| homieluvafriendz |

when I was growin' up, we called it homieluvafriendz. The practice of being "friends with benefits". Being able to have all the intimacy of a dating relationship, without the commitment and devotion of dating officially, or the promise of such things. 

I've noticed what seems to be a boom of this "homieluvafriendz". There are lots of guys and gals out there that think it'd be ok to be able to have some (of what Ciara called her) "Goodies" from a few different people at one time. Is it because they think that this is the easiest way to get to the good parts of the relationship, without having to deal with the hard/less desirable parts? Perhaps they just want a cuddle buddy, or a person to make out with when they feel the desire to be really affectionate, or on even more special occasions it can be someone that they can relieve some sexual tension with. 

What's the big deal? Who gets hurt in these situations? As long as both sides stay objective and don't begin to want too much out of things, then everyone should be good right? It's a bud light situation (Great taste, less filling). It's the double dipper, it feels good, and there's no real consequence to it. You never have to worry about the fights, or the jealousy. No anniversaries to hold onto, no need for real romancing, no dates, and no expectations right? A couple of logical adults should be able to function in this way without letting feelings cloud their actions. 

The problem is: that's not generally how these things work! Someone usually gets caught up in the situation and starts to catch feelings. When you start to get those, you're fresh out of luck! You can't make any kind of move that would progress this to the next level, or else all the benefits end! You don't want to do anything to jeopardize anything. One person likes it a little too much, and then subequently, they're forced to forget things ever really even happened.

Eventually, someone is left with feelings of inadequacies.

What is it about being hurt that pushes us to put ourselves into situations that just can't end up that well? We're all so afraid of being destroyed that we end up doing a good job of that ourselves. There's the allure of being able to skip all of the mess to be able to gain the joys of the rewards. These shortcuts lead us to a way of living our lives that make us close up to the idea of real love. 

Very interesting no?

I'm out...

[ Endeavors in Adulthood... Really Adult? Dang. ]

BREAKING NEWS!

We interrupt your normal blog reading with the following news that is just breaking: Justin is now an adult!!! Repeat: Justin is now an adult! Upon realizing this, he has reverted to a childlike mentality, and has locked himself in his room; listening to many songs from the 80's.

Back to your regular reading...

When the hell did this happen?! Was the sandman secretly stealing years from me as I lay defenseless before his power? (how dare you sandman! I shake my fist at you!)

So vivid are the memories of my first school dance, my first phone call to a girl, and the subsequent feeling of the awkwardness of that particular conversation.

I feel like I started college yesterday. I met melody yesterday! Yesterday, literally, I realized that my best friend had gained that position over 8 years ago! Not only have I a horrible sense of time, but I'm OLD!

This past weekend, I was in Oakland for a celebration dinner thrown for my friends Henry and Christie. I have had the pleasure of knowing them, their entire relationship. As I met more and more family members; I began to find myself answering the same questions: where are you working? How long have you been there? When did you graduate? When are you going to get a real job?

I engaged in conversation with my friend Tara, and heard her talk about how she trudged through the last year (kickin' and screamin') to realize that it was necessary to set up this year and where she was going now. She just got a great job, and is set to start being self sufficient. My parents disowned me financially when I was 19. I did realize that I've been stuck at my college job for a while. Tara helped me to se that I was stuck in my development time...

Time to get a grown up job!

I'm approaching my 27th year. (The old cuteness is tired action by now.) Not only do I have to get over my toys r us mentality (never wanted to grow up) but I have to face this economy head on...

Wish me luck!

I'm out...

[ passions ]

two weeks ago, I believe (I can't be fully tusted on that. Memory really is the first thing to when you get older, isn't it?) I was talking with ollie and alicia, and they were asking about my passions. It has come to my attention that my current season of "blah" is being rejected. People in my life want to see that spark again. They want some kind of evidence that there's life in these amazingly dreamy brown eyes.

There are many things that I love to do. Outside of my ocd-esque love of watching infomercials and nabbing such life saving essentials as the "sham-wow", I enjoy a bevy of different things. (I threw in that word to help me feel better about being in so much school related debt.)

