007

One of my most favorite video games ever is GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64.  As a matter of fact – a few years ago, I bought a used N64 just for that game.

During my 4th year at UVa I made a really bad judgment call – I decided to bring my N64 to Adam and Patrick’s apartment so everyone could play 007.  Actually, I brought it so I could kick everyone’s asses in the game (and feel good about myself).

What I didn’t know at the time was that Adam and Peter were hardcore 007 fans back in the day.  They actually spent large parts of their middle school years perfecting their 007 skills.

Sadly, those were the 2 people I really wanted to beat.

How could I be so stupid?

Anyway, both Adam and Peter beat me.  Badly.  No – they annihilated me.  It was a serious beat down.  And I was devastated.  Oddly enough, I’m still devastated over that incident (I really hate it when both Adam and Peter beat me at something).  And since I’m having a hard time letting that go, yesterday I bought 007 Quantum of Solace for Wii.

My objective: become a skilled master at 007 for Wii, invite Adam and Peter over for game night, then beat both of them down.  Badly.

Unfortunately, I can’t be so hard on the guys (dammit) because a) neither of them have a Wii and b) the game is kinda hard to get used to.  I just want my revenge :(

And yes, I am a bit competitive.

britney is my bff.

In case you’re wondering, yours truly did get to see B. Spears a few weeks ago with Adam and Patrick.  And surprisingly, it was a good time.

Like, a really good time.

Honestly, I could’ve done without the opening acts – why on earth were there 3 of them?  I only half listened to Jordin Sparks because I wanted to sing along to “No Air”.  So I did.

From the beginning of Britney (minus the random “circus” acts), when she was introduced by Perez, through the end – I was entertained.  The fact that she wasn’t singing didn’t matter.  She (along with her super awesome dancers) put on a good show.

Don’t hate because you didn’t go.  And don’t hate because it’s Britney… bitch.

born to run?

Not to turn this into a “Deva’s exercise habits” blog, but I feel the need to document my most recent exercise endeavor…

Since my friend Peter signed up run a freaking marathon in March 2010 (He’s a little crazy, but ambitious), I decided I could get off my lazy ass and train for a half-marathon (and maybe run it too…).

PS: I have negative amounts of running experience.  I’m starting from zero.  Or maybe -5.

I hated those fitness tests in junior high sooooo much.  Well, I hated the running part (I was good at everything else).  While I’ve never had any problems with sprinting (or hurdles – I love hurdles) long distance running has always been the bane of my existence.

But here I am, taking up running.  Finally.  It’s been on my list of things to do for quite some time and now I’m making it happen.

This is why I keep Peter around… he pushes me to “make things happen” in my life.

So – I started my Couch to 5K program (I told you – I’m not a runner) on Tuesday.  Today and tomorrow I will continue.  Hopefully, by the end of October, I will be ready to start my half-marathon training!

Wish me luck.  It’s gonna be tough.

the “complaint department”

I’ve been pretty behind with blog posts lately.  I promise I will try to write something substantial before heading to VA (time to visit the parentals) on Friday.

In the meantime, please enjoy the most recent exchange between me and my pal, Adam.

Background: I follow gchat statuses (MLIA).  When they don’t change for a few days, I start to get worried.

What started as a simple request (via gchat):

me: please change your status message
Sent at 9:22 AM on Wednesday

Adam: Please register your complaint with the complaint department. Thank you for your inquiry.

Turned into this (please excuse my language)-

Dear Complaint Department,

Please tell that asshole, Adam, to change his fucking gchat status message.  It’s been up for 2 days – morning and evening – which is unacceptable, and particularly offensive.  As his pal, it is extremely difficult to follow his (almost) every move when his status doesn’t change.

I hope you understand my frustration and will proceed to put an end to Adam’s horrendous actions.

Thank you,
Deva

And this -

Dear Stalker Whore,

Thank you for your inquiry.

We are continually working to improve our status messages, but given time restraints and a lack of desire to announce Adam’s every move to the world, it is impossible to provide frequent updates to online social networking programs. Unfortunately, we do not accept suggestions for Gchat, Twitter, or Facebook status changes from freaks at this time.

Should you wish to stalk Adam further, we suggest you set up text alerts to notify you of the most important daily events (e.g., when Adam farts, stares at the wall, or abuses his VooDoo dolls).

Thank you,
Complaint Department

How lovely.

stuf

1. Travel

I’ve racked up almost 4000 miles (3737 miles) of air travel in the past 3 weeks.  Plus the hundreds of nautical miles I traveled a couple of weeks ago.  I feel kinda awesome for having done so much travel in so little time.  Not all of it was for fun, though… as a matter of fact, I just got back from a 4-day work trip to Duke University for our New Fellows Conference.  Thanks to a flight cancellation and a 1 hour layover in Cincinnati, I picked up an additional 500 miles on that trip.  I wasn’t too thrilled about the change of plans, but I’ll happily take the extra 500 miles.  My goal is to reach 10,000 miles by the end of October.

