My Six Things

As requested by my favorite Frenchie, here are six things you may or may not know about me:

1) I used to play a lot of sports: Yes, surprise, surprise. The most unathletic guy ever played on some teams in junior high and high school. Now, wait, I didn't say I was good at them. I'm just saying that I played them. In junior high, I was on my school's basketball, soccer, baseball and flag football teams. In high school, I was on the track team for a year. Also, I was in the city swim team for about four years. However, probably the most embarrassing thing I did was gymnastics in middle school. Yes, I did cartwheels, handstands, headstands, roundoffs, etc. I also did karate at this time. Don't ask me to try any of these things now, though. I pull something every time.

2) I performed theater in Scotland: Back in 2003, I scored a spot in my high school's play, "The Se7en Ages of Bob." The play was pretty damn good and it was written by our improv team moderator. The play was 40% improvised with suggestions for scenes coming from the audience. Our theater group was then good enough to be invited to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. I hung out there for two weeks seeing international theater while performing on the Royal Mile. Afterward, I joined my school's improv group, "Sanguine Humours," and had a blast. FYI: You might see me on stage again soon. I am considering enrollment at the UCB theater in January.

3) I'd like to be a professional writer: I've been working on some short stories that I'm thinking about sending to a few magazines. I still haven't really figured out my whole life yet, so I don't know if I'll be a writer or something else. Right now, I just seem to work in production.

4) I don't have any tonsils: When I was about four or five, my parents noticed that I had a really strange sleeping pattern. Breathing... and then not breathing. The doctors said the tonsils had to come out and that was that. I still snore, though. ;-)

5) I ran for president in high school: I'm not sure that I was too serious about it when I did this. It was sort of a fun distraction for me at the time and I figured if I got elected, I'd do a good job anyway. Only problem was, I didn't campaign too much. There was a candidate forum that only 200 people showed up to. I took out my guitar and played a ridiculous song about our school's parking problems and code of conduct. I got a few good laughs out of that. I also posted ridiculous fliers of myself in track gear with the goofy campaign slogan: "I don't run with scissors. I run for President." I didn't win, but the guy who did liked me enough that he came up to me after the election and asked me to be his adviser. So, I did that instead.

6) I was in a lame high school rock band: Yes, I was the lead singer and rhythm guitar player of "Panda Mona," a progressive metal band with songs about, um, what were the songs about? British mythology? Ancient Rome? Politics? The month of October? I don't know, but whatever I wrote, it was incredibly pretentious and stupid. Likewise, the band argued every two weeks about what the band's name should be. I think we went under four or five different names and every time the names got worse. Also, the bass player kept firing everyone. Hell, even I got fired! My firing was amazing, though. I got fired through the band's Web site. Looking back on it, it was all pretty funny.

The Saturn That Got Away

I was this close... but the dealership I went to (my mistake for trying to buy a Saturn from a non-Saturn dealership) tried to completely empty my wallet by making me pay $3,000 more than the asking price in interest.

Then the guy tells me that I'm "overthinking it" and "back-peddling." This went on for quite awhile and it felt like he was trying really hard to guilt me into paying $3,000 more than was necessary.

So, I looked at him and without raising my voice or yelling, I said (and this is paraphrased because obviously I don't remember every single word):

"You've just told me that since I am a first time buyer and I do not have an extensive credit history, it's risky for your dealership to finance me. In other words: You're worried that I won't be able to pay off this car at this price... and you're solution to this is to charge me $3,000 on top of that through interest. So, if you don't think I'm going to be able pay the original price, why do you think I'll be able to pay this new price with $3,000 on top? Tell me, am I overthinking that?

No, I don't think so because that doesn't make sense! I have been told that any interest rate above 6% is kind of a rip off. The rate you came to me with at the beginning of this bargaining process was 17%. I'm not trying to get in your face here, but I also know that we're in a recession and you're not really selling too many cars right now. You asked me what I want. I want to pay the price that this car is worth."

Then we parted ways and as I was going to my car, the assistant came up and said, "What about 10%?"

Thanks, but no thanks.

I Claim the Weekend

This was a crazy week and I'm not even talking about the elections (and I don't have to since everyone has already). I had so much stuff going on! Everyday there was something nuts!

One fun thing that happened though was that I met John Henson at a bar on Monday. I used to watch him on "Talk Soup" in middle school and junior high. He left the show in '98 or '99 I think and I just never watched it again after he left. He seemed pretty flattered that I remembered him from that show and offered a hand shake. Really nice guy.

Anyway, other than that, I was invited to a few parties this weekend and I'm really looking forward to relaxing. Also, I checked out some cars last weekend and I have singled out two... so I'm buying one this week! My first car and I'm paying for it entirely on my own! I know, it doesn't sound like a big deal, but this feels like a big step in my "adult" life for me.

All Saints' Day

Waking up to walls covered in cobwebs and rooms filled with pumpkins, ghosts and skulls, my roommates and I decided to just leave the Halloween decorations up for the rest of the week. Our party yesterday was just too much fun.

I am hopefully going to go look at cars tomorrow. I had planned a trip for today, but then the thunder storm hit, so I figured it would be better to test drive a car when it wasn't raining. I didn't do a whole lot today, but I think I am okay with that because I can't remember the last time I spent the whole day to myself. Some friends are coming over later tonight and I think we'll either see "W." or "Zack and Miri."

All in all, I had a pretty interesting week and I did a lot of traveling as well. I can't elaborate, but it was fun to be in other places.