Ms. Zadie

Wow, she has grown so much since I first got her (she was only a month old). She's five months old now, but only around 4lbs.

The Way We Mend

Last night I hung out w/ the ex for the first time in over a month. We spent most of the night just laughing as we put a desk that I had reacquired back together, cause, well, I'm not much of a handy man. I think it relaxed him enough to tell me that he's been angry with me for the past several weeks. We were on the outs and I had no idea. He was upset w/ and disappointed in me because he thought that I had thrown our friendship away. I was shocked when he told me, because the last time that I saw him I told him that I can’t imagine not having him in my life at all. If it meant he was just a friend, then so be it. I’ve also made attempts to hang out with him prior to last night. But, whatever. We are back on good terms, and that's all that really matters.

It was so nice to be able to hang out with him and have no subject off limits. Before, it hurt too much to hear him talk about another guy. Actually, I think he became a little uncomfy when I mentioned that there was someone I liked, as he quickly changed the subject. Overall, it was a great evening. I’ve missed him a lot and it’s nice to have one of my best friends back.

You Found Me

It looks like someone I've been talking about here has stumbled across my blog. I guess it's a good thing, though. We shall see.

Sloshed

I got wicked drunk last night and was paying for it for most of the day today. This is only the second time in my life that I can remember being that shit-faced. At least this time it was because I had not had anything to eat all day. Thanks again to Adam and Brad for taking care of me and letting me crash at their pad. I hope I wasn’t too bad. I owe you dinner or something.

Put Your Records On 07.05

I was cleaning up my music library on iTunes today and I ran across this track from a couple years ago that I used to love. I've done a few google searches and it looks like everyone has the song listed as either being performed by or remixed by Cascada, but I'm sticking with the information as I've always known it to be. Here's a fun song to lead us into the weekend...

Artist: The Usual Suspects feat. Miai
Track: The Love You Promised
Press play to listen

Flirting With Disaster?

So I received a very interesting text message from B a little while ago, one that would, under normal circumstances, be well received. Considering he's in a relationship, though, he may just want to have his cake and eat it, too. We'll see though. What with the drama that has been unfolding in his life over the past couple weeks, he may very well be available. Then again, because of the drama, if the opportunity presented itself I may not want to take our friendship to a different level.

I'll be seeing him on Saturday, and it looks like we will definitely have a lot to discuss.

And The Nominees Are...

The 79th annual Academy Aware nominations were announced this morning. I was pleasantly surprised to find Pan’s Labyrinth honored with SIX nominations, including Best Foreign Film. However, much to my dismay, Almodovar’s Volver was shut out of that race. Leading the pack of nominees, despite not being nominated for Best Picture, is the musical Dreamgirls with a total of eight nominations. Close behind are Babel (7), The Queen and aforementioned Pan’s (6 each), The Departed (5) and Letters From Iwo Jima and Little Miss Sunshine (4 each). Here are the nominees in the major categories, along with the percentage that I correctly guessed.

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

An over-site on my part, I incorrectly left The Queen off of my prediction list. Despite proof-reading it more than once, I didn’t notice my error. Had I noticed, I would not have listed Letters…. Either way, I still had Dreamgirls in the running, so I was 80% correct.

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Again, the same issue as w/ Best Picture. I totally forgot to include The Queen, although I still would have included Bill Condon for Dreamgirls. 80% correct

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit Of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King Of Scotland

100%!!!

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Dame Judi Dench, Notes On A Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Mery Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

I correctly predicted this category as well, so another 100%

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

I incorrectly guessed that Michael Sheen would be in the running for The Queen. 80%

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes On A Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

I incorrectly predicted Emily Blunt for The Devil Wears Prada. I didn’t feel as though Abigail’s performance was strong enough. Guess it was, though. 80%

Something's Gotta Give

As I reported yesterday, B and I started talking again. Last night, though, my friend and my new roommate went out for a few drinks at the bar down the street from my flat. I ended up meeting someone, we'll refer to him as RP. If you are a frequent reader, you'll be surprised to know that he is actually single!

Unfortunately, I've heard a lot about this person over the past few weeks, as he works with a very close friend of mine. It's a small world. While we had a pleasant enough conversation, I'm just not going to be able to proceed with even a friendship. I like to surround myself w/ positive people, and, from what I've heard, he doesn't quite fit that bill.

