During my birthday last week (thanks again everyone for your well wishes!), I got a lot of random messages from people that were apparently long time readers of my blog but have stayed under the radar until now.  There was one Xangan in particular (who will remain anonymous) that stood out.  She sent a message that read “URGENT: interview from UMD” (FYI, UMD is a near by college that I often visit).  Intriguing.

She turned out to be a journalism major at the school who has been following my blog for some time but just recently subscribed.  She had a short assignment due in 14 hours for a class where she had to write up an article for a fictional magazine.  She decided to write about how in a world where Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter are the main leaders of the social networking world, Xanga is still thriving, partially through the Xanga meets other Xangans and I have put together. 

I thought it was really cool and flattering that she thought about me for her assignment, so I had no problems with this last minute request.  After I answered some questions from her, she ended up writing this article (I added some appropriate links):

I’ve noticed that a lot of you have some interesting but inaccurate beliefs of me.  They’re more flattering than negative at least, but they’re still not the whole truth.  Let me try to clear up few of the more common ones I’ve been hearing lately.

First off, my age.  I personally feel like I’m still in my early 20s, but apparently others feel I’m closer to my late 20s for various reasons.  After hearing I just turned 25, I received messages from people saying they thought I was older since I come off as being so sure of myself, knowing what I want and where I want to go with my life.  In all honesty, I probably feel more confused than ever.  Sure, I’m in a better position now, but I still don’t know what’s going to happen to me in the next few years.  Am I still going to be here, or will I move to another state, coast, or even another country?  Is my current career path what I really want to do, or should I find something that’s more closely related to my studies?  Yup, I’m still very unsure of what I’ll end up becoming.

Next up, some of you are perplexed as to what I do for my job.  You know I work in the tennis industry but seem to think I just travel everywhere playing tennis, having fun and what not.  Actually, what I usually do is support all the tennis programs in my area by doing stuff like providing funding, technical assistance, establishing client relations, training instructors, organizing events, promoting, etc.  I do work from home, which is a nice perk, but I travel around my state a lot for meetings and I often times have to work entire weekends since most major tennis events happen then.  My job isn’t killing me, but I do stay busy doing real work.

More misconceptions people have concerns my traveling.  Either people think I travel all over the country for work or I don’t work because I seem to have so much time for traveling.  What people don’t realize is that I usually plan all my trips way ahead of time so they don’t conflict with my school and work schedule.  Also, most of my trips aren’t really that far as they’ve all been within the US (for now).  The furthest I really travel is California, which so happens is the place a lot of people think I’m from (I’m from the MD/VA area folks!).  I do admit I’ve been traveling a lot more these past two years though.  What can I say, it has become one of my favorite hobbies!  It’s not only because I get to see sights and visit people, but it’s also an avenue for me to search for that something I feel I’m missing from my life right now (this can be a whole other blog, so I’ll digress).

Finally, there’s the money people think I have an abundant of due to my travels.  People either think I’m rich or I have a sugar momma.  Come on!!!  OBVIOUSLY it’s the latter.  The end!

Alright seriously, I’ve never had a ton of money throughout my life.  My family’s cash flow has always been modest at best, but something my parents do very well is saving money.  I’ve been fortunate to learn my saving habits from them.  In addition, my lifestyle (minus the traveling) is quite laid back and inexpensive.  I don’t really party and drink often, I tend to buy my food frugally or get free food from home, I don’t really pay gas anymore since work reimburses me, I hardly splurge on clothes or electronics, and (the biggest factor) I’m currently not seriously dating someone.  You might laugh at the fact I said that, but in my undergraduate days I would devote at least half of my meager paycheck to the girl I was seeing.  Now that my situation has changed I have all this excess money, so what do I do?  I either save it or spend it on the occasional trips.  Overall I would say I’m living comfortably, but I’m no Sean Puff Diddy Dirty Money (or whatever he’s called nowadays).

Does that clear things up?  Now you know I’m not some late 20s, wise, rich fella from California with a non-stop fun job that allows me to travel whenever and wherever my heart desires!  Maybe one day that will be me, but that day isn’t today.

