// ah man, the first day of class...summer is officially over. just a quick recap for shits and giggles.**one new toy that kept me entertained throughout the summer was my new digi cam. this baby entertained me when i was alone for several nights.

classes were actually really cool too, even though they were all freakin' freshmen classes.

once again i maintained my straight A's and B's.

(on a sidenote, i slept in on the fisrt 40 minutes of my history exam.

almost everyday after class i'd kick it at the pool with chin, where he would teach me the art of the bellyflop.

we even collaborated on the invention of the backflop.

the crappy nights in my crappy apartment are finally over with. i'm finally living in the village with a buncha montecito crew OGs.

for phoebe's birthday, chin hooked us up with tickets for disneyland.

towards the end of august, some of the saudi crew was back in the states so we had a little saudi shindig at my place.

beginning of september, the highlight of my summer, was eating white castle julie's wedding.

last weekend, mike and i decided to road trip over to arizona to visit chelsea. maaaan, that was a long ass drive...but it was worth it. (sorry, we only managed to take a very few pics)

Songs of the Moment

• Craig David - Hypnotic
• Jane's Addiction - Superhero (Entourage Theme)
• Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends
• Switchfoot - The Setting Sun
• The Ataris - In This Diary

on the flight to new york i was flipping thru those lame Sky Mall catalogs. normally the products they sell are pretty lame but i found a few pages dedicated to those Inspirational Posters that you see around. there was this one poster in particular that caught my eye:

The Power of Attitude

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens; not by what life brings us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst....a spark that creates extraordinary results.

daaamn, that was deep; and its so true.

if you remember my Energy & Emotions deep thought, i talked about how positive and negative emotions are just like energy -- than can not be created nor destroyed, only converted from one form or another. if you think about it, your attitude is what determines whether outside forces are converted to positive or negative emotions.

i'm sure you can think of a few people that are pessimists. you can mention just one word to them and they could go on for hours just bitching about it.

i remember in highschool i was talking to this one girl...

Girl #2: hey, i like your shirt!!
Girl #1: thanks!!
Girl #1: (bitch...)

instead of being happy for the compliment, the girl i was talking to started bitching.

Girl #1: she's jealous of me.
Girl #1:she's supposed to say 'you look great in that shirt.'
Girl #1:the way she said it, it implies that the shirt looks good but i don't.

you see what i mean? clearly, Girl #2 was just giving a compliment but Girl #1 managed to twist the whole situation and turn it into negative feelings. crazy, eh? that's the way pessimistic people work -- everything that happens becomes personal in a negative way.

okay, so that's the pessimistic side; that's one end of the spectrum of attitude. but lets not forget that there are two sides of every spectrum. if there's someone that can always find something to bitch about, then at the opposite end of the spectrum there has to be the person that can always find the light in any situation. this person is the optimist. (duh)

you see, the optimist understands that life will have its ups and downs. the optimist understands failure and learning from mistakes. the optimist understands imperfection.

so why is it that we find so many pessimists in our lives and not enough optimists? why is it that we can easily scroll down our buddylists and find at least one person saying something negative in their profile or away message?

all it takes is changing the way we think. and when we do that, life becomes a whole lot more pleasant.

having said that, i'd like to leave you with one last quote (which is a personl favorite of mine):

Stress is not caused by others; its caused by our reaction to others.

ah man, i was waiting all summer for this weekend. 4 days, 3 nights in new york and a buncha saudi crew that i haven't seen together in a loooooong time.

here's a photojournal of what happened:

Thursday - September 1, 2005

i flew out of LAX @ 11pm and landed in newark, new jersey @ 6am EST. my next flight wasn't until 9:05am so i decided to do something productive...

at the airport taxi booth:

Taxi Ladi: destination, sir?
Mel: white castle!!
Taxi Ladi: excuse me?
Mel: WHITE CASTLE!!!Mel: the closest white castle around!!
Taxi Ladi:

Taxi Ladi: you want a cab for some burgers??
Mel: damn straight!!

so about $13 later...

unfortunately when i got there, only drive-thru was open. its all good though cuz when i got to the airport...

(what you're looking at is 10 cheeseburgers...and that's not even including the other 10 cheeseburgers in the other bag!!)

so anyways, about 9 burgers and a couple hours later i met up with alan @ albany airport.

