The Morning After

"Holy crap."

That's what was running through my head when I opened the door to my apartment around 7:45pm yesterday to find the place completely decked out in "Lost" paraphernalia and my closest friends and cousins there yelling out "surprise!!!"

Damn right, was I surprised.

Let me back track a little bit. A "Lost"-like flashback, if you will. Earlier in the week, I was informed (or rather, lied to) by Chris that he had planned out something on Saturday for my birthday. This was borne out of a conversation he and I had where I was trying to figure out if I wanted to do something and what/where that could possibly be. And since I hate all that planning stuff, he told me not to worry about it or ask any questions because he'd figure all the details for me.

"Agreed", I said.

So I marched through the work week looking forward to whatever surprise he and my friends had in mind for Saturday. I kept thinking "just make it to Saturday", and "Saturday is just around the corner." I was told that we'd go up to Switchfoot's Bro-Am for the first part of the day, and then that I'd need to be comfortably/casually dressed for downtown in the evening.

Lies, all of it.

The first twist came in the form of Beth inviting me to the Stone Brewing Company for a Friday after-work outing with some of her coworkers. Having never been there but being a fan of beer, I said I was game. I met up with her and her friend Marla at their work, and we drove up to San Marcos, which is where they're headquartered. If you've never been out there, it's pretty fantastic. The dining/bar area was really nice - it was very open, lots of natural light coming in, they had a nice selection of their beer and some interesting dishes to eat. I had the blonde ale (really nice and light), and Beth and I had these mashed potatoes that were rolled into balls, dipped in a beer batter, fried, and served with a beer-based BBQ sauce. It was fantastic! They even had this outdoor park-like setting where you could bring your food and beer, walk a little trail... I feel that this place would make for an awesome picture day. If only I had brought mine with me... we ended up not taking a tour of the actual brewery, so I'm definitely itching to go again.

Anyways, so I thought that after the brewery that I'd be able to just chill for the night and rest up for a fun busy Saturday. However, Beth concocted this story that she left her jacket at my apartment and asked if she could come over and get it. That sounded fine by me, so she followed me back down the freeway. Arriving at the apartment, I noticed Andy's car was parked, which was unexpected since I thought he'd be out with family, and when I got to the door, it wasn't completely shut. A little curious, but I was still clueless as to what would happen next. So I pushed the door open and all of a sudden -

"Surprise!"

There were "Lost" posters (including one that Chris printed that had me on it), island-themed drinks, "Lost" season three playing on DVD, it all felt very "Lost" and tropical. They set up a photo station, Brit made her famous strawberry ice cream as well as two kinds of cake, and they came up with a photo scavenger hunt for me, where I'd hunt down "Lost" snapshots printed and scattered throughout the apartment. Even the beer and water bottles had custom Dharma Initiative labeling taped on them. I was so stoked that my cousins came over too. I'm glad this was something that they could be part of (since not all are 21 yet). Though hopefully reports of "Happy Ryan" don't get to my parents... (Eh, I'm sure it will, but that's okay.)

It was very well planned and executed, and I still feel completely floored and thankful that my friends did this for me. You guys are the best!

Pictures to come in another blog, when I get a chance to see them.

Guess I got the mid-20s Blues

Sigh.

-- Post From My iPhone

Song of the Moment

"Let It Be Me", by Ray LaMontagne

Recently, I was looking at upcoming concert listings and noticed that Ray LaMontagne is playing at the Hollywood Bowl in July. [A concert that I'm currently trying to figure out plans to go. Haven't seen him perform in so long!]

I've loved Ray since his first CD came out in 2004. I remember hearing that he was playing at this tiny little joint in Hollywood called the Hotel Cafe (which has since blown up, even though it's still a tiny venue). And when I got out of class on the day of the show (this was during my time at UCSD), I decided to make what ended up being my first of a few random spontaneous trips to LA for a concert. I went there all by my lonesome, managed to find a spot in the back (as the place was packed), and just stood there and soaked it all in. He was a scraggly looking fella (someone once described him as looking kinda homeless), but he projected this beautiful rich voice and lyrics that made my heart melt.

So when I heard about his upcoming concert, I started listening to his music again. The song "Let It Be Me" is off his third/latest album, Gossip in the Grain. And I just find it so sweet. I'm in love with the lyrics; I think everyone at some point can relate to the sentiment of the song, where life's starting to break you and you can use a shoulder to lean on, an ear that will listen... someone who honestly says "I want to be there for you, if you'll just let me." So in a non-gay way, I just want him to sing this song to me. Just to let me know that he's got my back. LSTM.

(LSTM = Laugh Silently to Myself)

Anyways, here's the audio on YouTube, if you have not heard it but would like to listen and enjoy. I know I will. :P

There may come a time
A time in everyones life
Where nothin seems to go your way
Where nothing seems to turn out right

There may come a time,
You just can't seem to find your place
For every door open
Seems like you get two slammed in your face

That's when you need someone

Someone that you can call
When all your faith is gone
It feels like you can't go on
Let it be me
Let it be me
If it's a friend that you need
Let it be me
Let it be me

Feels like you're always coming up last
Pockets full of nothin, ain't got no cash
No matter where you turn you ain't got no place to stand
You reach out for something and they slap your hand

Now I remember all too well
Just how it feels to be all alone
You feel like you'd give anything
For just a little place you can call your own

That's when you need someone

Someone that you can call
And when all your faith is gone
Feels like you can't go on
Let it be me
Let it be me
If it's a friend you need
Let it be me
Let it be me

Touch me...

Touch me

Just like that

And that, oh yeah

Now that's heaven

Now that I like

God, that's so nice...

But not lower down, where the figs lie. (Heh heh heh.)