Oh, speaking of traveling…

I officially booked my tickets to Toronto June 24th-27th!  I will be staying with AzureRecollections and we will be touring the area with unfathomablelove, caeliosophy, and plump_katz that weekend.  Hopefully I will also be spending some time with Joanna_said_SO, getyourownsandwich, Sophannieta, d_ciao, suuperstar, kinamorata, JoeytheGenie, jing116, throughsamseyes, eternal_relevance, nimbusthedragon, CakaLusa, and whoever else while I’m there.  Let me know if you might be around.  I’m excited to finally visit some of my Canadian Xangans on their turf!

My friend called me a week ago to ask me what I was planning this past weekend.  Confused as to why he thought I would be doing something, he informed me that my birthday is coming up.  Nah, couldn’t be.  I would have definitely remembered that!  Right?  Sure enough, I look at the calendar and realized he was correct.  How did I forget that?

I think I can guess why.  February has been a crazy month for me because of how much time I was putting into my capstone project (which is also my excuse for not updating as much this month).  You see, this is my final semester in graduate school and in order to graduate I have to complete a project for an organization of my choosing.  I decided to help the organization I’m currently working in with strategic planning for our committees since they needed help with that anyway.  Hey, why not kill two birds with one stone?

What I didn’t realize was how quickly I had to get started.  I technically had until May to complete my project for school, but for work I had to prepare, present, and facilitate the strategic planning process for 15 committees (4-6 members each) by late February!  In other words, I had about 3 weeks instead of 12 weeks to get my act together. 

Needless to say, I was STRESSING this month.  The night before I had to give my two hour presentation to all the committees, the entire staff of my organization, and all the board members was the worse.  I stood in front of a mirror at my hotel rehearsing over and over again until my brain melted.  The night sort of progressed in this fashion:

11pm…

1am…

3am…

Fortunately, I was alone in the room.  I wonder if people outside my doorway thought I was going crazy?

You really don’t understand how worried I was the next morning.  I kept imagining freezing up in front of everyone, irreversibly ruining myself and having to leave the company out of shame.  No kidding, this was a real fear on my mind and I couldn’t shake the dread for the life of me.  This was going to be my very first presentation I give to the company and I knew how crucial it was for me to leave a good impression, especially to the board members.

So, how did it go?  Thankfully, it went smoothly!

Not only did I get through it all without messing up (whew!), I was lucky enough to impress a few people in the room as well (weee!).  In particular, a committee member came up to me afterward and told me that she has seen other people present on the same topic before, but mine was the best she has ever witnessed.  Yeah, you bet my jaw dropped right there!

She asked me to send her a copy of my powerpoint, which I did.  A few days later, I received congratulatory emails from my executive director, my section’s executive director, and a few other higher ups after they received a email from the national evaluation committee praising our section and district.  Say what?

It turned out that committee member that came up to me used to be a part of the national evaluation committee (which I didn’t know).  She proceeded to send my powerpoint out to the current chair of the evaluation committee, who wrote that what I did was “very impressive”.  She then sent it out to everybody else and the rest is history. 

To think, all I was hoping for before was to not bomb.

Such an unexpected but great way to end my 24th year of life.  Come March 1st, I will officially be a quarter century old.  I sense a lot of big changes coming up, but you know what?  I have a good feeling about this year.

I was cleaning up my room at my family’s house the other day when I came upon my high school senior yearbook, something I haven’t seen for many years.  Like a lot of the senior class, I bought myself a personal page in the back.  Would you like to see my page?  (Sure!)

Alright, I like your enthusiasm!  First, here’s the entire page:

Oh boy, there’s a lot I could say about this.  Let’s take it one section at a time.

The first section had a poem my then girlfriend wrote for me.  Did you notice the hidden message (hint: look down the left side)?  She was also the one who put in those extra words and heart.  Ain’t I a sexy beast with my fobby hair?

The second section had a letter written to me from my best friend (who’s still a good friend now, although we haven’t been able to hang out as much due to life).  He’s the only person I know that ever wrote “haha” and “hehe” as “jaja” and “jeje” (apparently the Spanish version).  It is nice that we’re still fairly close after all this time.  Random picture comment:  I really thought I was such a bad boy taking a picture of myself loitering next to the no loitering sign.  Oh yeah, rebellion yeah!