I LOVE music! Want to get me engaged in a spirited conversation? Ask me something about music. I could rant on and on about my favorite artists, or about why a certain genre has changed my life (and could change yours if you'd finally just give it a try). I can give you a soliloquy about the joys of a perfectly blended mood/music cocktail and finding the right r&b chaser to those stiff pop shots. We can discuss the current state of hip-hop and how the soul of the music has been compromised. I love it all!

I also love tech stuff! I'd love to be one of those peeps who get to test the latest and greatest additions to our everyday lives. Maybe I should just sign up to work at cnet right now! Computers, cell phones, web browsers, random knickck knacks. They all make me happy. In particular I'm very passionate about Google, or as I like to call them, the poor man's apple. I've had many lively debates about my feelings for what they do for all of us. (seriously, google sync changed my life. Ask me about it). Even the new media darling/devil, the dual faced microblogging/annoying tool, Twitter is a strong interest of mine :)

People, I think, will always make me happy. I love just chillin' with a good friend, Whether we're just chattin' it up or planning out our plan of attack for getting on America's best dance crew. Friends make my heart beat fast. I love spending an afternoon with some of my closest friends, or even a new friend. (the pace of my life right now, does not allow for too much human interaction with said friends. Not to worry, all this shall be changing soon)

Lastly, I love writing. Something about getting one's thoughts down on paper is just soo liberating! Now, this can be a pretty isolating activity too. It can be misconstrued (english degree payin' dividends, baby) as an anti-social activity, writing can be a tool of bringing people together. I love hearing the rapid exchange of ideas between friends, or in a bigger open mic/poetry slam type environment.

I love lots of things! (redundantly stated, I know). It seems the current pace of my life has stunted some of these passions. Change is on the horizon my friends! I shall be getting things back under control quickly. I'm growing a little keen on my new surroundings (sacramento love?) and I shall be shedding these rough external layers and showing the inner beauty of my true self!

Here's to the coming out party!

I'm out...

| best burger search update 3 |

The burger search continued yesterday!

Alicia and I had our most frustrating weekends to date, as we tried to check out about 6 places.

We set out with 2 places in our sights. We wanted to hit up a place called Willie's Burgers and the famous Squeeze Inn. Unfortunately for us, Squeeze Inn is closed on Sundays! We were slightly disappointed, but decided to go with one of our backups. There is a little burger place that I pass by everyday that I catch the light rail train, called Jim-Denny's Lunch. We drove up to downtown Sacramento, stomachs-a-growlin', only to find out that Jim-Denny wasn't up for the challenge of serving us a great burger on a Sunday either! We then decide to head out towards Howe ave, so that we could try a place close to Alicia's house. This place was called Jasper's Giant Burgers. Once again, we headed out with high expectations, only to have them deflated by the fact that this burger place was closed on Sundays. Saddened, we tried yet another place, this one closer to my house, called Stockton Burgers and Grill. ONCE AGAIN we find a burger place that was closed on Sunday. It didn't seem we would be able to even get a burger at all to go with the Willie's Burger experience...

So onto the burgers we did get....




Willie's Burgers

Burger: Slamburger with bacon and cheese

Score (Out of 10)
Alicia: 5
Justin: 5

This burger place was actually cool to walk into. It had a nice feel. As far as the burgers go, I was quite surprised to see that the burgers were less than four dollars each! When we got our burger, we saw what a burger under four dollars looked like. It was a smaller burger (compared to the other burgers that we'd had so far). It was pretty good for a little burger though. My first thoughts were that it tasted like a glorified jr. bacon cheeseburger from wendy's. Alicia thought initially that the burger tasted very much "breakfast sandwich-y". I thought that for the size it was, it had too much onion on it. I would be interested in going back, prolly during the late night hours, as the idea of chili on one of those burgers sounds like it would be really good after a night of hanging out.




