Monday, 31 December 2001 1:59pm

January
I rang in the real new millenium sick and at home alone with no one but my TV and my laptop computer to entertain me in bed. Not a particularly good start to the year. A few things from my wishlist arrived at my office, but a Sting CD that had been sent to me never made it. I never did find out who sent that CD either. After hearing about it on the abandoned comabound page, I purchased a small sized George Foreman Grill, and began experiencing the joys of knocking out the fat. Also during this month I purchased a Panasonic Sonic Shaver which claimed that after 2 weeks I won't want to shave with anything else. I haven't shaved with anything else since then.
On January 18, I declared that I LOVE JENNY NICHOLSON, ending my years of hate. She was the most annoying girl in any of the classes I had when I was in school, and thus, I declared that I hated her. Now that I love her and not hate her, she's forgiven me for hating her and we are great friends.
During the last week of January, my boss's dog poops in my cubicle, George W. Bush the man who I said looks like a monkey-boy became president. My internet cypersuperstar roommate Cami was running around with some new guy named Jeff we thought was gay, but wasn't, and I published the very first photo of them together online. I rant about people who call themselves "talented web designers" on their resumes, and I rediscovered an old Sting album... maybe I should pull out The Soul Cages again. I signed Cami, Jeff, and Dave into Hot Import Nights. On Superbowl Sunday, I actually meet with Jenny at Cafe 976, and I find out that she's been reading both mine and cami's online journals for quite a while now. January ended with Leanne suddenly becoming our new roommate.

February
I started out February taken by the Volkswagen commercial with the wedding. I'd like it for you now, but adcritic is gone. This month brought the first of many Vegas updates this year. This time I drove out to Leanne's parents place and hung out. I stood out in the cold and snapped some great pics of the mid strip at night. During this trip I also went to Madame Tussaud's, and saw the Mac King Comedy Magic Show for the first time. This trip was also the start to my love affair with Sushi On Tropicana, the best hole-in-the-wall-looking sushi place you'll ever go to. On the way back, I snapped a pic of the Zzyzx Rd. Sign, never knowing just how much time I'd end up spending there in the future.
My February 18 update was a long rant on a variety of topics. I'm sure this one will look silly and immature to me in a few years. A few days later I joined the "All Your Base" craze and opened up makeyourtime.areyoutheone.com, a collection of AYB images made by me and others. I also ranted some more about people in coffee shops. I guess I was in a ranty mood that time of the year.

March
March started off with me listing off things I missed from my youth. At the end of my update for the week of March 4, made up a little article as I went along, and called it "Men Are From Earth, Women Are From Earth" about communication and misunderstanding between the sexes. It was also during this month that I declared my love for Sapporo Ichiban, even enjoying it on another trip to Vegas. This time I-15 was shut down completely in the middle of the desert and I got a picture taken of me sitting on the freeway. In March I also received my copy of the Asian release of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on DVD, long before it was available in North America.
It was during this Vegas trip that I went back to The Beach to look for that girl that I met the previous october but so stupidly neglected to get any contact information from. I had hoped that fate would bring us back together, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.
During the last week of March, Trista and I went out on a date, and the following day someone sent an email to me, posing as her, saying calling me a pervert for making the I Love Trista page, and that everyone can tell it's fake. Of course it's fake, and of course, she already knew about it. Interestingly enough, Cami got a message in her guestbook (from the same person, we assume) that was listed as being posted by me, saying that she and Trista cannot escape me, or something like that. I believe Trista also received an email from "Cami" warning her about me. And some people tell me that I have too much time on my hands! Finally, the Casino Diaries started up, and Leanne started at her job.

April
April began with a big tub of OxiClean, the stain specialist. An American spy plane lands in China and it gets turned into a big ordeal. Meanwhile, I have beer and play NTN at TGIFridays with Jenny. Mean-meanwhile, the company I worked for was busy going out of business. I buy the dual processor G4 Macintosh computer with dual monitors that I used at work from them and get a smokin' deal. And oh yeah, I'm unemployed now.
About two weeks later I am introduced to Jeanette Lee, the pool player. I end up hanging out with her at Sea World, doing a little work on her website, and also making some connections on other freelance work through people I met through her. Things are looking pretty promising on the business end of things. I also decide to stop looking for jobs that are outside of the San Diego area. I don't want to move.