The final section was my letter to my closest high school friends.  Before you get on me I KNOW, it’s pretty cheesy that I borrowed the phrase from the MTV show Diary up there (I thought it was clever at the time!).  It’s interesting how I’ve changed so much since high school and yet other things stay akin.  That “sweet is not as sweet without the bitter” quote is still one of my favorite quotes and obviously I’m still using the Roadlesstaken moniker.  Oh, once again my then girlfriend added more personal touches here *cue gagging*

You know, for something I did as a high school teen I don’t think my page turned out all that bad.  I’m really, really glad I didn’t make the mistake of dedicating it entirely to my girlfriend like I knew other couples did.  Talk about awkward turtle when a lot of those couples broke up in between making the page and when the yearbook came out. 

How did your high school yearbook personal page look like?  Do you think it holds up well after all these years?

It has been a little over a half a year since the last NYC meet up in July.  What, you don’t remember?  Here, take a look before I continue:  http://roadlesstaken.xanga.com/730716362/a-big-recap-of-the-big-ny-xanga-meet/

Looks fun right?  Sad you missed it?  Well don’t worry, we’re going to do it all over again!  Here’s the details:

What’s Happening?

Your Hosts

Airbornerose, EmpathyandReason, Cakalusa, TheBigShowatUD, & Roadlesstaken

When is this?

What’s happening?
Still working out the exact details, but here are some ideas that we had in mind:

Lincoln Center (Good meet up place rain or shine!)

Central Park Zoo (close by to Lincoln Center)

Karaoke at Duet 35 (unless someone suggest a better place?)

VaneDave Comedy Show at Maui Tacos (location may change)

“Evening Activities” (To be determine )

Other suggestions are welcomed!

Flash Mob
Being a part of a flash mob has been on my bucket list way too long.  I say this occasion would be a great time to try one out!  Not everybody has to participate of course (we’ll need some people to film it), but the more the merrier!  Who’s interested?

We probably shouldn’t try for something too complicated like this dancing one, but perhaps something like an impromptu lightsaber battle or something simple as we all point up to an imaginary object in the air (probably the easiest to do).  What are some of your ideas?

Why should you come?
Hanging out with awesome Xangans in a big fun city is an amazing incentive, don’t you think?

Even if you don’t know that many Xangans (which was a concern last time) you don’t have to worry.  Meet ups like this are great ways to network and discover new people.  Just ask anybody that attended the meet up last year.

I met a lot of new people and strengthened existing relationships through this memorable experience.  I’m sure you will as well.

Who’s coming so far (as of 03/15):
1. Roadlesstaken
2. airbornerose
3. CaKaLusa
4. TheBigShowAtUD
5. EmpathyAndReason
6. VaneDave
7. NimbustheDragon
8. swtaznxtc90
9. WordsandThoughts
10. airborne_muse
11. Bengozen
12. FlipGuy31O
13. lcrazyaznl
14. scrooge0
15. infinitiNY
16. normality_dreamer
17. AlterEgo909
18. Lordv16
19. Rhia_Pyrithea
20. SexyGamerGirl
21. xkthily
22. Bodhiseeker
23. whotakethmycoke
24. Coffee_Kaioken
25. HeLLo_Bianca
26. Losertastic
27. pasaway4eva
28. Prim_Prim4488
29. jia_x3
30. LitlKittyKat
31. babychillax
32. Striemmy
33. RazielV
34. ohveryoung
35. juiCyer
36. jdrop
37. Lost_in_Reverie
38. verified_but_still_denied
39. twentyse7enn
40. schik05os
41. shuang_zhaohui
42. XoPinkHeart
43. indiechaos
44. goingbackearly
45. SerenaDante
46. heracheung
47. remiblanc2011
48. Shades_of_Athena
49. rxglasshalffull
50. Resentity
51. jmeLove_x

The maybes so far:
Trigger821
Joanna_said_SO
Marc
Behindthedimples
Finity
throughsamseyes
Passionflwr86
Yohkom
GreekPhysique
CPKviperphoenix
Linh_L
RonnyV
MacPhoto
Hollywoodfever91
fried_ryce
hardlyhandsomest
Utoppia
heyanh
Evil10
Lovesporks
Stupid_Systemus
x0_electric_kiss
sweetstache

Let me know below if you want to come!

