NewSc2

Does time slow down when memories are created?

If so, I wish I could bottle up more days like yesterday.

I woke up around 11am and found out my car was missing (my dad took it out). So I hit up Andre to ask for a ride to the bank and Subway. (5 dollar footloooong — goddamnit no, shut up, shut up)

Went for a solo, 3-mile run afterward at the usual stomping ground (Back Bay).

Realized my hair was getting too wild, so I got it cut around the corner. Picked up a Turkish Latte at Kean’s after that (my stylist, Back Bay, and Kean’s are all within a few blocks of each other), and read a few chapters of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.

I got to Klosterman’s “23 questions I’d ask a girl to figure out if she’s my type” (or something like that), and came across this one:

You’re walking around downtown Chicago. A wizard stops you, and tells you he can make you more attractive — relative to a dollar amount that you’ll pay him. Of course, you don’t believe him. So he points at a man walking across the street, and says “I’ll make him one dollar more attractive,” and waves his wand. The man’s appearance doesn’t change, but somewhere deep inside you, you realize he’s a tiny bit more attractive. He’s undeniably a little sexier. Now there’s one catch — you can only pay the wizard once — you can’t go back to him after the deal’s done, and he will never bless your looks again. How much do you pay?

This was just one question among between twenty two others, but it stuck with me a little longer than most.

Just how much would I pay? I ended up settling on $400 — an amount I wouldn’t feel too bad losing if the wizard was BSing around. But a few hours later I realized that question had many other caveats. It never details how much money would raise your looks by, say, 1 point on the ubiquitous “Scale of 1-10″, so it breaks down your answer to: 1) how much disposable income you have, 2) how much you value physical appearances, 3) your trustworthiness of strangers, and 4) plastic/cosmetic surgery.

Anyway, I dwelled on this, and several other questions, for a good half hour or so, stopped by Hi-Time Wine Cellars (also only a couple blocks away), didn’t see anything interesting, and went back home.

There wasn’t much on TV, so I channel surfed and came across the beginning of a replay of Muhammed Ali vs. George Foreman (the “Rumble in the Jungle” fight in 1974). I’d never seen Ali box an entire match before, so I made some noodles and settled down. It was amazing, easily one of the best boxing matches I’d ever seen.

Ali vs. Frazier III, the “Thrilla in Manila” was next, so I hit up Will and Andre and asked them to come over for some drinks and TV. Will left around 11 (he had work the next day), Andrew Chang came on by, and Andre left for a couple hours, only to return to Silky’s later (that’s a whole ‘nother story, which I won’t get into here).

So Andrew and I walk to Silky’s, get a couple drinks, hang out there for about an hour, and Andre shows up at 1:26am. Seriously, exactly 4 minutes before closing time. So… omg… we need to get more alcohol –

Three Matadors, Ernesto!

Okay, now take our picture Ernesto:

Why is everybody dressed up in caballeros y vaqueros outfits? Oh, there’s a chili cookoff tomorrow. Hm, whose hat is this? Oh well, Andre — take a picture!

The two of us (Andrew and me) stumble back home, and Andre parks and joins us halfway. We end up sitting outside my house, indian-style, and talk… about… I forget. Andre has the video. Stan comes over (his car’s backing up in the picture), and by now the delicious matadors are settling down. We are all jibbering about something, and Andrew keeps making me laugh:

Now that Stan’s here, we go inside to play some Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

SSF2THDR.

Andrew continues to be hilarious. We’d devolved into speaking Mandarin (wait, actually, just Andrew), so Andrew kept saying (in Chinese) — “I’m gonna kick-kick-kick-kick your head! Wait, how do you say “fierce” in Chinese? Oh, I remember. I’m going to kick you! I’m going to use my forceful kick! My leg is made of stone! See?! Kick-kick-kick! Aha I’m so strong!”

Okay, so that picture probably didn’t capture the emotion, but the exchange should be on video too.