May
What do you suppose happened in May? Yup, another trip to Vegas. This time I went by myself, and I spent the night before at my sister's house in Riverside. I decide to stop looking for a normal job, and try freelancing for a while. I book five nights at the Stratosphere, end up getting a mini-suite and paying only $377 for all five nights.
During this trip I hang out some more with Jeanette who is playing at a tournament here, taking lots of photos, watching a lot of pool, and making possible business connections all along the way. One guy I meet is from Texas and as it turns out, he grew up around the corner from where I live now. Jeanette ends up winning the tournament and I get myself on TV. I try the buffet at Paris Las Vegas for the first time, and it's not bad at all. During this stay, I meet up with 2000EX, a guy who posts regularly on the riceboypage message board, but lives in Hawaii. He has been kicking himself ever since for meeting me without finding out what kind of car I drive. I also meet up with my friend Dave, and I accompany him on his first trip to The Beach. He enjoys the overal atmosphere of the club, but didn't particularly enjoy being accosted by a middle aged woman. I end up staying a few extra days in Vegas before coming back.

June
The morning of Sunday, June 3, I snapped my 2000th photo with my Nikon Coolipx 880, and I made a big deal out of it. The photo was taken at The Waffle Spot. June is when I first saw one of my new favorite movies: Moulin Rouge. On the morning of June 6th, Cami comes home on her lunch break and asks me where my car was. I responded, "What do you mean where's my car?".
About a week later I find my car while walking back from Ben's house. The kid who stole it lives like a block away from me, and kept driving my car like it was his. What a moron. I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to getting a new car, not get my same car back with damage. On an unrelated note, the comabound chick decides to turn all her cafepress referal money to me.

July
In July my image was broadcast all over the world on ESPN. In Downtown San Diego we witness what could have been a interesting encounter between some hardcore Christians and some Hare Krishnas but were pretty disappointed by how quickly the loud and condemning Christians backed down. There happens to be a party at Ben and Jeff's place, and I take some interesting photos... of them. Yes, perhaps Jeff has had a bit too much to drink...
The following week I'm in Vegas again, celebrating my brithday, by myself. I'm not saying that to make it sound like I'm a lonely guy -- doing that was a choice that I made for myself. I stay at Treasure Island for a couple nights, then back to Stratosphere, then on to Sam's Town. I start taking pictures of random people on the Strip, and I write my tribute to the Denny's on the Strip. One of the reasons why I made this trip was to prepare the clues for the scavenger hunt for the next month's Vegas RBP meet.
Upon returning to San Diego, we celebrate my brithday at my apartment, and I get to blow out candles on a cake that reads "Happy Birthday Cami".

August
Jenny moved to North Carolina. On August 6, the Riceboypage Meet in Vegas began. What a crazy time it was for all. 20+ people from all over the western united states in my phat hotel suite, only to get kicked out 2 hours later and be wandering around on the streets of Las Vegas. An east coast meet was happening the same day, but we all know it couldn't even come close to competing with our swingin' party! On the way back was my fateful return to Zzyzx Road where Scott and I found ourselves in the middle of the desert, in 120 degree heat with a flat tire. Hoorah. I decided I wanted to try to have an online journal meet in Vegas, but so far nothing of the sort has happened.
I declared my love for the TV show Magnum PI. I saw Legoland for the first time with Cami, Jeff and Kirk, and marveled at the amazing things they created with legos. Later that month, Trista and I visited Griffifth Observatory in LA. The following day I visited Mission San Juan Capistrano on a whim, and thoroughly enjoyed myself, taking lots of photos, and taking in the sights.

September
Planes crash into buildings. On a much more trivial note, I got a 16x CD burner and start burning things for fun just to see how fast it goes. Of course now there are already 24x burners out there. I hate technology. I also purchased a 16:9 widescreen television set. I joined Netflix. The combination of tehse two things triggered the conversion of my weekly update into a poorly organized DVD review page. I watch Driven, Chasing Amy, Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, and purchase Unbreakable, and Requiem For A Dream.