Besides, I'm interested to see how things with B progress. I get to visit him on Sunday, so we'll see how it goes.

Wow, if finding a man is my biggest problem right now, I guess I really shouldn't be complaining.

Better

I haven’t been too active in the blogosphere lately, as I haven’t been feeling too well. I won’t get into all the details, but I will say that it most likely was the result of some chicken that was either tainted to begin with or that I did not cook as thoroughly as it looked. Either way, it hasn’t been a pleasant week for me so I just haven’t felt up to writing or chatting w/ just about everyone. But it seems to be over as of today.

The roommate situation has been going somewhat smoothly. He adjusting to not having a door or his own bathroom, and I’m adjusting to living with a roommate and sharing my bathroom. I’ve lived with a boyfriend before, and it’s just not the same thing. It’s been a big adjustment for Zadie, as well, as she isn’t too sure what is going on. She hasn’t really taken a liking to him, but that could very well be because he’s moved into her territory. I’ve been trying to give her extra attention, and she seems to be progressing well.

Over the past week, I have watched a LOT of movies. Children Of Men, Dreamgirls, The Illusionist, Little Miss Sunshine, The Pursuit Of Happyness and The Night Listener. The least enjoyable of the six was easily The Night Listener, but probably because there was no secret. Little Miss and Happyness were mediocre at best. Illusionist and Dreamgirls were both exceptional films that I would definitely recommend seeing. Children Of Men is amazing. It kept my attention then entire time and I never really knew what was going to happen next. It’s also the most realistic of any movie about the future, well, maybe not plot wise (worldwide infertility). I highly recommend you see this on the big screen.

Today I am feeling so much better! I want to go to the gym, but I don’t want to be indoors. After I post this, I’m going to go take a long walk. Put my earphones in and tune the world out. It’ll be nice. Oh, I did get a nice surprise this morning. I had not heard from B (the guy I have a crush on – I know, how high school of me) in a week and a half. We had been flirting via text messages, and I thought maybe I had crossed a line. Well, this morning, I was delighted to receive a text message from him. Turns out he has a very good excuse, but I won’t be divulging why (as I don’t have all the details). The bad news is that he has to remain out of town for the next couple of months. Thankfully, though, he isn’t too far and he’s already invited me up for a visit.

Alright, I need to get out and on my walk, cause I won’t go otherwise. The bed is looking far too tempting right now.

Put Your Records On 07.04

I remember seeing the video for Regina Spektor's song Us while we were waiting in line at Gay Day at Six Flags Over Texas this past September. While I couldn't actually hear the song, I made a mental note to look her up when I got home since the video was interesting to me. As usual, though, I forgot to do so. Then two days ago, I saw her name somewhere and I immediately found and downloaded her latest album, Begin To Hope. I'm about six months late jumping on the bandwagon (at least in regards to this album), but better late than never in this case.

Since I've been on a high of sorts since the beginning of the year, I immediately took a liking to the love song, Fidelity. It's sweet, sappy and makes me happy. And it is catching on with others, as it has been climbing the charts slowly but surely. Give this alternative pop song a listen to, and, if you are so inclined, buy her amazing album HERE.

Artist: Regina Spektor
Album: Begin To Hope
Track: Fidelity

Winter Wonderland

My office is closed due to iclement weather. Yes, this may seem like nothing to most of you, but you should know that we Texans are incapable of driving in most weather conditions.

So I'm going to sit back, relax and catch up on some sleep today.

A Gold Star Weekend

My long weekend is over and now I’m back to work and my blog. Due to some flaky friends and an ice storm that smashed through Dallas, my weekend wasn’t nearly as busy as I had anticipated. If was delicious, nonetheless.

I was supposed to spend the day with B; however, I believe I scared him off. He hasn’t been in contact with me since Wednesday. Hopefully he will come around, because I definitely don’t want to lose that friendship. Instead of hanging out with him, I had lunch with my friend G. It was great to catch up with him. The rest of the day was spent running errands and making the finishing touches on the apartment in preparation of my new roommate.

