Tonight on ESPN, and a fantasy team in our highly competitive Sigma Chi alumni league. What a great time of year that is. The days are getting longer, the weather's getting warmer, and there's a certain electricity in the air with all the teams in the league starting again with a blank slate. I'd be surprised if the Giants did that well next year, but if Bonds can play, if Moises stays healthy, and if they can pull in a solid free-agent pitcher and a young bat, they could easily run away with the NL West and have a legit shot at the pennant. The two teams that I'm most intrigued by for next year are the Indians and the A's. Both have rosters packed with young talent who are only going to get better as they gain more experience. The A's are one good right handed bat (Jeff Kent?) away from having one of the most well-rounded teams in the game. All the Indians need is to re-sign Wickman or, better yet, get a closer on the free-agent market (BJ Ryan? Trevor Hoffman?) and they're good to go.

On the subject of baseball, I'm glad to see both DePodesta and Epstein out of the GM clique. Perhaps I'd feel differently about Epstein if he'd been with another team, but I'm unable to seperate him from my seething hatred of the Red Sox so his demise is my delight. DePodesta was just awful. Seriously terrible. Okay, moneyball is a good philosophy. When employed correctly, it works. DePo was an example of what happens when it goes bad. Terrible clubhouse chemistry, injury-prone players, and a lack of any sort of balance and well-roundedness were what characterized the dismal Dodger's squad from this year. Granted, I am anything but a Dodgers fan, but I don't want them to suck. I want the Dodgers to be good. I just want the Giants to be better. A rivalry's a lot more fun when it's truly competitive. Giants/Dodgers was competitive this year, but only because neither team was any good. It was far from a Yankees/Sox or A's/Angels (which for my money is the best rivalry in baseball these days).