I think I covered everything for now.  Please RSVP and leave your suggestions in the comment section below.  We got a whole 2 months to plan this thing, so a lot can change.  Stay tuned!

Let’s make it a good time!

P.S. Cakalusa and TheBigShowatUD are volunteering to be man servants for everybody during the meet.  Shhhh, they don’t know this yet!

Let me tell you a quick story that not too many people know.  A few years ago, I wanted to get back with somebody after mistakenly breaking it off with her.  I was trying to think of ways I could possibly persuade her to come back to me.  In the end, I genuinely thought it would be a good idea to do something from a certain movie we both enjoyed watching together.  In particular, it was this memorable scene from Love Actually that I found myself reenacting:

Yeah yeah I know, I was THAT guy

I didn’t do it halfway either.  I bought a bunch of big colored paper and wrote out around 30 cards worth of messages and pictures on them.  I even took it a step further and timed it to this song, making sure I ended my cards right when the song ended:

She did get back with me soon after this grand gesture, which was great, but that’s not what I want to talk about here.  What I want to do is understand how I managed to go through with all this.  When I look back at this memory, my first thoughts revolve around how ridiculous it was to do something so outlandish.  What was I thinking?  Did I really have to go all sappy/cheesy like that?

After thinking about it some more though, I began seeing my old self from a different perspective.  I still thought I went overboard with the spectacle (there is such thing as too much), but I had to admit I had guts.  It was a highly embarrassing thing to do, especially if it went wrong, but I apparently didn’t care how people might see it.  I had these strong feelings for her damn it, and I was going to express them one way or another!

I take a look at who I am now and wonder if I could put myself out there the way I used to be able to.  It bothers me that I hesitate to this thought.  I’m afraid that I might have grown more doubtful and cynical due to some recent experiences, which in turn is preventing me from being as ambitious and carefree with my expressions as I was back then.  Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s a good thing I’ve toned down in that department and I’m not as romance crazy, but I really don’t want to lose that side of me completely.  I like having that quality, as foolish as it may make me appear.

Who knows, perhaps I shouldn’t worry too much.  Maybe I’ve just grown out of practice and this part of me will come alive again when the moment is right.  Looks like we’ll just have to wait and see if I get inspired in the near future.

Alright, no more pondering from me.  Have a happy Sunday everyone.

Have you ever been on a the receiving end of a story somebody is telling that takes way too long to finish?  I definitely have!  RaquelHiggins005 is going to help me explain what I mean in this short video:

After two major back-to-back trips these past couple of weeks, my vacation days are sadly over.  It has been a crazy and tiring time jetsetting around the country, but the memories and friends more than make up for it.  I am very fortunate my work and school schedule allows me to have time to go on these trips now since I know I probably won’t have this luxury and freedom in the near future.  I am also very fortunate I have the funds to pay for this expensive hobby (being a good money saver and being single really helps out a lot!).

This recent trip of mine was to good old San Francisco.  I flew there with Bengozen last Thursday and came back on Monday evening (going from 60 degree weather to below freezing was so jarring!).  With Sonychak as our chauffeur/host, we met up with other Xangans as we explored the many sides SF as well as San Jose and Berkeley.

Blah blah blah, enough of my talking.  On to the pictures!

Sonychak getting back at me for what we did with his picture in Houston.  That quote is totally taken out of context!  He was putting this on his car’s window everytime we parked somewhere.  I wonder how many people saw that?

Ruh roh!

Bengozen took WAY more pictures than me (about 800+ shots).  He graciously gave me a few shots to use for this post.  Stay tuned for the rest of his pictures coming soon on his blog!  He certainly made great use of his new camera.