Saturday morning I met Adam up at his gym and ended up joining. Now I just need to determine my workout plan. Afterward, Adam and I enjoyed lunch, bought myself some work out shorts and then we went shoe shopping. Adam found shoes, I did not. Actually, I did find shoes, but not any that were in my price range.

That evening, my new roomie arrived. He had one other friend assist w/ his move, but, thankfully, he didn’t have too much stuff. Aside from his mattress and couch, we only had to make two trips up the elevator. Once we finished, I joined Adam and the gang for Pan’s Labyrinth. While I had already seen the movie, it was great to finally see it on the big screen. It’s still a stunning piece of art. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is one you shouldn’t put off.

I can’t really recall doing much of anything on Sunday. The ice storm hit, so we all pretty much stayed in. Yesterday, I hung out around the house during the day. Then I joined Adam for dinner and a movie. We had Vietnamese at this restaurant across the street from my apartment and then so the most wonderful new film, Notes On A Scandal (which stars Academy Award winners Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett). I went thinking that this was a drama, but was pleasantly surprised at just how over the top this film was. We, along with the other gay folk in the theatre, were dying w/ laughter at just how campy and melodramatic this was. While not on the same level as, say, Mommy Dearest, it’s definitely in the same ball park. So many memorable lines, unintentionally funny and campy as all get out. Go out and see this when you get the chance, it’ll be worth it.

I've Got A Life

And it's about to conflict with this here blog. At least only for the weekend. I'm anticipating a busy four day weekend, what with my friend moving in and all. Aside from that, I have plans every day. I think I will probably just go all the way and take a holiday from blogging, as well. Rest assured, I shall return in force either Monday evening or Tuesday.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Ciao!

What Happens Just Happens

I was talking to my ex via instant messenger this evening. This is something we haven’t done in a while...i.m. that is. It's been about a month since we've even talked really. It’s a long story as to why, but I think I posted about it here at the time. If not, oh well. Anyway, we are playing catch up and finding out what the other has been up to so far this year. And that’s when he tells me that he has big plans for June and July. I asked if he would finally be going to Spain, as he was supposed to go last summer for a couple months (a family illness prevented him from doing so). He grew up in Barcelona and has been wanting to move back for the longest time. Not surprisingly, he told me that, yes, he was going.

Further into the conversation, the topic steers back to Spain. He tells me that he is going to be there for a year at the very least. A few weeks ago, this news would have no doubt devastated me…just as it did when he told me the same thing last year. It could be that he’s told me so many times that he is going that, like his family and other friends, I just won’t believe it until he actually goes. I seriously doubt that, though. I’ve been the one person in his life that has been pushing him to follow his dreams no matter what (especially no matter how much damage it would do to me emotionally). Besides, he told me that he actually has the plane ticket, so I know he is really going this time.

So why am I not curled up in the corner balling my eyes out? After talking to Adam about it, I think it’s because I’m pretty much over him. Don’t get me wrong. I love him and will to the day that I cease to exist. But I’m moving on. I spent the better part of twelve months convinced that I would never meet someone that would evoke the same (or even similar) feelings he stirred up in me. And while there is nothing more than a friendship currently going on with B, in him I have discovered that I can feel the same way about another person. I’m in such a good place in my life right now, and I really hope that I can sustain this momentum.

Put Your Records On 07.03

Based out of Long Beach, CA, the indie rock band Cold War Kids is beginning to make people stand up and notice. Last year they were signed to Downtown Records and released three EPs, an album Robbers & Cowards and performed at both Lallapalooza and SXSW. They garnered much critical praise and it looks like they are slowly but surely catching on.

Artist: Cold War Kids
Album: Robbers & Cowards
Tracks: Hospital Beds

Relax (Take It Easy)

It was proving to be a typical Tuesday evening as I headed home to work on my apartment some more (as I didn't do a thing last night)...that is, until B called. He told me he was picking up dinner for us and that I needed to get my ass over to his place so we could finally have a (video) game night. How could I possibly object? So I showered, changed clothes, swooped up Zadie and headed over to his pad.

