Voice From The Past

Yesterday I got a shocking call from a voice from the past. My old co-worker D-Rob called me (on my work number too, which was more surprising) to say what's up, catch up and ask about another co-worker's number. We spent 10 minutes catching up on each other's lives. It was all so very nice, just like old times.

It's interesting how random people are put together in some of the worst situations ever and find solace in one another. It's some kind of self-preservation technique that's left over from our caveman days, I think.

D-Rob and a bunch of my other old co-workers somehow managed to find ourselves at a place quite like hell on Earth. Go figure huh? Some of the nicest, smartest people ever were all lured into a toxic sludge of a workplace. While some of the lucky (and smart) ones didn't hang around for long, several of us stuck it out for a couple of years before getting out of Dodge. During those troubled time, we managed to forge a mean bond. Even three years later with zero contact between us, yesterday's phone call with D-Rob was like the old days when we'd trade jokes at each other's desks.

Where Have All The Buskers Gone?

Tonight I ventured into Waikiki for the first time in a long time and had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory with my friend and old co-worker JC. We got there around 6:30 and had to wait about 45 minutes. I don't understand how this is possible. The restaurant has been here for years and there's still a wait?

Another reason why having to wait 45 minutes baffled me is because after dinner we walked a couple blocks of Waikiki and wandered around the International Marketplace. The place was empty! In the three block stretch, I swear there were only about eight buskers doing there thing. Where did they all go?

I remember a time when there would be two, three silver men. Tonight, only a gold man was out there. There were two musicians - one was a steel drum player, the other had an entire drum kit set up. There were about three spray paint or portrait artists spread down the road.

But the busker with the largest crowd? It was one guy with a black gym bag of basketballs and a bottle of water. This one guy was commanding an audience of about 75 people! Seriously. What was the draw? It was a one-many Globetrotters exhibition. From what I could tell, he wouldn't make the cut with the trotters, but I guess he beat out the drummers and artists.

Blasts From The Past

Ever since 2010 began, I've been running into people from my past. Some experiences are more welcome than others but all are equally surprising. It's one thing if you live in a small town and run into people while standing in the checkout line at the grocery store. However, since I graduating from college, I've seen less and less people from back in the day.

People move. They change up their hobbies. They're interested in different things. All of these are valid reasons for not seeing the same old people over and over again. But, like I said, in 2010 I've met up with (in person and virtually) more people in the past two months than in the past five or more years.

So it didn't surprise me that when I checked out my Facebook account today (which I use primarily to play games on) and found a friend request from Mr. Bad Timing. This time around I didn't go all hyperventilating or immediately have a panic attack. In fact, I'm proud to say, I didn't even react.

Does that mean I'm just so old that all my feelings have withered up and died? Or that I've become an emotionless black hole? Either way, nada. Nothing stirred inside. Just about the only thing that crossed my mind was why he'd add me as a friend at this point? Maybe he's one of those friend collectors? It's not like he sent me a message or something to say wassup. I suppose at this point in life it doesn't really matter. I'm not planning to message him at all. This time he initiated contact so it's up to him to send the first message (if that even happens at all).

Sometimes life is just a little too interesting for my tastes. I guess I'll wait and see what goes down. I must admit though that I was too curious not to check out his profile. As I have nothing on my profile, he can't really learn anything about my life by just glancing at it. On the other hand, he has filled out his profile a bit and has some photos up. Don't know if he's still married, but apparently he's got three kids already. Jesus H. Christ. All I can say is bullet dodged LOL

MFB - Missing From Blog

Wow, has it really been almost two weeks since I last posted something? I know it's not like anyone is waiting with bated breath, but I've still gotta apologize. At the very least, I try to be a bit consistent with these random thoughts.

Anyway, here's what's been happening with me for the past couple of weeks.

~ I've spent dozens of hours on tripadvisor to prep for my upcoming, well-deserved vacation. I planned to visit L.A. with two of my friends.

~ I've spent several more hours flipping from Travelocity to Orbitz to Hotels.com to Priceline to any other travel discount site looking for air/hotel deals to San Francisco. While we had planned for and reserved our L.A. tickets back in March (before they instituted paying for baggage I might add), we just decided to sneak in a trip to San Francisco while we're in Cali.

~ In between surfing the net, I've done my holiday homework old school with Frommer's and Fodor's. I've flagged tons of things that I know we don't even have time to see, but it's always better to have more than less, right?

~ I caught and am trying to fight a cold. Even taking two days off last week hasn't really done it. I'm still sick. Hopefully I don't relapse while on vacation. That would be horrible!

~ I helped my friend shlep all her food over to my house when her fridge broke down. Too bad a lot of it went bad before we could move it. She just got her new fridge delivered so we'll probably shlep all her stuff back. My fridge has never been so full before.

You know, there must've been some other stuff that caused me to neglect my duties here at the blog but I just can't think of them now. My list doesn't look too hefty now does it? Ah well, that's all I got for now.