Us in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Hmm, is there something strange going on in the background?  Let’s take a closer look…

AH HA!  It’s a freakin’ troll!

Who’s who?

The water tasted exquisite at the Exploratorium!  There’s a hint of flavor in it, but I can’t quite place what it is.

They obviously got some good blowing experience.

Weh!!

Awwwww, already holding hands.  I suppose they were doing so to play the musical bench, but I’ll let you guys believe whatever you wish!

 Sumoneoverthere and Bengozen practicing their levitation abilities.

A very small sample of the yummy food we ate from all over town.

We had to wait 2 hours for our meal at The Boiling Crab in San Jose, but it was worth it!  We managed to meet up with Manbeast and his gf too.  I suppose they were worth it too =)

Activating more group shots…NOW!

Eating at Sophie’s Crepes with Jess and Cognney makes me merry!

We apparently make the room glow yellow over at 100% Sweet Cafe

Picture with xkrazymonsterx before he had to leave us.

Looking sleazy over at Coit Tower

Over at Berkeley!  Thanks for the tour AJollyDork!

In-N-Out: A good meal to end a trip in CA.

Sonychak letting it all out, specifically for you Cakalusa!

I didn’t take any videos on this trip, so you should go visit Sonychak’s blog for all the footage.  Come see us in all our silly, funny, sarcastic moments!  For your convenience, I’ll link his posts (and upcoming posts) below:

Day 1:  Bridges Are Amazing!
Day 2:  We Love Nerdy Museums
Day 3:  Big Bell Size = RoadLessTaken’s Head Size
Day 4:  Boiling Crab Slurpers

Sigh, I have to say bye for now to my travels and my long distance friends.  It might be a while before I can fine myself traveling this far and often again.  As much as I really don’t want to, I must re-enter reality.  Hey, at least I have more time for you all here!  I have a lot of catching up to do.

Over the holiday weekend, I was fortunate enough to meet up with some long distance friends in Houston, Texas.  FlipGuy31O, Cakalusa, and I picked Houston to meet up this time around because it was cheap, it was the central point for everyone, and so we could visit friends from there that we’ve been meaning to see.  The trip was very low key but constantly entertaining and fun.  I really just wanted to hang out, talk and laugh with old and new friends, and I sure did all that!

In case you were wondering, pretty much everybody I hung out with in Houston were people I’ve met online.  I normally don’t feel the need to say that, but I still hear from some people who have issues with that fact for whatever old fashion beliefs they have on “weird internet people”.  They seem to think the right type of friends are the kind you meet “in real life”.  While I do have plenty of “real life” friends that are great, my “fake” (as I like to joke around saying) friends are usually as great if not even better in some ways.

Take FlipGuy31O for instance.  He’s a guy that I’ve initially met through Xanga back in February 2009 through a contest I was hosting.  Since then, we have corresponded many times online and have done a lot of group video chats as a way to keep in touch.  In the past 2 years, we have met up in person at 5 different locations (San Diego, San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, and now Houston).  In other words, we have made time in our busy schedule to pay for and go on trips just to hang out.  Each time, we hung out during the majority of the trip’s duration (usually 3-4 days).  During those trips, we have swapped many stories and secrets and have created many inside jokes.  Many times he has made me laugh so hard that I had to guzzle down water to soothe my throat.  When I was hurt and betrayed by someone one time, he was one of my friends there helping me get through it all at 3:30am.

Yeah, I really hope you understand now why I consider Flip a true friend, period.  How him and I, as well as how other people and I, have met does not really matter when determining a friendship.  What matters is all that takes place afterward. 

Okay, I’m off the soapbox haha.  Time for some picture from my trip!

The obligatory group shots:

Outside Rudy’s with (from left to right) Cakalusa, hodtos, FlipGuy31O, BranmacFeabhail, Jeannie_dot_com, and SonyChak (I’ll explain this later)

Can you guess which one is TheTheologiansCafe??  I know I know, it’s like finding Waldo or something, but I’m sure you can find him if you look hard enough.

Miyako Sushi with Jeannie_dot_com, SonyChak, Cakalusa, BranmacFeabhail, DangDatsTracy, blubunni326, and FlipGuy31O

Just some random moments from the trip:

Flying into Houston with Cakalusa.  Somebody PLEASE photoshop this.