I’m at 8388 right now.   Only 1612 left.  If I fly home and take a trip to Atlanta in the next 2 months, I’ll be set.

Oh – and also, I’ve decided that I enjoy flying.  Before, I kinda dreaded it – mostly the take off and landing.  But over the past few weeks I’ve developed this newfound appreciation for pilots and the massive beasts they fly.

2. Friends

Jessica is coming!  TODAY.  Get excited.  While she seems to be pretty lax in her planning, I’m quasi-freaking out (more like thinking nonstop) about what we can do to fill the time.  She’s staying until Sunday, so we only have a short 60 hours or so to take on NYC together.

3. Work

I’ve been at my current job for a year.  I can’t even believe it.  Hooray for me.  Here’s to another year of helping people save the world.

** I promise to write something more fulfilling next time… there just isn’t much going on in my life right now.  Oh well.

it’s not a boat.

Just so you know, I had a super fantastic vacation around the Western Caribbean with my friend (yes, friend) Peter.  I think it’s safe to say, that was the most relaxing vacation I’ve ever been on.  Like, 150% stress-free.

So, what happened?

Rather than give you the super long, not-quite-boring story, I’d rather show/tell you in pictures:

Our boat –

It was basically awesome.  There were maybe 2,000 people on the ship, but you wouldn’t know it (unless you spent all your time on Deck 9 where everyone and their mother spent 10 hours tanning or swimming).  There was so much space.

First stop, Key West -

In the beginning, it was a lovely day.  Peter and I walked all over the island, scoped out places to eat key lime pie, found a few cool looking bars (that were closed, unfortunately), and even made it to the Southernmost point in the Continental US -

Then, as we were making our way back to the ship, we got stuck in a pretty major thunder/lightning storm that almost immediately flooded the entire island.  We had to swim (more or less) back to the ship.  It wasn’t pretty.

Next stop, Cozumel -

Luckily, there was no chance of ridiculous storms while we were in Mexico.   So after finding a cab, we made our way to “downtown” Cozumel where we were immediately bombarded with offers for all kinds of free things: jewelry, tequila, beer, margaritas, pins, etc.  People just wouldn’t leave us alone.  I don’t know about Peter, but that was driving me insane.

So, long story short, we found some food (we’re big spenders…)

…discovered the best store in Cozumel

…and ran into a few lizards on the sidewalks.

Then, we were bound for Belize.

We woke up bright (not really, since our room didn’t have a window) and early for a day of scuba in Belize.  Our adventure in Belize took place here -

out there…

and here -

After several attempts to pass my shallow water test with the air tank (removing the air tube, then putting it back in your mouth…), the diving instructor actually let me scuba with the guys in the “deep end”.   I was crazy nervous at first, but I went with it… and I’m so glad I did.

I wasn’t feeling too well afterwards, but I eventually recovered.

On our final day, Peter and I just laid around in the sun.  My arms, legs and face got five shades darker and Peter just turned an out of control shade of red (I couldn’t help but laugh).

Thankfully, by the time Peter and I left the ship, we didn’t hate each other.  I didn’t expect we would, but there may have been some potential out there.  Also, our anti-couple-ness was only mildly awkward throughout our vacation.

Like I said before, it was a gloriously relaxing and stress-free vacation.  I would go on another cruise in a heartbeat.

Not only was it affordable, but I got to go scuba diving (and see a huge stingray underwater), eat delicious food, learn lots of random things about Peter (I’m sure he learned a lot about me too), practice my Spanish, buy tequila from Mexico – in Mexico, run in the rain (not the safest idea), and RELAX.

dc weekend travel

Last weekend, I got the wonderful opportunity to visit some college friends in the DC metro/Baltimore area.  It was a great trip, minus the bus ride to DC.

My seat partner was less than ideal: not only was he 6′8″ (ish) with huge arm muscles (which inconveniently spilled into my seat), and had an unnecessary thuggish “lean” (causing half is body to be in my seat), he had the world’s cheapest headphones – the ENTIRE doubledecker bus could hear his music.  You can just imagine  how loud that was for me – the person sitting 6″ away from him.  I was really looking forward to listening my OWN ipod, but instead I was blasted with old school Mariah Carey.

That’s right.  Mr. Thug Man was listening to Mariah Carey.  And he was rockin’ out, too – head bobbing and all.

By the time we got to Baltimore – 4 hours later – I was 5 minutes away from punching him in the face screaming at him politely asking him to turn his fucking music down and move 20% of his body mass out of my seat.  Luckily, it never got to that point – he changed seats as soon as people got off the bus.  Of course, I still heard his music from wherever he was sitting, but my own music covered up the muffled Mariah.

And that point was where my wonderful weekend began.

I got to hang out with Patrick and Liz, see Emily, and meet Emily’s bf Evan.  Not only that, but I got to drive (this is a big deal since I never drive in NYC)!  I miss driving a whole lot.

