Wednesday, January 17, 2018

I met Andy Weir!

You may recall that I joined a book club for people in their 20s and 30s a few months ago. Our club just met at an event featuring Pierce Brown and Andy Weir. It was really cool to meet the author of one of my favorite books!

The downer is that I didn't get my copy of The Martian autographed because Andy had to leave early for some errand. I understand that Andy doesn't owe us anything and isn't obligated to sign our books, although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. On the bright side, at least I got to shake hands with him. Perhaps next time!

Also worth mentioning is that I ran into my old classmate Jessica from Egan and LAHS. It's always nice to see a familiar face even though we never really talked in school. Small world indeed.

Currently reading: The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

Monday, January 1, 2018

an eventful New Year

I hope everyone had a great New Year. Though our New Year's Eve dinner sucked, the past two days went pretty well.

Linda's holiday party

The nice thing is that our family friend Linda invited us and several other friends over on the 30th. Our group met at the Oakland California Temple for pictures as the view from the church was quite nice. Everyone then headed over to Linda's house for tea and snacks. The gathering was to be on New Year's Eve, but Linda accepted my mother's suggestion to move it forward a day so that it would be convenient for others. This was pretty fun even though it was all old people.

New Year's Eve report

The day had a good start as my father and I watched The Sting together. Dad wanted to see that movie again, so we went to get it at the library. The three of us then headed to Black Angus Steakhouse for dinner. Having enjoyed my birthday dinner so much, my parents figured this would be the perfect place to celebrate New Year's Eve.

However, this experience wasn't exactly stellar. For one, the service was slow and terrible. In addition, the waiter forgot about our request for more bread. He also didn't bring us any hot waiter until we asked three times.

The waiter also got my father's order wrong three times. He wanted a steak soup but got a loaded baked potato soup instead. Dad likes his steak cooked to medium but got a well-done one instead. They made him a new one, but it was still overcooked. He begrudging accepted it because we had already wasted enough time. Last but not least, the check didn't come for 20 minutes due to "computer problems." I ended up missing the Times Square ball drop due to all the delays. Fuck them.

Though the restaurant had the decency to comp my father's meal, it's unlikely we'll ever return there. Back at home, the three of us finished watching The Sting before my parents went to bed. As midnight approached, I did a countdown with some people in RuneScape before calling it a day.

New Year's Day run

2018 had a great start as there was a Star Wars-themed New Year run in downtown Los Altos. Though we skipped the last one because it was too cold outside, the weather was just right today. This was definitely a great way to start the year!

2017 in review

The past year definitely had its ups and downs. Getting my new job was certainly the best thing that happened to me. Speaking of which, the company holiday cruise was one of the highlights of the year. The same could be said for our recent trip to Bakersfield.

But there were some not-so-glorious moments. The worst part was when our family friend Eileen passed away in the fall. She was one of the few people that really cared about us. Another thing was that I lost my job at Amazon Lab126 in March. Though I managed to get a new job just a few weeks later, being let go out of the blue certainly sucks.

All that having been said, one must look to the future. Speaking of which, my resolutions for 2018 are read more books and get a promotion at my new job. Challenge accepted!

Currently listening to: "Come a Little Bit Closer" by Jay and the Americans