Alan: so amy's picking us up, right?
Mel: yeah, i'll call her right now
Mel: ....hmmm, no answer. its all good, she knows we're here.

45 minutes later...

Mel: yeah umm, i guess she doesn't know...

a bagillion phone calls (and a quick visit by julie & mr. craig) later, alan and i were finally picked up by amy. praise the lord!!

this was the first time that we had seen baby anna isabelle.

the rest of the afternoon was mainly munching on the extra white castles, swimming @ the pool and taking a nap until josh flew in @ 7:30pm. oh yeah, throughout the afternoon the white castles from breakfast started kicking in:

Mel:

Alan: yuck!!!
Amy: your farts smell like white castle!!!
Mel:

not too long after we picked up josh, the guys headed over to saratoga for a little bar hopping while the girls had their little Girls' Night Out. we spent a lot of time playing some drunken shuffle board @ some irish pub:

after the bar hopping, we had the munchies so we headed over to the closest gas station. i stocked up on pudding, cookies and half-and-half (i thought that stuff was milk

Cashier Lady: i just have to ask...are you hawaiian?
Mel: hawaiian? nah, i'm filipino. i have a little hawaiin in my blood though.
Cashier Lady: oh okay...
Cashier Lady: well, i probably shouldn't say this because my co-worker might tell my husband
Cashier Lady: but you are a very nice looking man

yeah that's right, she wanted my balls.

so after our munchies, we passed out.

Friday - September 2, 2005 - josh's 23rd birthday

the next morning alan, josh and i got a rental car @ enterprise. (note to self: enterprise's underage fee was only $22.50/day compared to $115/day @ budget.) we drove down to poughkeepsie then took a smelly train to grand central station.

oh look, there's some turkish dude waving to us!!

(for the guys that are wondering, erol is now workin 100+ hours/week @ JPMorgan.

we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around new york city. and of course, there was a hot dog stand literarly on every street corner.

by the time we got to erol's kickass apartment ($3,000/month between two people

Saturday - September 3, 2005

it was a good quick trip to nyc, but we had to get up early so we'd make it back in time to albany airport to pick up samir's ass.

some parting shots:

we got in around 12:30pm, just in time to pick up this brown man:

after picking up samir, we went to the mall to meet up with amy, cathy and daniel h. but of course, that little drive didn't happen without a few wrong turns (i was the navigator)...

driving nowhere:

Samir: i don't think the mall is this way
Alan: minus 5 for melvin!!
Mel:

a few miles later

at some random toll booth:

Alan: wtf, we have to pay to get off this toll and then get back on??
Mel: fuck it, just flip a bitch [do a u-turn] here!!

we found our way to the toll booth that got us onto the freeway...

Toll Lady: ticket, please.
Toll Lady: reads
Toll Lady:

Toll Lady: i'm supposed to charge you all the way from buffalo for doing this.
Toll Lady: its illegal to do a u-turn on the freeway!!
Toll Lady: but i'll let you guys go this time.
Everyone:

fast forward a few hours later...it was wedding time!!

Toast!!:

Drunken Josh: cheers!!!
Drunken Josh: pounds champagne like a shot
Alan: sloncha!!
Alan: drinks
Mel: KINKY!!!
Mel: drinks
Alan: ...dude mel, its "clinky" not "kinky"
Alan: and josh, you take a sip, not pound it.

yes, the meditaranean chicken was good.

the wedding cake was f'ing orgasmic.

the group shot:

Alan: yo, remember that one 9th grade prom picture with us guys??

well, we didn't have mike there so we got josh instead.

all in all the wedding was beautiful, the stony brook crowd was cool, the mother-in-law was drunk and Cotten Eye Joe will always be a kickass party song.

after the reception we headed over for some bar hopping in saratoga again.

(note to self: a buncha guys walking into a bar while rockin their suits is an awesome way of making a fashionable entrance)

drunken josh and sam kept us entertained for the rest of the night. as you can see from samir's post, the drunken josh show went a little longer than necessary...

in the parking lot:

Alan: dude, i have to piss so bad!!
Alan: runs behind the corner
Drunken Josh: yeah, me too.
Mel: well get in line then, bitch!!
Drunken Josh: ...i can't hold it anymore...
Drunken Josh: pisses in the middle of the parking lot
police light flashes on josh*

Sunday - September 4, 2005

ah, good 'ol sunday brunch. a time to catch up and reflect on the previous night; and tell everyone that wasn't there about the drunken josh show.

and now for some parting shots:

and the obligatory poses:

you know, i think the best thing about our crew is the fact that when we're all put into the same room -- even after a long period of not seeing eachother -- its like we never skipped a beat. its never awkward. and if it ever is, the awkwardness doesn't last very long.

congratulations once again, will & julie. we wish you all the very best!!

