P.F. Chang sent us an advertisement with a coupon good for something off the "New Grill" menu. So we went.

First, we went to Stoneridge Mall proper, since that's where the closest Chang's is. We went to Men's Wearhouse to get my dad a new sports jacket and a tie. I'm pleased to report that my instinct and color sense was victorious; my tie was chosen to be purchased.

Then, we went over the restaurant while they tailored the jacket a bit.

No wait to get a table. It was a 10 minute wait after that to order our appetizers and drinks. 10 minutes later, we got water. 5 minutes later, we ordered our entrees and reminded them about the appetizer. 15 minutes later, we got our appetizer. Lukewarm. Another 15 minutes later, we got the entrees, with the wrong amount and wrong kinds of rice. And also lukewarm. The portions were too small, too.

Ugh, ugh. Never going back there. If we hadn't gotten one of the entrees for free, it would've been a rip-off.

I passed the CBEST. =] I'm somewhat ashamed that I didn't get perfect scores in every section, but I also didn't really care then and don't really care now, so I'll have to live with a composite 175. 123 is the required passing score. I guess if I'd gotten more than 4 hours of sleep, I probably would've done better, but again: I don't care! A score of "Highest Results" is perfectly fine by me.

Now, I just have to wait for the sub orientations...

Tags now display in alphabetical order on the footer. Still working on the tag cloud.

So, yesterday, Trinity came by to pick me up. The plan was to go to SF, get some dinner, then see a play which her friend Alan is stage-managing. Unfortunately, on the way to pick me up, she got into a fender-bender on the freeway, so by the time she was here, the time was a bit tight to get dinner. So, we went straight to the New Conservatory Theatre and saw Friends are Forever. As you can all click links and read synopses yourselves, I'll spare the summary. =]

It was enjoyable. The acting was good, the writing was crisp. As you can probably tell from the description, it was pretty much exclusively for the gay crowd (there were a total of four women in the audience, and we later found out that was practically a record). I didn't mind, though. The issues it was mainly talking about weren't ones that just impacted gay couples, and the humor was accessible even to someone as painfully straight as I am. =] The theatre was a very intimate one; there can have been no more than 40 seats, and the front row was literally abutting the edge of the stage.

Afterward, we hung out with Alan a bit, then headed over to BaGG. I was still in a nice shirt and tie, but the outfit was carefully picked to blend into both social scenes easily. We had drinks (blue margarita for me, bailey's cocktail for her). We danced a little (her neck still hurt). We mingled. We each ran into people we knew. Trinity was invited (with a +1) to FNW's anniversary thing this weekend. We ran into Maggie, which could've been way more awkward, especially given that after we talked, Maggie got suspended and Trinity watched. I will never understand women, specifically what will and will not upset them. I flirted with Nicole, then snuggled up with Trinity.

A little tipsy after the second drink, we walked Nicole to her car, then walked back to ours (via an accidentally circuitous route). We sat for a little bit to make sure I was safe to drive home, then off we went.

Got home, made out, went to sleep. Woke up, made out some more, shower and breakfast, and then she headed back over to Marin. Her neck had been hurting since the accident, so she wanted to get back over while her doctor was still open.

Other than the car accident, a very good 24 hours. =]

Whee BaGG! Fun! More later, when I awaken.

The Language Test contest over on OkCupid/HelloQuizzy has begun, and I'd really like to win, so my personal request to you is to take my test. Rate it highly, too! And pass it along to your friends. The more people take it, the better!

I had to get approval from the manager to post this, because my work is covered by an NDA, but this snippet from the latest transcript was just too funny not to share.

Here's the snippet. Right-click, save as..., or however you do it on your particular operating system and browser.

For the sound-impaired, here's the , but I highly recommend you listen to the snippet. I can't capture the humor in text.