To my amazement and delight, Ms. Zadie took an instant liking to B. This is a total first for her, as it usually takes her a little while to warm up to people. The downside is that she HATES his dog, which is a 5 or 6 month old Italian greyhound. In his dog's defense, it (a female, but I'm going to refer to his dog as 'it' for distinguishing purposes) was trying to play w/ her. I think it got off to the wrong start, as it was a little too rough too soon. In another night of firsts w/ Zadie, she was growling, showing her teeth and snapping at his dog. Watching the two interact was absolutely hilarious, but, being the guest and all, Zadie won out and his dog was locked in her pin. Zadie ruled the couch and we took turns holding her.

Of course, the whole dog saga was going on while we were attempting to play video games. We started off on his old playstation w/ some whacked out version of Monopoly. It was far too confusing because you don't take turns, everyone just does everything at once. Too much going on all at once (as well as the computer tearing us to shreds), so we quickly switched it out for Trivial Pursuit. What can I say, he wanted a game night. :) This was better since we actually took turns, but it was far too slow (both pace wise and the game system itself). So he whipped out his Wii and things got way more interesting.

First, I created my mii (a far better version than the one I created on NYE) and we got to playing. He had just picked up a cheap game called Rampage, which looks related to the Donkey Kong games (but I don't think it is). It's a monster game where you basically just go around eating people and causing as much damage as possible. We had a lot of fun destroying Las Vegas and San Francisco. Before we knew it, it was 11:45 p.m. We both have places to be at 10 a.m. the next morning, so we decided to call it a night.

This is only the third time we have hung out, but I'm amazed at how comfortable that I am around him. I'm usually nervous around everyone (and I mean everyone) and am always fumbling over my words (assuming I even talk). Hell, I'm always hanging out with Adam, but I'm still a little nervous around him. Tonight w/ B, I was the most relaxed that I have been in a very long time. Even if nothing develops romantically, at least I have someone I can kind of be myself around (at least when it's just the two of us). I know all that seems like I'm gushing over him, but I'm not. If you only knew how extremely nervous I get around people, then you would understand why I'm excited that I've found someone that doesn't make me feel that way.

Alright kids, it is time that I call it a night.

Ciao!

I Want You

A phone, widescreen iPod and internet access all rolled into one...what a thing of beauty. The new iPhone, from Apple, has been unveiled, ending months/years of rumours of what the device will look like and what features it would offer.

The phone comes very well equipped indeed. It runs on OS X, quad-band GSM and features multi-touch display. It's sensors also detect when the device has been moved from portrait to landscape and automatically adjusts. The sensors also detect (and shut off and on accordingly) when the phone is brought up to the ear, as well as adjusts the screens brightness depending on how bright/dark your surroundings are. And, as if that wasn't enough, it also boasts a 2-megapixel camera!

The biggest letdown is that it's exclusively through Cingular. I'm on Verizon. Boo!

All Wrapped Up

The NYC subway system doesn't just want you to ride their train system safely, they also want you to be safe when riding your partner(s). They are about to unveil their own brand of condoms. The condoms will come in packets with a variety of colors representing the different subway lines. They'll be handed out free as part of a massive safe-sex campaign later this year, and will be available when you purchase tokens, at city hall, city run health facilities and at gay venues.

"The condom packets will be modeled after the New York City subway system. Every foil will have a color," Carol Carozza, spokesperson for Ansell, the firm producing the NYC condoms told the Post.

Something I wasn't aware of is that AIDS is the third-leading cause of death in NYC. It is now behind only cancer and heart disease. All the more reason to keep this disease in the spotlight and to help find a cure.

We Want Our Film To Be Beautiful

So I'm anticipating the Oscars this year, despite the two of my three favourite films of the year are not front runners. At least all three (The Devil Wears Prada, Pan's Labyrinth and Volver) have pretty good shots at being nominated for at least a few categories. Since I love lists, here are my predictions for the Oscar nominations in the major categories. Granted, I haven't seen a lot of the movies, but I'm basing most of my decisions off of buzz and awards that have already been handed out. The only category that I'm fairly certain about is Best Actress, but I guess we'll see in a couple weeks.