3am rolls around, and tacos beckon. We stumble outside, and Andrew runs up to my lemon tree, grabs a lemon, and… just… bites it. “My mouth is so sour!!! Your oranges don’t taste good Tony… =(”

I think he ate the lemon peel:

And so we get to the last picture. March 1st, 2009, 3:16am, in Santa Ana, CA, on the corner of Harbor and Hazard, at the Taqueria de Anda. 3 lengua tacos (mine), various carnitas and carne asada tacos (Stan, Andre), and a Carne Asada burrito (half me, half Andre):

Total bill for the entire day? Not including the haircut or game, or the bottle of wine I dug out from the cellar: 1 Five… Five dollar… Five dollar footloooonnnggg…, 1 $3 cup of coffee, 1 round of drinks ($11 + $4 tip), and $6 at Taqueria. Not bad.

*PS — Thanks Andre, for sending over the pics~

Where do I go after drinking quite possibly the best beer ever created (Pliny the Younger, #2 in the world) and the most expensive liquor I’ve ever had? (Pierre Ferrand Cognac, Distilled in 1914)

That’s right, nowhere.

I’ve discovered a few things in the past several weeks of debauchery: 1) Alcohol can cause you to say dumb things (it can also make you feel happy sometimes). 2) Your liver is on the right side of your body (which doesn’t explain the aches I get on the left side of my abdomen). 3) I don’t think I’m a huge fan of cognacs.

Russian River’s Pliny the Younger triple IPA and Consecration sour ale were released a couple weeks ago, and have been hitting some of the local beer bars recently. I prepared myself for the ride, but I’d already been semi-binge drinking over the past several weeks anyway.

Both beers were ridiculously delicious, and totally worth the $9-13/pint I paid for the dozen or so pints I had.

Hi-Time Wine Cellar held a cognac tasting yesterday in Irvine. The h’ors d’evours (I hope I spelled that right) were actually very good. Frequent trips to the lunch table, a couple feet from our table, kept things in check.

Thirteen cognacs were served, ranging from around $100 to “$1500″ for a cognac distilled by French women in 1914 while their husbands were fighting the war. I say “$1500″ because the Pierre Ferrand rep wasn’t exactly sure how much they were going for (”$1000 or $1500″), and Hi-Time had one bottle left for $600. Anyway, it was extremely good, but the two snobs gentlemen across from us were obviously enjoying it more than I was. They ended up buying the bottle.

Fortunately, I’ve only put on one or two extra pounds over the past couple months, so my body’s at least kept it together. I can’t say I’ve been extremely productive, though, so I’m taking a break off the C2H5OH for a couple weeks to let things settle down.

Nothing much else to update in the life of Tony — the past several days have been lazy and enjoyable. I turned on my drum machines a couple days ago and went through some patterns I saved over Christmas. I haven’t felt like DJing lately, but I’m still listening to huge amounts of new music (at least a few hundred tracks and 5-6 hours of sets) each week. Maybe turning the knobs and pushing the buttons will keep me going.

Teddy usually sleeps around midnight (after the 4th nap of the day… his late-night nap from 9-11pm), but I found him wandering aimlessly around the hallway at 2am. His tummy was grumbling.

Poor little boy. All he knows is that his bowl is empty. He doesn’t even know why (I forgot to stop by Petsmart today).

Thank goodness I found an old can of dog food.

Silly Teddy! You can’t cook… You’re not a hunting doggy, either. What would you do without me…

NewSc2’s Spam & Chicken Omelette Recipe

Fry 1/4 Onion, 3-4 oz. shredded chicken, and 3-4oz. Spam (I use Turkey Spam, tastes the same — much healthier)

Beat 3 eggs, add 1 tbsp. whole milk, add a dash of salt, pepper, paprika, sugar, cayenne pepper (basically add whatever you have in your spice cabinet that you think would work well)

Pour the egg mixture in, close lid, set to low (important!)

Chop cilantro and tomatoes

Flip over the omelette, melt some shredded cheese (1/4 cup should be enough)

Take off heat, add ketchup, fresh veggies, and a dollop of sour cream.

Enjoy.

Nutritional Data:

This is one of my go-to meals for a high protein, moderate fat, low-carb meal. It makes a good dinner, or after-dinner snack. I estimate there’s about 25g of fat (13g from the eggs), 65g protein, and minimal (less than 10g) of carbs.

Total calories: ~500