I can now check off my new thing for month, as I had my very first massage this morning. It wasn't on my agenda for the weekend, but I'm so glad it went down. It all started on Friday afternoon when Jordan and I were trying to see if Brit wanted to join us at Chevy's later that day for happy hour. Brit said she couldn't hang until much later, after her massage, and she was like "do you guys want to get massages too?"

Cue me and Jordan singing a line from "Grease": Tell me more, tell me more, like... Well, everything about it, really. We'd never gotten massages before. So Brit gave us the deets, which were agreeable to us TGOs, and she called up the place to see if they had any extra openings that evening. Sadly, they didn't, but Brit booked three sessions for us on Sunday morning. Brit ended up cancelling her spot, but we still wanted ours.

So Jordan and I arrived to The Knot Spot, located in a nice little shopping center in Hillcrest. It was a very clean Zen-like place. The waiting area had this little neat little water stand that had cucumber slices floating in it, and we joked that I should get one of those for the apartment. We filled out the necessary paperwork, and then went off with our different masseurs.

Emily was nice, but I probably could've said to use a little more pressure (I checked off "moderate" on the forms, to play it safe). It was relaxing enough - the time moved fast, and I'm glad I wasn't as ticklish as I thought I would be. Especially when it came to my feet. I liked the upper back/shoulders/neck portion the most, so I think I'll request more time on those areas next time. Definitely down to go back again. Maybe make it a monthly thing. So I also figure I should keep working out and making my muscles sore - and then heading back here to get my relaxation on.

Go Lakers!

So I never really watched the NBA this season, but I watched Game 1 of the Lakers/Magic faceoff in the NBA finals, and it was a good game. The Lakers blew out the Magic by 25 points, Kobe scored 40 points - it was rad. I think I want to watch the rest of the series... and I should pay attention more next season, it's exciting... baseball is so slow, and football is alright... but I can hang with basketball...

And then we had mixed drinks and played Mario Party, and it was good.

Now to finish off the week with a mystery outing at work tomorrow! Cue the spooky music.

Thoughts

"The only thing consistent is change, change, change." -Trevor Davis

I hate change. I'll roll with it, because what else can I do, but if this were Facebook, I would not be a fan of "change". I would not add it as a friend. I would not click the "like" button. I might want to utilize SuperPoke and hadouken it... but I'd still hate it.

But more changes in life and stuff happening around me looms on the horizon, including Andy leaving and me needing to figure out this whole living situation again... not sure what that will look like. New roommate here at the current apartment? Me moving to another place? Getting a condo? Finding a place with the cousins? It will definitely not involve me moving back home, that's for sure. I might look into this opening at a place that I found through Flood connections... but I know that whatever happens, my 25th year is going to start off having to welcome change.

At least for tonight though, I got to rest in the current state of things: me and Andy at our apartment, having beer and pizza while finally watching the season finale of "24" and also the movie "Nothing But the Truth" (with the hot Kate Beckinsale). We haven't really gotten to do those kind of things much as roomies, I feel... there's always been something going on, or people over, or he's been in and out due to work trips. So I appreciated that this evening was just us, getting to hang out for a mellow night. And maybe the beer played a part in this, but we got to talk about honest life stuff, and just listen to the other... and it was nice. I won't speak for him, but I know I needed that time to just be real again... I'm really going to miss living with the guy, and having my best friend around. Even if I've been frustrated at things, he's been like the older brother I never had. (I don't mind saying that here, since he's not a blog reader... and even if he does come across this... well... dammit, you know I'm an awkward and sensitive sap, Andy.)

So anyways, change is brewing, and I'll deal, and try to put on a smile... Like the Carolina Liar lyric goes:

I lie, I pretend 'til I'm almost certain it's a beautiful world...

Show me what I'm looking for...

Last week, during Coffeeshop Tuesday, I was sitting at the Starbucks as per usual and checking my email on my phone, when I noticed another email from radio station KPRI. And as soon as I saw the headline, I think I may have "squeeed" like a fanboy just a little bit... because Carolina Liar was having a show on the Hornblower!

I can't remember exactly how I got into this band... but I'm pretty sure Kasey told me to check them out a few months ago. And I was sucked in, thought they were rad. They're the type of rock music I'd normally like. So when the chance came to see them for free, I jumped out of my seat and drove like a maniac to try to score my free tickets.

And I did. Made it in the nick of time before the store closed!

I told Kasey about the concert the next day, since I figured both he and Tiff would be down to see them. We went on our lunch break to score more passes. I checked with Janice to see if she was going to get her passes too, and she did. Each pass covers two people to get on the boat.

I've been on these radio station boat concerts plenty of times before, but I don't think I've ever been so stoked. It ended up being Melodi and me, Kasey and Tiff, and the OSF heading down there. When we got to the boat, we were almost pushed away when the bodyguard was trying to say that there was no more room on the boat. We almost walked off but decided to wait a little bit longer, and then he let those of us waiting on the side onto the boat. It was crowded, and full of people who didn't really know the band but were just there for the free boat ride. But we found a nice spot where could still see the band and could sing along.

Only two of the band members were there - the lead singer, and another guitarist - so it was more of an acoustic set. They came across as really friendly and it was cool to hear them talk about the songs before playing them. They didn't play many of their songs, but they did play my two faves ("I'm Not Over" and "Show Me What I'm Looking For").

Tiff really wanted to meet them, and really so did I, so as the boat kept cruising around, we eventually found them signing pics and taking pictures on the 2nd level of the boat. Tiff pushed her way up there and I took a pic, and she had a little poster signed. We walked away, thinking we were content with that, and then Kasey and I caved in and made our way back up to the guys. Talked to the guitarist for a bit and he was very cool. I guess the band has played at the House of Blues down here before, so I'm bummed that I didn't get into them sooner. But they might go back on a full band tour later this summer. If so, I'm there!