So let's see...came home from Board Game Night, glasses broke...ah, right. So, later that night, Kitten invites me out to meet some of her Ren Faire friends. She's trying to get me involved in doing Yeoman Guard, I think. I take BART out to the city to meet her, out in the Mission, at a place called Pops. I walk there from the 24th Street BART station, and she arrives a little bit later, with a friend in tow. Drunk.

I mean, not falling down drunk, but clearly several drinks further in to the evening than I am (zero). We wander into the bar, we order a drink each, chit-chat about stuff. Kitten dances. We watch appreciatively. Rose and I have a conversation about a weirdo at the bar in ASL, resulting in some true hilarity for the ASL-fluent (I think we were the only two).

It was at about this point that Kitten realized how inebriated she was. She handed over her key to me, I walked over a couple blocks and found her car, drove back, and started driving back over to the East Bay. We had to pull over a few times for motion sickness, but eh, that happens. I get home safe and sound around 3:30, tuck her into my bed, and crash out.

Morning comes, we make out, then shower and she drives me down to the BART station to pick up my car. She has to be in Berkeley to pick up the keys for her new place at 10, so I go back home. I rest for a little bit, then I ride BART back out to the city, this time to meet Maychild17 and Trinity at the fancy-schmancy mall on Powell. We eat at the pretentious Food Court^H^H^H^H^HEmporium on the bottom floor, then Trinity and I head back to the East Bay (in Trinity's car).

The original plan had been to go salsa dancing at Linden Street Dance Studio. I have been wanting to learn how to dance for a while, but MzTornado never showed much inclination to go dancing with me while we were together. Trinity is just as interested as I am, so we've been looking at a variety of options. This looked (and looks) like a good option, but in the hour before we would leave, we both realized that having gotten up early for the past week, neither of us really had the energy to go learn what we both think is a very high-energy dancing style. So, instead, we went down to Fremont for dinner and a movie. Dinner was sushi at the Koi Fish, and then we headed over to the movie theatre on Alvarado-Niles to check out Clone Wars. It was entertaining, albeit a bit childish and very cartoony. The droid jokes were amusing, and the action sequences were well-paced.

Afterward, back to my house. I gave Trinity a backrub and then we made out for a while before she headed home. She didn't spend the night, because of the aforementioned need for quality sleep. Sometimes, sleeping in one's own bed can be more restful, even when it involves passing up on sleeping next to one another.

Woke up this morning on time, headed down to San Jose to play in the Exalted game with Mars and TwoTeeth. Managed to convince some Solar ghosts that it was totally legit for us to rob their grave. That was pretty nice. Played some SoulCalibur IV after TwoTeeth had to go to get ready for his hockey game. Kilik is fun, Voldo is weird, but they are both still my favorites. Back home to greet the returned parents and post about it all to my journal.

Sub teaching orientations start on 9/2 for PUSD and 9/11 for DUSD. Still checking on the other local school districts, still waiting for my CBEST results (August 25th is the latest they will be posted, according to the website). Still, steady work will be nice. As much as I like the transcription and copy editing for 2K games, it's not really a job so much as a bunch of small jobs.

Happy Monday!

My glasses broke! The spring hinge in the left temple just broke right in half. I took them to the optometrist down the street, who said there was nothing they could do, but he gave me a card for an eyeglass repair shop on Foothill.

So, I drove over there, glasses perched perilously on my nose and the one remaining temple. They were still open, luckily. The guy behind the counter took a look, said it needed a new temple, quoted me a reasonable price ($38) and said it would take an hour or so. So I sat for half an hour or so, straining to read a magazine through one eye as my glasses were repaired. They were done early. Two new temples, with spring hinges still. Huzzah for All-American Eyeglass Repair!

So on Wednesday, after the dentist, AsymptoteAl came down from Fairfield. We hung out. We chattered about our cats, about life after college, about the differences between California and our original homes. We luxuriated in the hot tub and I gave her a backrub, then she pretty much passed out. She had to be back in Fairfield by 8 AM the next day, leading to an alarm set for 6:30. UGH.

