at the beginning of this year, i had a goal to find a bunch of places in my area that i can retreat to and draw or think. i found one yesterday when i was walking around the capitol mall area. this place looks like the yerba buena gardens in san francisco (but more low key), and has a couple of walkways and benches to sit on. a gang of extreme bikers where riding around, which made it seem much cooler.
the other 'secret spot' that i wanted to retreat to once in a while was a rest stop out in truckee. got this idea after going up there to snowboard for the first time. peaceful and quiet. too bad gas prices are ludicrous right now. bahhh.
a couple of other places i wanted to check out was a spot along the river, or discovery park or something.

damn. where did all my hard drive space go? when i first got this laptop, max capacity was 27 gigs. within a month, i had already eaten up 6 gigs. i thought i could keep everything steady at 20.5 or so gigs, but all of sudden, i'm at 19.5...what the hell is taking up a whole gig that i don't know of?
...wait. never mind. the second i ejected the disc of warez i just archived, the space that i used to copy the files onto the CD-R returned to normal. hah. man, i was really scared for a moment. stupid RAM caches.
it seems my run on blogger will last a little bit longer than i originally intended, since i don't want to re-instate the SNAP section of my website. i'm trying to figure out a new design for both the main page and my personal blogspace, which i'm renaming AV. it's supposed to be short for Audia/Visuo. since mp3's aren't allowed on the server space, i won't be able to use the "audia" portion of the intended sub-section. i pretty much wanted AV to be a blog/photo/music dump site. write my thoughts, post a pic, provide music download. i'll see about circumventing the rules on mp3 uploads. for the people, but the people, ya know.

found out today that my ex-girlfriend is engaged. shes not even 18 yet (damn, that doesn't make me look too good, now does it). i feel so inadequate now. i mean, if i had held onto her hard enough (i have the horrible tendency to give up on girls if things don't go my way), maybe it could have been me proposing to her. but then again, i remember that i base some of my dating philosophy on the "tomcat" ideology: date as many girls, and don't let any of them settle you down. yes, now i feel better about myself. if she believes he's the one and is truly ready for this kind of a commitment, then doggonit, go for it. i never let past feelings deter my current choices in life. i don't want to jinx anything, but i don't foresee it lasting. nothing against them, but damn, marriage? all kinds of things can happen at this stage of life that such a choice can easily fall apart and leave you more than just heartbroken. eh.
on a lighter note, my relatives are moving in with us until their house gets built. we owe it to them to open our home to them, since they did the same for us when we first moved to Sacramento. it'll be cool rooming with my cousin Dobhie. as long as he's not a snorer. maybe it'll bring our families closer together, just like back when we were younger. in the years since the early 90's we all grew apart into our separate paths in life. JR to filmography, Dobhie into DJ'ing, Fred into working, Geno into the cool guy, Alan into the pimp, Bryan into the geek, me into arts, and everyone just growing apart. sure, we'd get together and kick it (although i missed out on a lot of that), but we were of differing thoughts and minds. seems like everything is coming full circle though, as we've all grown up, and those childhood dreams are becoming reality for some. just wished life could be simpler. maybe when we're all settled, we can have frequent get-togethers and just hang out like adults. that'd rock. can't wait to live out the rest of my life in comfortable security. enough of this CHANGE bullshit.

work seems to get more interesting by the day. so i'm fresh off a day of nearly perfect snowboarding, finally feeling the pains of tumbling down a mountain for 6 hours. i'm sore in nearly every muscle. it feels great. started an early work shift, since its spring break here. turns out the potluck i thought we were going to have was postponed til wednesday, and i bought two buckets of KFC chicken in vain. oh well, got plenty of people wondering who's chicken was sitting on the potluck table. i think i've even caught the attention of the HOTTEST girl working in my area, too. because of the my misinformation, she initiated conversation about it. i felt like a dumbass most of the day today because of that damned postponed potluck. good thing it all balanced out at the end of the day. co-worker Matt had me laughing most of the time with his remarks and the accents he kept playing with all day. learned a new workload, so i won't be stuck looking for something to do. and then, the moment that made the whole day worthwhile:
so the HOT girl is getting ready to end her shift, and i'm up to get some work to do. i walk up to a cart of work thats a few feet away from her desk, and she walks to her desk, looks at me and tells me not to forget my buckets of chicken. we smile, shortly laugh, i thank her for reminding me, god knows i would have most likely forgotten. i grab my work, go back to my desk and get back to work, i'm already behind. i spot her from the corner of my peripheral vision, making her way towards my desk. i look up, and she's standing next to me, asking if i would like a piece of the cake she brought for her group's potluck. it's strawberry. i gladly accept. i look at Matt, and he cheers me on saying, "way to go Rodney!", much to my embarassment. she hand's me a fairly big piece of frosted strawberry shortcake, and goes back to her desk to get ready to go. Matt says to her, "where's the love?", hoping to get some attention from the most beautiful girl in IVS. i place the cake next to my computer and get back to work. even with my headphones on with rock music blaring, i can hear this vixen ask me, "you're the guy that brought the chicken, right?" confirming her thoughts, or prolonging our encounter? i say yes, she laughs, and leaves for the day. Matt says as she walks away for the third time, "damn, she can't get enough of you," adding an unnerving dance that only a white man can do. i try to hide the smile on my face, and were i lighter skinned, you would have seen me blushing. i think i'm smitten. never used that word before. sounds appropriate, considering the circumstances. c'mon now, if the most drop-dead gorgeous girl were to fawn a little bit of attention on the quiet and reserved guy (me), while the outgoing and humorous guy (Matt) sits idly by to witness such a contradictory moment, wouldn't your head be over your heels?

one more thing, snowboarding trip yesterday was the greatest. not just because of the weather (it lightly snowed), but because it was a gathering of friends that haven't been in the same place together since spring break last year. the fun factor completely made the day complete. although i didn't get to hit a run with Lance all day, i was able to ride with ron, orlando, and jun, several times. we were TEARIN' UP THE BUNNY SLOPE. nothing beats that.

RIDE!!!!!!
tomorrow looks to be one of the best snowboarding trips this season. the snow conditions havent looked this good since i first went to alpine meadows in january. yessss. that fool orlando wants to race me down the mountain. he does not know what he's getting into. he thinks that since he got two extra days of boarding in since the last time we've boarded together, that he's at my level...or worse, surpassed me. ha! i will be a demon on the slopes. makes me want to splurge and buy my own board/boots/bindings NOW. arhelkaj;fkl;dsa