Water Wall.  So hypnotizing.

It almost looks like we’re a portrait in the museum.

How we improvised heating up the burrito without a microwave.  Check out FlipGuy31O’s vlog for more of this!

FLLYYYY LIKE A G6!!!!

What’s going on here?  See the rest in FlipGuy31O’s vlog.

So, some of you may be wondering why we were carrying around this ugly and pathetic SonyChak‘s picture around Houston with us:

In the middle of getting a forehead hickey

The reason why was because he was suppose to come on the trip with us, but due to lack of funds he was unable to.  FlipGuy31O brought this laminated picture of him on the trip as a joke initially, but we all soon took it almost everywhere we went.  Laminated SonyChak sure was a fun companion!

Don’t take my word on this.  See for yourselves!  As you can see, he definitely enjoyed the trip…

….clearly.  Feel free to use him as a meme y’all!

Since SonyChak couldn’t make it on this trip, I decided I would go visit him instead.  That’s right, I’m doing one more trip, but this time in San Francisco!  Bengozen and I will be flying in tomorrow, Jan 20th, and will leave on Monday the 24th.  I already talked to most of you Bay Area Xangans, but if I haven’t and you want to meet up let me know.

I’ll see the rest of you all next week!  I’ll find some way to catch up on everybody’s posts when I’m done vacationing.  Promise!

Well, I certainly did not predict I would be using a title with the words “forehead” and “hickey” next to each other, but that’s pretty much the most accurate way to describe what happened to swtaznxtc90 when she visited me the other day.

Long story short, she was playing with my little plunger thingy so much that it left a nasty big splotch right in the middle of her forehead.

Hmm, that didn’t sound right.  Let me clarify.

I own this little plunger:

The chapstick is for size comparision (Burt’s Bees is amazing btw)

It was a gift from my little brother.  It is actually a novelty stand for my iPhone for when I want to watch something without needing to hold it up myself.  This is how it’s suppose to be used:

Nifty huh?

And this is how swtaznxtc90 used it:

Almost looks like an ugly pimple.

I guess she was trying to be cute or something.  Anyway, she left it on her forehead for about an hour before she finally remembered it was there and took it off.  It was then that I made a gigantic gasp as I saw the consequences of her actions.  This was what I saw:

All together now.  EWWWW!!!!!

When we were both done rolling on the floor laughing at what she idiotically did, she suddenly became very anxious.  Apparently, she had to attend a dinner with her mom and friend in about an hour!  How was she going to explain this to them?

So, I looked up ways to get rid of a forehead hickey (which, funny enough, had a few Google hits) and it gave pretty much the same advice for getting rid of regular hickey.  After all was said and done, the forehead hickey was still there.  She would end up eating dinner with that mark on full display (which she probably deserved).

Here’s a picture of her using a cold spoon to massage out the mark and a picture of her with the spoon tied down on her head with her scarf:

Meanwhile, I’m still rolling on the floor laughing

Just for giggles, here’s a quick video I took of her trying to explain herself (I forgot to hold my iPhone sideways for this, but it still works):

You might be wondering what became of her forehead hickey and how her mom reacted.  From what I heard the next day, her mom got mad and told her not to leave the house looking like that (good call).  The mark was still there, but now looked more like a baby had kicked her and left a peanut/foot shaped imprint.  She ended up putting a ton of concealer on it, but the shameful mark is still visible.

I hope everybody will learn from her poor decision.  Do not stick and leave tiny plungers on your forehead!  What do you have to say about all this, David Caruso?

**********************************************************************

On a different topic, Cakalusa, FlipGuy31O, and I will be visiting Houston, Texas this weekend from the 14th-17th.  I probably will not be able to blog for at least a week, but I’ll still be pulsing.

TheTheologiansCafe is setting up a small Xanga meet up at the Dave & Busters in the Mar*E Entertainment Center.  We will be meeting this Saturday, January 15th, at 6pm.  If you happen to be around and want to come by please let him or me know!