I saw her out, then lazed around a bit until I could fall back asleep for a mid-morning nap. I woke back up, worked on sorting through clutter some more, then I headed over to San Rafael Gamescape for Board Game Night with Trinity. Back to her place afterward, where my fatigue reasserted itself, but not enough to prevent us from making out before sleep overcame me.

Woke up this morning around 9:30, earlier than usual chez Trinity, but not so much that I was overly hosed. We went over to a local mall to pick up some books for a kid she is tutoring, had Jamba Juice, then snuggled for a while back at her house.

Around 2, we both left: her for hanging out with friends, and me to my home to work on more transcriptions for the art book and more clutter-sorting.

So, down to work on clutter and transcription!

I hate dentists. They make you wait, put a bib on you, stab you with needles, grind on you with drills, then bill you.

My parents are gone for the week. They're spending a week in a beach house in Santa Cruz. I was invited to come along, but declined so I could get some stuff done.

I'm now in the middle of rearranging my room. I've switched all the furniture around, and now I'm sorting through all the assorted clutter I seem to collect over time and getting rid of some, finding permanent homes for the rest. The room feels much more "open" now. I'll take some pictures and post 'em.

Also been working on those transcriptions for Zhaneel's company. Nearly finished with those too. Easy and fun stuff. I wish I could arrange for this with a half-dozen more companies.

Is it strange that with the house to myself for a week, my first real thought is "Great! Now I can rearrange my room without interference!"?

Although, walking around the house naked is nice too.

Got there at 7:40, test was supposed to be at 8. A bunch of people were milling around. Finally, at 7:55, someone comes out and tells us a bunch of orientation stuff. She goes over where we can find our room number (by our assigned reference number), where the bathrooms are, etc. Cell phones are apparently not allowed inside the test room at all. Seriously. "Turn them off and check them with the front desk, or put them in your car before you go into the test room," she says. I can't help but think that it's fairly insulting to be treated like a fifth grader when we're taking a test which supposedly certifies us to teach fifth graders. Seriously, people actually cheat on the CBEST? Ever?

I can not believe how easy that was. The SATs were harder. The reading section had questions on how to read a table of contents, for fuck's sake. The math section was all arithmetic and very very basic visual geometry (which of the following arrangements of equal area has the smallest perimeter?). The only question on either that I had any problem with was a math question involving stanines, of which I had never heard. I guessed, on that one, and on coming home and looking it up, I find that my guess was correct. Seriously, people actually fail on the CBEST? Ever?

The writing portion wanted a "thorough essay" on each of two topics, and gave me one sheet of paper, lined front and back, per topic. Two pages of handwritten text, for a "thorough essay." Yeah, right. Ah well, succinctness is a virtue. I'm having a hard time imagining the college graduate that can't put down two pages worth of coherence on any random topic.

We were read the directions between 8:15 and 8:35, and the test proper started at 8:46. We had until 12:46 to finish. That's right, FOUR HOURS to do 50 or so each of basic reading comprehension, basic arithmetic, and four pages of handwriting. It took me less than two. Luckily, it wasn't a timed segment exam or anything, so I could leave as soon as I finished.

The test booklet had some amusing things in it. It said it was copyrighted by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, a government agency. Government agencies can't copyright anything. Any work created by a government agency is public domain, period. Second, after bringing in only a photo ID, some pencils, and our test ticket, we had our ticket taken away, and then on the essay portion, it reminded us not to copy another work: the essays should be original. What the fuck did they think we were going to copy, our Driver's License?

Sigh. What a colossal waste of three hours of sleep I could have gotten.

...when you set four alarms, just to be absolutely certain that you get up on time, and then you wake up five minutes before the first one, feeling completely refreshed. I turned them all off and hopped out of bed as if I got up at 6:25 every morning.

Off to take the CBEST...