Picture
1. Babel
2. The Departed
3. Dreamgirls
4. Letters From Iwo Jima
5. Little Miss Sunshine

Director
1. Bill Condon, Dreamgirls
2. Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
3. Paul Greengrass, United 93
4. Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, Babel
5. Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Actor
1. Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
2. Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
3. Peter O’Toole, Venus
4. Will Smith, The Pursuit Of Happyness
5. Forest Whitaker, The Last King Of Scotland

Actress
1. Penelope Cruz, Volver
2. Dame Judi Dench, Notes On A Scandal
3. Helen Mirren, The Queen
4. Mery Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
5. Kate Winslet, Little Children

Supporting Actor
1. Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
2. Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
3. Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
4. Michael Sheen, The Queen
5. Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Supporting Actress
1. Adriana Barraza, Babel
2. Cate Blanchett, Notes On A Scandal
3. Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
4. Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
5. Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

I Love New York

I'm pretty much finished with all the reorganizing. All that's left really is to finish sorting through one of my dresser drawers, drop the bags of clothing off at a shelter and to finish taking the junk down to the dumpster. I would be finished w/ the latter, but in the middle of taking it all down there, some guy started searching through the dumpster. I know that this is done quite frequently, but I just don't like the idea of people going through my trash. That's beside the point though. I'm just excited to be done with it all and sooner than I thought. Of course, that just leaves cleaning...which will be a bitch! I'm going to try to get everything cleared out (if not necessarily cleaned) tonight, because I believe that the a/c window unit in what will be my roommate's bedroom is not working properly. It's old (just like everything else in the apartment) and needs to be replaced, but I don't want the maintenance guy coming into a dirty flat.

After telling a couple people this morning that my on again/off again trip to NYC was back on (thanks to acquiring a roommate), I now have to tell them that it is off again. The person I was going w/, Adam, just found out that he'll be able to go to Australia with his partner after all. I'm a little sad, but this way I will be able to have even more money to spend when I go to San Francisco for Pride in June!

Lets Tear This F**king House Apart

Okay, so I'm basically halfway through cleaning and reorganizing my apartment in preparation of my new roommate. In the process, I've discovered just how much shit I have accumulated without even realizing it. However, sorting through what I need and don't need is not the main priority right now. What I really need to focus on is getting everything of mine transferred and arranged in my bedroom. Then I can take the time to go through and filter out the stuff I need/want to keep from the junk that can be tossed and/or shredded.

As I stated earlier, I'm about at the halfway mark. You know, the point where you've done so much but it actually looks worse than when you started. It'll probably look far better once I have taken all the trash down to the dumpster. At least I'm hoping! I think I'm going to call it a night for now. Tomorrow, I'll finish organizing, move my desk back into my bedroom and, if I feel up to it, cleaning like a mad woman. I'll probably just spread the cleaning out through the week.

I certainly hope that you are having a far more entertaining Saturday night!

Put Your Records On 07.02

Dover is a rock band based in Madrid, Spain. Despite their location, the majority of their songs are performed in English, as they say it's easier to express themselves than in Spanish. I'm not familiar with any previous work from them, but there was apparently a big commotion over this album due to them changing up their music style. As a fresh fan, I must say that I'm quite glad that they stirred things up, because their album is brilliant. For more information on this group, check out their album's site. In the meantime, give their song Do Ya a listen to:

Band: Dover
Album: Follow The City Lights
Track: Do Ya

Rumour Has It

I left work early because I was feeling lightheaded and dizzy (honestly!). I was going to stay and just deal with it, but I started to get a severe headache from it and couldn't focus on anything. I was also frustrated that I had done a shitload of work in the three hours that I had been there, and a co-worker that had already been there for six hours had done literally only one thing.

So when B (the guy I'm smitten with but has a bf) found out that I had the afternoon off, he made me come over and hang out. When I arrived, he had picked up lunch for us from Chipotle...a place I've never eaten at before because of their connection with McDonald's. It was actually pretty good, though. So we sprawled out on the couch, ate lunch, watched Jennifer Aniston in Rumor Has It, booked plane tickets for his family to Vegas and played w/ his dog. I know I'm being silly, but it was one of the best times that I have had in a long time. He makes me feel good in a way that I haven't felt for a while. Relaxing with him was what I needed to get rid of my headache and everything.

After that, I met up with Adam and the gang for a late Happy Hour at a new bar in downtown Dallas called Pearl. It's a great little joint with cheap drinks...at least during happy hour. Thursday night they have a latin jazz band playing, which is the main reason that the group went. There were not very many people there at all, and by 9 p.m. we were the only customers. If you live in Dallas and haven't been, I recommend it.