Scott's Burger Shack

Burger: ½ Pound Fatboy with Bacon

Score (Out of 10)
Alicia: 6
Justin: undecided (somewhere btwn. 6 or 6.5)

We found Scott's Burger Shack on the fly. We were literally in the car, driving towards my house, and I decided to type burgers into my sprint navigation on my phone. When I first saw it, I thought that it was a little too shady looking to have good burgers. I initially told Alicia that we should leave and go to another place that shall be added to the list of our places to check out later on. Once we were in the parking lot, I decided against trying to check out another place, due to the fact that it's usually true that some of the shadiest/dirtiest places are usually homes to the best food. We walk up to the little window, and the lady working there offers us a menu. The menu that she handed me was a 3 page delight. This place had CRAZY amounts of different foods. They had 24 different hamburger choices alone!!! They also had tacos, burritos, taquitos, hot dogs, and sub sandwiches. We decided that we'd get our staple burger with bacon and cheese. When they served us the burger, we were skeptical, as it came in a little brown bag, just like Willie's. When we opened up the bag, we were very shocked. Alicia noted: "It looks really big for the price!" The burger we got, as we ordered it, was less than 5 dollars. VERY ECONOMICAL. It looked really good, but as I ate it, I was disappointed with it. I couldn't decide what was up with it. Alicia had a brilliant idea though...


RE-DO!!!




Scores (Out of 10)
Alicia: 7
Justin: 7.5

Alicia thought that the condiments that were currently on the first burger (ketchup and mustard) didn't really do it justice. She made a note of the fact that the overwhelming majority of the burgers that we tried, had a "special sauce" or 1000 island dressing, instead of ketchup and mustard (except burger and brew). She thought that we should try the same burger with 1000 island dressing instead. So we deliberated a bit, and we decided that we would try another one with the 1000 island instead.

I thought it was a rather simple and crazy fix, but once I bit into the burger, my idea changed. Alicia said that with the new sauce on it, that it made the burger for her. I thought that it really tasted like a completely different burger. The first time around the meat didn't really have any real taste to it. The second time around, I could definitely taste the flavor of the meat. I was also able to tell that there was actually relish and pickles on the burger! Such a small change was a game changer for the burger from the burger shack. It became a very tasty burger, and has influenced our decision to try to have the special sauce whenever possible.

So our crazy afternoon of burger hunting turned out to have great results. We found a great burger place with really good burgers, and we found a place that would definitely be one we'd visit again and again. Just for special note, both burgers this week totalled less than the price of one of the burgers from each of the first five places that we went to. Those tended to run about 7-9 bucks each, and both burgers that we had were under 5 bucks each.

until next time!

I'm out...

| best burger search update 2 |

This week, Alicia and I continued our search for the best burger in the greater Sacramento area (anywhere within 30 minutes of our houses).

Our search took us to the city of Davis. While here we checked out 3 places, all slightly different, but all with pretty good burgers to offer...





Our first stop was Redrum Burger (otherwise known to Davis OG's as Murder Burger).

Burger: 1/3 lb. Burger with Cheese, Bacon, and Thousand Island Dressing

Score (out of 10)
Alicia: 7
Justin: 7

This place is pretty small, it has lots of seating, but the benches are tiny little things, close together. The first thoughts on this burger were that the burger to bun ratio was off, there was more bun than meat happening. (Alicia). The bacon on this burger was not the highest quality bacon that I've had on a burger. The taste grew on us as we ate the burger, and that was a good thing. It was easily the cheapest burger that we'd had so far, costing less than 6 bucks. It was pretty good as well. We thought it was above average in taste.




The second stop of the day was a place called Burgers and Brew.