October
How glorious it is -- TNN starts running Star Trek: The Next Generation and they start it off with a 5-day marathon of episodes. I miss maybe 7 or 8 episodes out of the 80 or 90 they show over the course of the week. Scary, isn't it? During October we made beer floats experimenting with both Guinness and Bass.
There's a little RBP meet at ratvespa's house, and we rode chunk bikes and found out from WOT who is visiting from Seattle that Taco Bell sells "Mexi Nuggets in Washington. I had vivid dreams of being married to junior high school crushes, and saw that great, great, A&E documentary on Sesame Street.
October also brought us a trip to Knott's Scary Farm where we did not get to see Elvira. I extolled the virtues of true fried chicken at Church's Chicken, and even went back to my old high school's homecoming where I met a schoolmate of mine who is now the band director there. Shortly thereafter I helped Zac and Karen move back to Bellflower, and that's about the time I became afflicted with that terrible, terrible rash.
I watched Croupier; Unforgiven; South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut; The Maltese Falcon; Cider House Rules; Beavis & Butthead: The Final Judgement; and The Siege and purchased The Godfather DVD Collection and Shiri.

November
My horrible, horrible rash starts to subside, but in its place I got horrible, horrible arthritic pain in my joints. All my joints. I could barely move or function as a human being. So instead of being able to live life, I watch a bunch of movies. I went to the doctor's office and they charged me $390 to tell me to take Advil for a week. I consider paying for medical insurance. When I got better I started playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and I even play it online by connection my PS2 to the internet.
Later on in the month I helped Andy and Liz move into their new house, which is nearby where Cami and I live. I had another strange dream, except this time I was some kind of Catholic priest. The original Ocean's 11 was supposed to come out on DVD, but ended up getting delayed. Thanksgiving came and I had a great time with the family. I started considering getting a new hair style but I have yet to even get a haircut since then.
After Thanksgiving, I visited Disneyland and the remodeled-for-the-holidays Haunted Mansion ride. Cami and I got a Christmas tree with some help from Jeff. I bought the Playstation 2 game Grand Theft Auto 3 and virtually dedicate my life for the next few weeks to that game. I watch Gods and Monsters; Beavis and Butthead Do America; Leaving Las Vegas; Life of Brian; The Last Dragon; Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas; Cinema Paradiso; Snow Falling On Cedars; and Dog Day Afternoon. I also purchase Casino; Carlitos Way; The Princess Bride: Special Edition; and Spaceballs.

December
Early in December, I found myself in Vegas once again, this time to celebrate Dave's birthday. Having both been there a number of times this year, we took it easy and weren't rushing to fill our trip with activities. While in Vegas we watched Ocean's Eleven, a movie set mostly in Vegas, and we visit the new Palms hotel and casino, which we were both not very impressed by. And let's not forget about the Caesars seafood buffet where we each got a whole lobster!
Back in California, I had a package delivered to the wrong address and basically lose $150 because of it. My parents got cable modem installed. I buy the Moulin Rouge DVD as well as that Sting live DVD, among the many other Christmas presents I bought for myself. I also edited together a video tribute to Grand Theft Auto 3.
Jeff gave me The Matrix and The Matrix Revisited for Christmas, and a few days later I met up with Cami and her family at Disneyland. I discovered that there was plenty of sub-$1.00 gasoline to be had in LA and Orange counties. The next day I visited Disney's California Advenutre for the first time. And then it was Christmas. My sister gets a paw-shaped stocking for our dog and fills it with stuff.
I return to San Diego and Jenny returns from North Carolina to visit. We have a great time before she leaves and I return to L.A... I watched Network; The Red Violin; The Nightmare Before Christmas; The Thomas Crown Affair; The Iron Giant; Groove and also purchased Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory; Rush Hour 2; Moulin Rouge; and Sting: All This Time.

Overall, I think I could have taken some more initiative and gotten some more things done this year, but on the other hand, I had a whole lot of fun, and I don't really regret much of anything that I did. Tonight I plan to be at Disneyland ringing in the new year. Have a happy new year!!