Trivial

"Why is it trivia? People call it trivia because they know nothing and they are embarrassed about it." - Robbie Coltrane 

On Saturday, I attended a bar trivia contest called Geeks Who Drink, well more specifically, Geek Bowl VI.   There were approximately 146 teams consisting of six members a piece competing in eight rounds of trivia while we drank beer. It ended up being a pretty cool high school reunion, where I competed with Rick, Brad, and Ita who went to high school with me. Rick's friend Cindy also joined in the fun.  We kept losing our 6th player and in the end we just decided to compete with 5.  The name of our team was “Quiz in my Pants.” They sat us next to "Quizzed in my Pants."  We were pretty sure that we had no shot, so we decided to enjoy our time and our beer.  It was quite the pageant, which included a dance-off, comedy and the Team America National Anthem "Fuck Yeah."

 Once the competition started, we were actually doing a lot better than we expected. There was a point early on when we really thought we had a shot at the $7000 of prize money. We did really well at the music round and the movie round. I had a great time and think I might actually try bar trivia again considering the good experience. Some of my favorite memories of the night included conversations about wedding cakes and gorillas.  Here is our team below:

This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday and my dad is coming to town to visit and watch the game. I am not sure who to cheer for. Last time the Giants played the Patriots I cheered for the Giants because they were such an underdog. They ended up winning and this year we are once again a huge underdog. I think I'm going to cheer for them again.  No matter who plays, I always enjoy a good Superbowl party.

This weekend I started going through old summer camp photos from when I was a kid and by kid I mean my late Jr. high and early high school years. I met some very remarkable people from other states at these summer nerd camps and I used to keep up with a lot of them by writing letters. This was before the Internet and Facebook so it didn't take long before we drifted apart. I have a handful of friends that I was able to reconnect with later in life either through keeping up, Facebook or running randomly into each other. I always seemed to have a Grease-like summer girlfriend or crushes at these camps that will always hold a special place in my heart. It was probably my first introduction to how impossible long distance relationships could be.

As I went through the pictures, so many memories came back to the surface, and so many people I'd totally forgotten about.  I wonder how they are doing now. It would be great to see how everyone turned out. I don't know most of their last names and it would be a bit weird to contact someone via Facebook 17 years later. I will say, how very lucky I was to be able to attend these summer camps. I learned so many important lessons from being on my own, living in a dorm, forming social relationships with people I just met, and being able to reinvent myself with new people. Also, it was a lot of fun. It was the last time I played capture the flag.

It was also the first time I had left South Texas and found myself in places where people were predominately white. It was probably the first time I felt different yet I was able to form friendships with a diverse group of people. It really reenforced the idea that everyone is the same and should be judged by their character. At one camp called JBA, we would have these dances.  I didn't dance in real life, but I danced my heart out at summer camps.  I remember making them play one of my Spanish songs. --- Taking a step back, Saturday I was listening to music on my computer when "Me Estoy Enamorado" by La Mafia started playing.  It brought on my trip down memory lane. --- So I had them play this song at the dance so that I could slow dance with a girl I liked. I don't remember who I was dancing with, but I remember that it felt great. Anytime I hear Counting Crows, Hootie and Blowfish or Green Day Dookie, it brings back those memories too.

At one camp, we took a day trip to a water park and even until today, it was probably the most fun at a water park I have ever had.  Those camps also got me in the habit of blogging/journaling.  The first time I left, I had a friend from home that I would write letters to each day telling her about everything that was going.  The next year I started writing letters again and decided to just keep the letters as a journal so that I could remember what happened.  From then on out, I started journaling when I want on trips.  I need to find those journals, which I might actually have somewhere in my parent's attic.  As you can tell, at some point during college, that habit became this blog.

good memories

A Good Start

"Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath.  Today, we are a pious and exemplary community.  Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever."  -Mark Twain

Ok, I think I figured out how to network my blog and Facebook.  I did kind of like it in the notes section better, but I guess I'll test this out and see how or if it works.  I know, exciting stuff.

The new year has started well.  We are almost a month in and since I didn't make any resolutions, I'm happy to say that I haven't failed to keep any.  Though, if I were to be honest, had I made any, I probably would have violated each one by now. 

Work has kept me busy and has been particularly interesting. I've also started to take on a lot of small projects around my house that I have been putting off.  I still haven't found a final setup for organizing my computer room/office, but I'm working on it.  I'm still trying to sell off some old items that are just taking up space to clear up some room in my garage. I've spent a lot of time working on organizing my iTunes music library on my computer, but I don't know why since I seem to listen to the radio more than music on my iPhone/iPod.  I ran into a few mix cds I had from college and that inspired to me to put some playlists together and discover some new music. I used to love making mix-tapes (well mix-cds).  It was like you were creating this emotional journey and even listening to them now brings back sometimes great and sometimes sad memories. Austin is the live music capital of the world and I need to be taking advantage of it more.  The first step is to get more up to date on what it out there beyond the Top 40 stuff.

One or my project goals for the first half of the year is to finally get another full sized bed for my guestroom so that friends can have a more comfortable place to stay when they are in Austin. I had one temporarily in there, but my goal is to make it one of those rooms where it looks like a ghost lives there, but that doubles as a great place for someone to feel at home.  I'm starting to really enjoy having my own house, but there always seems to be so much to do.  Also, a reminder to any of my friends, if you are ever in Austin, you have a place to stay.

Now that I have adequately buried the lead, I have great news.  Adding to the 2012 year of love theme, another friend of mine has joined the bandwagon of getting married. One of my best friends from college Herbert is getting married in April in California.  I am ecstatic at the news and have been looking forward to this news for quite some time.  Seriously, 3 weddings in the month of April is a bit much.  When Herbert and I talked about the news, we could not believe that it has now been 10 years since we graduated college.  College! 10 Years! Time really flies, but is great to see how far my friends have come, both professionally and personally.  I'm so very proud of all of them.  I have one more friend from college that I think might pop the question this year as well, but I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

Life has been very quiet. I feel like I have been on hiatus, but I don't know from what. I have all my travel plans set for Puerto Rico, but that is still some time away.  Wicked has started playing in Austin again, but since I have already seen it, I don't have plans to see it again. I have been itching to see a play or musical.  I had really wanted to see Spring Awakening, but I missed it again when it was in Austin in September, probably because I was distracted.  I saw the preview episode for the new show on NBC called Smash. It looks like it is going to be great.


Because 2011 was somewhat of an emotional roller coaster, right now I think I'm okay with just walking around the park enjoying the sights, hey, maybe I'll even take in a show.  The thing is that you can't walk past Magic Mountain and not want to get in line, so I'm sure it is only a matter of time. It is probably worth it waiting for one you will really enjoy.  I also should focus on keeping away from that food court.  Sometimes it is nice to take the time to stop and remember that it is great to live in a theme park.

Florida