View All Pics...

Quote of the Day (at Tower of Terror):

Mel: hey kid, you scared of the dark?
Kid: no...i'm scared of the light!!!
Kid: AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Mel:

View More Pics... | disneyland_matterhorn.mov

View All Photos...

the whole weekend was shibbying and munchies...shibbying tends to "enhance" food so much that it wouldn't be right for me to give ratings as it would all be skewed towards 5 smilies anyways. (hell, i would've rated isabelle's carrots & icecream a 5 from 2 summers ago). anyways, on to the pics!!

Top Dog -- i recommend the standard top dog and the hot link!!

The Best F'ing Donut Evar!!! -- probably because i was shibbied out of my mind.

Steve's BBQ in the Asian Ghetto -- i recommend the bbq beef/chicken or pork.

Na'an N Curry -- gotta love the indian food!!

Dim Sum!!!

Pizza!!! -- yeah yeah, i suck at taking pictures.

Best of Thai Noodle

this rotee stuff is HELLA good. its like a pancake with sweet stuff splooged all over:

gotta love the tempura banana with icecream:

i heart norcal.

More Pictures...

...with a full load of guys in my car (alan, dan, james, josh and me). the incline is at an intersection on the drive towards my house. i was chasing the red light cuz i knew it would turn green just around the point of no return. we got some ridonkulous hangtime over the whole damn four lane intersection and landed with ice and sobe bottles and shit flying all over the fucking place. man that was crazy...sad thing is i there was some royal grindage and oil leakage coming from my baby now.

other random things that happened...

• discovered that my smelly roommate does take showers...after a shower, he still smells of funk...but its a fresher kinda funk...not nearly as musty as he normally is...kinda hard to explain but either way, my roommate smells.

• josh and i played some beach volleyball with some other guys. there mom was watching and commentating..."young guys vs. the old guys"

  

  maaaan, that was the first time someone called me "old." its kinda true though, cuz once you hit 21, what else can you start looking forward to? retirement @ 60??

• played some more beach volleyball when alan, james and dan were in town. josh and i were playing these two competitive asian dudes...and just when we started making a huge comeback, i totally ripped my favorite board shorts right down the crotch.

  

  the hole was humongous...had to sit out for the rest of the day with a towel around my waist...just hang out with my wang out...

• rose quit BJs...the guys and i had our one last night of cheap BJs...its only the middle of summer for me but it feels like its coming to a close...

• i posted about this already, but hooters girls grabbing the hooters of their fellow hooters girls =

  

• anthong (cal poly) got in a surfing accident...totally mamed his face and one of his eyes...now he's just a one-eyed monster

  

  anthong, its all good, mang...chicks dig scars...and in your case, girls are in deeeeeep trouble.

// this is my persuasive speech for my public speaking class. its a much more elaborate version of my original Imperfection deep thought a few months ago.

A couple years ago I was having dinner with two buddies of mine. Originally we started out talking about girls and sex, you know, manly stuff. But then somehow we eventually got to talking about love & relationships; and it was one of the most deepest conversations I've ever had.

I remember my friend Chris telling me about his ex-girlfriend. He said, "I hate her so much. She put me through so much pain."

I asked him, "If you could go back in time, would you do it all over again?"

He looked me dead in the eye and said, "Yeah. Even though it hurts now, I did love her at one point. And we really did have some great times."

We kept talking about it. I started asking him questions like "What do you look for in the perfect girlfriend? And the perfect relationship?"

He said to me, "Mel, you need to stop looking for perfection; you're not gonna find it. No one's perfect. Nothing's perfect. Everything has flaws. But its these flaws that you have to deal with to make it work."

I thought about this idea of imperfection for several weeks. I finally realized that this theme of imperfection applies to so much: it applies to people in the form of flaws, to relationships in the form of heartbreaks, and to life in general, in the form of failure.