I also found out that, starting next weekend, I am going to have a roommate. My friend from Houston just got a job up here and will be moving in with me. I have a decent sized apartment, so he'll be converting the dining room into his bedroom. I'm currently using it as an office, so I really only need to move the desk back into my bedroom. Of course, I will have a lot of cleaning to do over the next week. I have so much shit that I just never bother with, so I'm being forced to finally deal with it. I'm not sure how I feel about having a roommate, but I'm very happy because it's come at a time when I really need the financial assist.

Well, I am off to bed now folks. Sweet dreams!

Crazy Bitch

A customer just called to complain about our online application, stating that it has been dragging since 3:30 p.m. He indicated that he has tried restarting his entire system several times and has called other users to see if they were having any problems (which they were not). So he called me to see what is up.

I let him know that one of the servers went down just a few moments ago, but that it was back up and running at normal speed now. I suggested he clear his cache (or delete his cookies and temporary files), but he threw a big hissy fit. He stated that he didn't have time to be doing stuff like that as he is very busy and needs to get his work completed. I politely informed him that this was very simple and shouldn't take longer than 30 seconds. He then spent the next minute whining about how he has so much to do and can't be taking so much time out to clear cookies and files. He then told me that he was just going to leave the stuff and deal with it later.

Hmmm...He wasted 4 hours rebooting his computer and calling other users, five minutes bitching to me about how he doesn't have the time to be doing all of that...but somehow he couldn't spend 30 SECONDS to possibly resolve the issue. Some times I wish I could just reach through the phone and strangle these people.

Put Your Records On 07.01

I came across this artist last week, but, while he's new to me, I'm apparently already late jumping on the bandwagon. His name is Mika and there are many people who are already predicting that 2007 will be The Year Of Mika. Of course, he's making his debut in UK, where I believe his style will be more welcomed than it will be if he gets a stateside release.

His style is an amalgamation of dance, pop and electronic with an 80's vibe (at least on some of the songs I've heard). His album, Life In Cartoon Motion, isn't due in stores until March 2007, but his first single, Grace Kelly, will be released in a few days. Please visit Mika's Site to listen to samples of his album.

Primer Día De 2007

First things first - HAPPY 2007! I hope that all of you had a wonderful new years eve Sunday night. I know that I certainly enjoyed mine. It was a night filled with friends, games and liqour! Really, what more could you ask for?

The festivities began around 8ish. We arrived and immediately began preparing cocktails and setting up our mii's on the Nintendo Wii. I rarely play video games, but this system is pretty amazing. I mean, just look how entranced Adam (pictured) is. The only flaw we could really find with it is the poor selection of beards when creating your mii. Too lazy to ever actually go out and bowl, we finally had a go at it thanks to Nintendo. Watch Adam demonstrate:



As the evening progressed, we all settled down for a game of Cranium. The one previous time I had attempted to play this was with my family. It required far too much thinking, and, thusly, was put away after five minutes. This time around, the game was far more enjoyable...despite the fact that I'm horrible at guessing songs when they are hummed or whistled. That game pretty much kept us occupied until 2 a.m. or so. As you can tell from the picture, Brad and I (the yellow team) made it to the last stage while Team Losers (the green team, or Adam and Kim) struggled to make it past the first brain.

Today we ventured to a Chinese restaurant for dumplings. Well, that is why everyone else went. My friend B joined us and we both settled on the sesame chicken. Sorry Adam, but, overall, I wasn't impressed with the meal. I'm sure that the dumplings were great, but I couldn't try them since they had pork in them (I don't eat beef, pork or fruits - I know, I'm such a freak!). The company was great, though, which more than made up for the food.

After our late lunch, B and I headed off to see Volver. This was my second time this weekend (as I went w/ Adam and Brad on Friday), and it was far better on the second viewing. While I've known of Almadovar for a while, I had never had the benefit of watching one of his films. Thanks to Adam and Brad, I saw Todo Sobre Mi Madre a few weeks ago. I fell in love with the film and had to see another. La Mala Educacion was the second film that I watched, and it, too, is exceptional. Volver is more comedic and light-hearted, despite a few dark elements being sprinkled in. If you can get past having to read subtitles, then I urge you to see this film.