Perhaps the next place I move to will be more of a driving city.

Anyway, the ride back was slightly more pleasant – I got to sit next to Adam, who isn’t large (but tall) and wasn’t listening to Mariah full blast with $1.50 headphones.  Unfortunately, the trip took 1.5 hours longer than expected and I had very little time to get myself together for Monday.

From now on, I will avoid sitting next to men over 6′5″ and 230 pounds with cheap looking headphones and Amtrak on Sunday afternoons.

so little time

I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately.  There’s so much I want to get done this summer, but there’s NO time for everything!  There are so many things chillin’ out on my To Do list and I have no idea how they’ll fit into my schedule between now and Labor Day.

Did I mention that I’d like to spend a weekend doing absolutely nothing?  Unfortunately, that may no longer be possible.

Honestly, I love taking the time to visit friends and family, but I don’t function well without taking time for myself.

I guess I’m in a not-so-interesting situation.  I want to visit friends (and have them visit me), but I want to have some time to myself.  Oh – and let’s not forget that apartment of mine that’s in serious need of TLC.

What ever will I do?

roller coasters and pride

I am dehydrated… I think.  But I had a great weekend.

On Saturday, I went to Six Flags with Adam, Ryan and Jason.  The bus trip was pleasant, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we never spent more than an hour standing in each roller coaster line.

Sounds like success to me.

Me and the guys heading to our first ride...

Somehow, the guys got me to ride THREE (yes, three) upside-down roller coasters.  PS: I don’t do upside-down coasters very well.  As a matter of fact, I don’t really do them at all.  Just recently (in the past 4 years) did I start riding them… my first was Alpengeist at Busch Gardens.

Well, here’s the full list:

1. Alpengeist – Busch Gardens, 2005

2. Tennessee Tornado – Dollywood (don’t hate), 2006

3. The Incredible Hulk – Islands of Adventure, 2007

4. Superman:  Ultimate Flight, last Saturday

5.  The Great American Scream Machine, last Saturday (this ride is painful and old – do not ride it)

6. Bizarro, last Saturday

I somehow made it out of Six Flags alive.  My head was spinning (and still is…) but I was alive.

Sunday was a different day… more Pride-ful, if you will.

In support of 98% of my closest friends, I stumbled over to the Pride March with the typical posse (minus Jason – see above).  Unlike DC Pride last year, the weather was stunning – and with the high energy, it made for a fun parade.

I don't get it.

Nope, that's not Liza.

I'm sorry I missed the front?

This was adorable in a "I'm making a statement" kinda way...

Clearly, it was a good time :)  At least for the first 3 hours.

**I’m not sure what I was trying to accomplish with the black and white photos… I think I just enjoy having that feature on my camera.

3 countdowns

Countdown #1: 64 days

While I was at work yesterday, I made the biggest little mistake of my life.  I agreed to attend a Britney Spears concert at Madison Square Garden.  Patrick told Adam about it – so Adam passed the news onto me.  The gchat conversation went something like this:

Adam: i haven’t heard back from patrick
about britney tix
they just went on sale

me: yeah, i don’t think i want to go
i don’t want to support her hot mess-ness

Adam: oh gosh, i’m gonna get britney tix i guess

me: you’re kidding me

Adam: patrick wants them

me: i will never forgive myself if i see britney spears

Adam: you know you want to
it would be fun, with patrick and i

me: i don’t really want to
DAMMIT ADAM

Adam: monday night
aug 24
8pm

me: dammit, adam
don’t do this to me
i’m going to hate you.
much much more than i already do

Adam: i’m not forcing you

me: yes you are

me: hmm… okay, fine. i’ll go.

Adam: our seats are gonna suck, but whatever

me: dammit, adam - don’t make me change my mind

Adam: no, don’t
im gonna purchase

Adam: you, me, patrick

me: i hate my life.

I am not a fan of hers.  Sure, I have 20 B. Spears songs on my ipod – but who doesn’t?  They’re so freaking catchy.  But seriously.  I’m mad that 50 (or however many) of MY HARD EARNED DOLLARS are going into her ridiculous pocket.   That is why I hate my life.

But I would die of happiness if she sang performed Lucky.  I legitimately love that song.  Unfortunately, the liklihood of that happening is very small – since she’s come out with so many “good” hits since Lucky’s debut in 2000.

Countdown #2: 28 days

It started out as a solo Devacation (Deva + vacation).  As soon as I told Peter what I was up to, it became a Deva and Peter vacation.  A few days later, we were booking a 6 day cruise around the Western Caribbean.  PS: We’re not dating. Will it be awkward?  Maybe.  At times.  Will it be fun?  Of course.  I’m really looking forward to this trip.

Countdown #3: 10 days

My parents are coming to visit!  I feel like its been forever since I’ve last seen them (since January, I think).  It should be a good time and they’re bringing up more of my stuff from Virginia.