I Challenge You To A Game Of Quidditch!

Yeah, that’s right, I said it. QUIDDITCH!

Backstory:

Question, why does one go to a bar? One goes to a bar for many reasons: Hangout, unwind, happy hour, people watching, random conversations, etc. In this case, random conversation played a role.

Saturday:

After watching my Trojans lose to Stanford, I decided to unwind and go to Barnes and Noble. I’m not even at the bookstore for about twenty minutes and I get a text from my friend Willie wanting to grab some drinks. Listen, I’m not one to reject a cold beverage so I accepted the offer.

First Stop, The Golden Bear

Everybody has a go to place, and The Golden Bear is my place. The price on the drinks are manageable. It also has a nice hipster crowd, which I can relate to. They have a back area and an outside patio in the front. It can get crowded and stuffy at times, but it doesn’t linger. Well the times I’ve gone it hasn’t been crowded, I’ve heard different stories from others.  The main reason I love the place is because of the Live DJ’s they have in-house. Not a lot of bars have it, so I like they fact that they are different.

We weren’t there that long, just long enough to recap what was going on in our lives that week. I got to talk about  my awesome time at the beach and he is still on cloud nine with his new job. The stories were long enough in which we both were able to down two drinks.  Also it was at this time that “Jager Nights” was declared by Willie.

Second stop, Streets of London.

Whenever I go to this place, trouble happens. I always run into someone who I DON’T want to see. It smells and it seems like every time that I’m there, the age group has jumped.  To keep a nice pace going – Jager Bomb again, one hit and we are out.

Drink tally:

Me: 3 Willie: 3

Stop number three? De Vere’s

This place, by far has the best brunch in Sacramento. At night? This place is always crowded and I’m bound to run into somebody I know.  Usually the somebody I know is from the station. It’s like, the meeting spot I guess. Never happened though, Jager Bomb- Again!

Ok, fast forward to Shady Lady.

(We actually went to R15, but that was miscommunication) I’m pretty happy about that because I didn’t feel like getting attacked by pepper spray again.

Long story short, I got my White Linen. It was delicious, you should try it. I recommend it. Girly drink? Yes. I ordered it with pride though.

I would like to apologize about the breakdown of the night. I had a good amount to drink and I know if I miss a part, I would mess up the story.

I really don’t remember how Quidditch topic came up, but it did. I’ve never watched Harry Potter and after Willie explained the game, I still won’t watch it.  He explained the game to me and it still sounds weird to me. He then showed me a YouTube clip and that still did not make sense.

Yeah, weird. Still not interested.

Anyway, from Shady Lady to the next bar Benny’s, Quidditch just dominated the conversation. This went on for about 6 blocks.

We finally get to the bar and met up with some mutual friends. We get more Jager bombs and head to the back. Willie is still irate about my lack of Quidditch knowledge. To prove a point he ask these two people if they knew about Quidditch. Unfortunately, they knew about Quidditch and they were excited about explaining the game to me. I’m shaking my head, he is excited, it was all bad.

We had back inside get more “Bombs” and then he asked the bartender. THE BARTENDER knew what the deal was.  She was EXCITED talking about it. By then, Willie felt like he proved his point. I feel disappointed.

Conclusion:

Minus the crazy drunks, bars/bar hopping can be a great thing. It just depends on who you are hanging with and also the mood of the bar. Every conversation has the potential of being, weird, awesome or great. It’s just taking the chance of starting a conversation. The worse a person can say is “No, I don’t want to talk”. No crime in that. The fact that he asked random people about Quidditch was amazing.

My advice to readers: Have fun, take chances, be confident. Take a risk in starting a conversation, you never know where it my lead. Who know’s, the next person you might talk to want start a Quidditch team.

PS: The night ended with my friend Nani falling to the ground and an amazing/horrible freestyle show put on by Willie and I. More liquid courage happened as well at her house.

Finally Tally:

Me: 7 1/2

Willie: 6 1/2

For the record, the quote of the night:
“I’ll whoop a @#$#% @$$ ins some Quidditch” – Willie

FOLLOW AWAY ON TWITTER:

@20Wi11

@Sylvan_Stephone

{UPDATED} Apparently, the Quidditch video earlier wasn’t good enough. Here is a better one.

Ok, I’m done with this.