Burger: Bacon Cheeseburger (Bleu Cheese instead of American or Swiss)

Score (Out of 10)
Alicia: 9
Justin: 9

Burgers and Brew is fancier than your average burger retailer. It is actually pretty posh, while keeping some small town charm in it's close patio style dining quarters. Initial thoughts on the burger were that it was obviously char-broiled. The flavor on the meat was pretty delicious. We both thought that the burger to bun ratio was spot on. There was an issue (for me) in the fact that it defaulted with mayo (which I hate) and there are no other options for dressings. It would be pretty dry without them. Luckily for me, they offered ketchup and mustard with the burger (steak sauce is also available.) This is the kind of burger that I would use to satisfy a HUGE burger craving. If I was really in the mood for a burger, this would definitely hit the spot big time.




The last place we ventured to was Applebee's.

Burger: The Quesadilla Burger

Scores (out of 10)
Alicia: 7
Justin: 7

We hit up the neighborhood Applebee's to try out the Quesadilla burger. It was different, but it was actually pretty good. Alicia noted that it tasted quite quesadilla like. It was an unlikely candidated, but it had a nice flavor to it, the substitution of a bun for a tortilla was pretty delightful, not bad for a restaurant burger.

All in All, Davis represented itself quite well. We had our first 9 of the search! We shall definitely be checkin' out Burgers and Brew subsequently after the end of the search!

Until the next update.

I'm out...

[ the great debate ]

On tuesday nights, I stay in Davis. I do this mostly because I find it very angering to try to get back to my house after about 10pm at night. I have a few friends that let me crash with them. One of these friends is Tyson...

On this eve, Tyson and I had the pleasure of speaking about Windows vs. Mac. I say, that windows is cool. The operating system is functional. It's not flashy or showy like Mac OS is. No biggie. I would actually openly admit that I would like to own a mac book. I think the one thing that really keeps me tethered to windows is the compatibility with various Google products.

This sparked my idea that Apple and Google are like distant cousins, or step siblings. I consider Google to be the poor man's Apple. They are both innovative and simplistic. Both companies offer products that make everyday tasks more exciting, and products that seamlessly integrate with other products you may already own. The thing is that, for the most part, Google is free. An Apple computer will cost you at least $1500.

I just wish they both played better together. If I could get a Mac and work Google with it, I'd have it made in the shade.

Random thought.

I'm out...

| best burger in sacramento update |

Today, Alicia and I decided to try out a couple of burger places. I did some research on them, and found out where they were and we went to work... Here's what we thought. The beginning of our search for sacramento's best hamburger! We have a few criteria that we're going to base our scores on. We decided to have a basic bacon cheeseburger be our standard burger of choice amongst the places that we are trying.




The first place we went to was Ford's Real Burgers

This is a little place by Sac City College. There were lots of people talking burgers when we got there, so it seemed like the place to be. Above is a picture of the burger that I had there (this was before we decided it might be best to just share one burger for testing). I had a 1/3 lb burger with pepper jack cheese and bacon. I added some relish to it, because I like to have pickles of some form in my hamburger. The first thing that I noticed when I got the burger was that it wasn't really hot. I had problems believing that it just came off the grill. I thought that even though it looked pretty good, it was just kind of average. Alicia thought that it about average as well. She thought that there were too many onions on the burger that she had, but she did like the sauce that came on it. Pretty average indeed.




The second place that we went to was a really cool place that was in downtown sac: Nationwide Freezer Meats.

It was very Americana in it's decor. There were many pictures of marilyn monroe and other old school hollywood stars up. It was really a no frills place and the food was the same, they got down to business with their hamburgers. We got a groundsteak burger with bacon and cheese. The picture above is the burger that we had (I forgot to take the picture until after I'd cut it in half and had a bite.). This burger was served in a paper bag, piping hot off the grill. It was a pretty good burger. There were not any options on the cheese that we could get, but this place had pickles on their burgers, which was a plus for me. Alicia does not like pickles on her burgers, so she picked them off. The cool thing about this burger was that it was made with ground steak, so it had personality! I think that the bun was too bakery like tho, because it really covered up the meat. It was very moist though, and the bacon was delicious.

2 down... Uncountable places to go. After one and a half burgers today, I think I'll be waiting for a couple of weeks until the next outing. Hopefully, we'll be able to find that great burger in the city.

Till the next update,

I'm out...