Dinhternet

So this weekend, I went up to Reno and North Lake Tahoe with Will N, Eddie C, Michow, Chris H, and Andrew P. Will N won the trip from his work, so it was basically all paid for. The drive there was pretty fun. It was late and light on traffic, so Eddie and I cruised along nicely. Sadly, it was in automatic Civics.

The stay at Circus Circus was fun. I didn’t actually play cards, but did make some money on the penny slots, besides getting cheap drinks. I also won at Uno when we went back to the room for the night. In the morning, we hit up the buffet, and I didn’t control myself as well as I should have.

The drive to North Lake Tahoe was even more fun. My tachometer actually hit 6,000 rpm, which I had not done before. The hotel was really nice, but there wasn’t as much to do there. Well, we didn’t know there was, anyway, because we got there at dusk, and didn’t realize we were literally across the street from lake front beaches. Hit the Big Water Grill, which was really bougie. Unfortunately, my dietary restrictions meant I could only have a salad, which actually worked out well for me, considering the lunch I had.

That night, we chilled at the hotel hot tub and played a lot of “would you rather.” Watched movies and had cheap wine in the room after we got kicked out of the pool area, and then woke up for a little more slots and pinball action. We followed the lake shore for an amazing drive home, and then chilled in Davis to watch the big game. Made a buck off Andrew P betting on the Steelers.

Overall, Will N made big money, as well as Minh T. I’m up for the weekend, but only by a couple of bucks. Makes me wonder, though… You know the expression “Lucky in cards, unlucky in love” ? Sometimes it’s put the other way around. But the point being, in years past, it did not hold true for me, because I always lost money at New Years, and was still unlucky in love. But this year, I’m (slightly) lucky in “cards,” so does that mean the expression will finally be true for me? Or will it be untrue in the opposite manner that it usually is?

So there was another “discussion” at dinner today.

I forgot how it came up, but Ong Ngoai started describing/reenacting the Daniel Pearl execution. Cau Minh then brought up how people are protesting the CIA’s use of waterboarding, and said that the protesters should have their children decapitated like that and then see how they feel about waterboarding. This brought on another round of “If you don’t like it, go home.”

I just quickly finished up dinner without saying a word, and then went up to my room. As much as I like Jack Bauer, I could never stand for someone like him in real life. Unlike in 24, no man’s hunches can always be right. Practices like waterboarding are excessive and ineffective. They do nothing but create false leads for us and more animosity from others. I just want to tell them, “An eye for an eye makes the world go blind.” America can and should be above that shit.

So after my posts last night, went to brush my teeth, and got pulled into a two-hour discussion with Jimmy about my posts. Specifically, about APhiO. Good stuff. He makes me see things in a new way all the time, and I love bouncing ideas off him.

Went to service this morning with Albert and Melanie. I love service in the morning. Even though this one involved me having a pretty bad allergic reaction… My skin and eyes were all itchy, my nose was just constantly dripping, and my lips even swelled up a little.

Today’s quote comes from the project:

Poor guy… a stocks buddy of his was text messaging him every five minutes, taunting him with more information he couldn’t act on.

Got back home and took a shower and slept off the rest of the attack. Had a quick bite for dinner, and then it was movie time! Double-feature tonight… first, Eddie and I met up with Vince and Lesley for Superbad. Then we went to the other theater for Balls of Fury, and ran into hella folks, including Aaron L, Minh T, Michow, Chris H, Isaac, Joe, Drew, DK, Kevin P, and Donna. Superbad was awesome. Mostly because I saw so much of myself in the unbelievably awkward main characters. Balls of Fury, eh… not so much. I laughed at stuff, but overall… not as impressive to me. Plus there was random ASA complaints in the back of my mind the whole time.

Oh, and why is Maggie Q now THE Asian chick in Hollywood? She was pretty hot in Balls, but goddamn, in later scenes, she straight looked concave!