Viernes, Viernes, Viernes

Just in case you forgot, I work graveyard shifts. Here is some good reading as proof: Sleep? Not Really In My Vocabulary.  I didn’t get home till about 5:30/6 this morning. After a hard-earned 8 hours, I pretty much deserved a donut. A chocolate bar and dozen donut holes satisfied my stomach. Honestly, that was the first time I had donuts in about three months.

Want to know how I felt? I thought about my second favorite TV character, Ron Swanson:

The best part about this skit, the Tiger Woods killer polo. Second favorite? Him offering to buy a Walkman. Throwback!

Because of that skit, I’m going to wear a red polo this weekend. I might even buy another donut.

OK, this post is written in no particular order, I’m just going with the flow You’ve Been Warned.

Just found out that a good friend is moving back to Sacramento. My best friend is moving to San Francisco by New Years. My cousin will be in Oakland for her birthday next month! I must say, the last months of 2012 will be AWESOME!

Speaking of SF, as much as I don’t want to bore you and tell you I’ll be there tomorrow….I will be there tomorrow. It’s ridiculously hot and I just want to be near the beach. I’ve never been to Baker’s Beach so I’m looking forward to going if the plan holds up.

Sidenote: Have you ever finished eating something good and then end up angry after? I just finished eating a Snickers and now I’m angry cause it’s gone.

Ron Swanson #2

I feel like that right now.

No more Parks and Rec references anymore.

I do have one more video for you though. This song came on my iPod last not. The beauty of putting it on shuffle, you hear things and just laugh or smile.  In this case I just laughed.

I remember this song when I was in the seventh grade. I had no idea what they were talking about yet I knew all the words. Man, good times.

Enjoy the weekend folks!

Home, Sweet Home

Back to reality. Why is the first day being at work after a vacation the worse? I thought I would be ready for work again, but I’m not. My mind is still on the shores of Redondo Beach. Let’s say the beach in general because Hermosa, Venice and Santa Monica got some love as well.

Monday:

I was able to walk along Third Street Promenade, but I had no money to buy anything. I did roller blade (yes, people still do that)  from Santa Monica to Venice Beach. I played some basketball at Venice Beach. I made my first three shots and after that? ALL. BAD. It does not help that I am out of shape. Those guys can play though. I can officially mark Venice Beach off my bucket list. I was able to walk along Third Street Promenade, but I had no money to buy anything.

One would think that I would keep a camera on me at all times, but I didn’t. The slideshow consists of pictures from my phone. The hotel that I stayed at was in Redondo Beach, three blocks away from THE beach. I was quite excited about that.  The first few slides are from Redondo and the rest are from Santa Monica.

 

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Saturday:

It was my first time getting to hang out in Hermosa Beach. I went bar hopping with some friends from high school. It’s weird, I’m pretty much ten years removed from high school. Time flies.  Anyway, the pier was just filled with restaurants/bars.  We did our fair share of walking, but it was nice. We pretty much ended the night watching the waves. I have never done that before, but THAT? Was nice.

Sunday

The family had a BBQ and that was good. Nothing beats a BBQ with a touch of home. It was cool seeing the family, and the family was quite happy to see King Alex as well. I really don’t like going to LA but for some reason this trip felt different. I really don’t have a reason why, but it felt different.

 

The best part of the trip was going to Versailles. CUBAN FOOD. Whenever I make a trip down south, I have to at least three things: Go to Versailles, chill at Santa Monica Pier or get Thai food. I was able to accomplish two out of the three.

 

Seriously though, does this not look good?

I had that for dinner and yet again it did not disappoint.

Sunday, during the BBQ, my aunt hooked it up with this….

I didn’t open it yet, but apparently it is really good. It is Rum from Belize.

 Just in case you didn’t know, fun fact of the day, my folks are from Belize. I have Central American roots. Not a lot of people know about that, but now? The internet world knows!

It felt good to be back at the old stomping grounds, but it feels good to be back in Nor Cal. At the end of the day all that matters is that everybody is alive and well. If that happens, then it’s all good.

Overall?

Home, Sweet Home

Friday, Friday, Friday

I took a break from the blog.  It has been a busy two weeks and I had to sacrifice something. I’m back though, better than ever.  I must warn you that I won’t be back until Wednesday. When I come back I shall break down what has been going on. It will include: drinking in SF, football in Berkeley and hanging out in Sacramento. Each one was pretty amazing.

After I post, I will be GONE. I will be out-of-town, it’s been a while since I was able to just get away. I thought to myself, what would be perfect for this. This legend came to mind.

Had to keep it clean for the kids.
Happy Friday!