We all have our fair share of flaws, heartbreaks and failures; things we'd rather not have or rather have not experienced. But I'm here today to tell you that these imperfections are okay.

First, I'd like to explore the idea of imperfection in people.

When you apply imperfections to people, it comes out in the form of flaws. Let me ask you this: what if everyone in the world was perfect? And if everyone was perfect, what would seperate one guy from the next? What would make people unique? What would make your boyfriend or girlfriend more special to you than everyone else in your life?

Lets look at TV as an example. What would the TV show Friends be like without Chandler, who's insecurities cause him to make witty comebacks all the time? What would the movie American Pie be like without the bluntness and cockiness of Steve Stiffler?

You see, our flaws give us personality. It gives us diversity. Our flaws are what make us human. If we were all perfect, we'd all be the exact same.

The second aspect of imperfection is the idea of failure. When I think of failure, I think of what happened to me just over a year ago.

Just about a year ago, I received a letter from Cal Poly. That letter cited my 2 consecutive quarters of straight Fs. I knew it was coming but I couldn't believe it -- I was academically disqualified. I was kicked out of Cal Poly.

After reading the same letter over and over and over again -- in hopes that I was just misreading the whole situation -- my denial finally gave into reality. I had to admit it -- I was a failure.

For the next few days I'd come home and just look around at all the things I have"¦and I'd just feel guilty. I'd think to myself "a failure like me doesn't deserve any of this." It was just painful trying to think how I was gonna break the news to my dad.

I eventually decided that I would not tell me dad about it. This was my mess; this was my hole that I dug myself into and it was my job to get myself out.

And that's exactly what I did.

I talked to my advisors. I took classes @ Mt. SAC. I paid $200 a unit for classes here @ Cal Poly through the Open University program.

One year later, it all paid off -- I got back into Cal Poly. I get straight A's and B's now, I haven't ditched class in a year, and I am finally reaching the potential that my dad had been preaching about for so long.

I remember feeling so depressed when I first got that letter. But now, I almost feel proud of it, because I look back on it as the turning point in my college career. I have no regrets whatsoever.

And now I'd like to talk to you about imperfection and relationships.

Imperfection in relationships comes in the form of arguments and heartbreak. This topic in particular reminds me of my relationship with my dad.

My dad and I would get into pretty big fights once in a while. A little over a year and a half ago, on my 22nd birthday, I had the biggest fight with him ever. I don't want to get into what that fight was about. Instead, here's a small portion of what I wrote in my journal after that fight:

My Journal:

Do you even love me, Dad?? Do you??

Cuz you have a funny way of showing it...by not showing it at all.

When I was younger, I promised myself that one day I would make you proud.

Maybe I should devote my life to PROVING YOU WRONG.

I AM NOT A FUCKING KID ANYMORE.

WHY WON'T YOU LET ME BE ME???

THIS IS WHO I AM.

THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO BE.

I'M SORRY IF THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU.

I'll never forget how much hate I felt that day.

Fast forward about 18 months later. October 22nd, 2004. I was lying in bed when exactly at 12:55am, I got a phone call from my cousin, Rosemary. She was in tears and at a complete loss of words. When she finally managed to catch her breath, she said to me, "He's gone. My daddy's gone..."

I woke up my parents and we headed over to her place. Her dad, my beloved Uncle Rolly, had passed away to lung cancer.

Even though we all knew that day was inevitable, it was painful, nonetheless. I will NEVER forget the tears on my cousin's face as the coroners came and slowly strolled away her dad's body.

That night opened my eyes forever. I could see the love and the loss on Rosemary's face. I promised myself that I will never take my dad for granted again.

Its sad to think that it took the loss of a loved one for me to realize this. Bad things happen to good people; and we can't change that. Imperfections are just a part of life; all that we can do is accept it and learn from it.

So this is what I ask of you: to embrace all of the bad as well as the good. Its okay to have imperfections in your life. Know that its your flaws that give you personality and make you who you are today. Know that failure is just another opportunity to succeed. And lastly, know that heartbreaks are just a dramatic way of keeping things in perpective; it opens your eyes to important things like who you really love and who you can really count on.

Don't let imperfections hold you back.

Dance like no one's watching. Love like you'll never get hurt.

Thank you.