Conclusions of Variety A Personal Blog on my happenings and thoughts

Disappearance of a Friend : Part 2Posted by cczernia on November 16th, 2004

It has been two weeks since Eric disappeared and I’m doing just fine. So far there has been no word as to what happened to him. I’ve managed to contact both sides of his family. For the past two weeks I’ve been cleaning out his stuff, throwing a lot of it away, keeping some of it and packing the rest to give to Eric’s dad when he came by last Saturday.

I also managed to contact Eric’s x-girlfriend who was probably the closest person to him for the past couple of years. She did not know anything either and I was the one to break the news to her. She managed to contact Eric’s best friend who also didn’t know anything. So, it remains a big mystery.

I have gotten a new roommate, Jorma who is cool. We seem to be getting along well. He moved in last weekend. And even though my life felt like it had been turned upside down briefly I managed to get through it with little to no problem. It came out just being a major annoyance especially in contrast to some of the things my friends have been going through.

Cell Phone UpdatePosted by cczernia on November 8th, 2004

Ok, I have a new cell phone. It is still the old number. If you don’t have it and you want it please email me.

So I seem to loose cellphones or they break I me I have added a cellphone status. If it is good than that means I have a cellphone. If it is bad that means I do not.

Disappearance of a Friend : Part 1Posted by cczernia on November 4th, 2004

I guess some things just don’t work. Relationships are bound to fall apart, jobs not work out and things just get crazy. My life as been crazy for the last year and half but I imagine that is nothing compared to what my friend and roommate Eric has been through.

As of Monday, November 1st 2004 Eric has gone missing. I got home from working in Hillcrest around 8pm, sat down to eat and noticed that about a number of my DVD box sets were missing. It was shocking and I tried to figure out what happened to them. I hadn’t been robbed, as other stuff would be missing and stuff would be thrown everywhere. I realized he had taken them and probably pawned them off (something he had done with his own DVDs just weeks before).

At first I was terribly angry and knew I was going to have to get into it with him and that we couldn’t be roommates anymore. That thought quickly drifted as I realized he probably wasn’t going to return. I stayed up waiting and watching TV and became more panicked as time went along.

I finally decided to go to bed but realized I was too freaked to sleep. I called my friend Jonathan and stayed at his place for the evening. The next morning I drove back and nothing had changed.

At work I managed to get ahold of the landlord, Steve. Steve told me that Eric owed over $3000 in back rent: $600 for September, $1200 for October, and $1200 for November.

I moved in with Eric after splitting up with Maya. As it turned out his girlfriend, Claudine, was moving to New York City in August and he needed a roommate. I had been gaming with Eric for just under a year and I agreed to it. Some problems occured when we couldn’t get our apartment right away and I had to stay with Eric and Claudine in there one bedroom apartment for two weeks. During this time I just gave Eric money to cover some minor costs in his old apartment. This would continue into our new place.

Once we moved into our new place things seemed to get better but Claudine and Eric were fighting more until one night they blew up at each other. After that Claudine would housesit or try and find other places to stay until she moved.

Once she left Eric became depressed. I wasn’t too aware as I tried to give him his space and did my own thing as I had just gotten over Maya. Perhaps I should have been more aware but within a few weeks after Claudine left Eric was fired from his job after yelling at a customer.

I was concerned but not very. His birthday had just come up and I was certain he would get help and support from his family. I met his dad around that time and Eric was quick to bounce back as he knew everyone in PB, worked dozens of places and was able to get a job in two weeks after he lost his previous one.

This was not the case. A month and a half would pass before he got a new job. During this time he would sell a bunch of his stuff, continue to collect money from me until he started working again. What I didn’t realize was that he was keeping the money I gave him and not paying rent at all. He told me that he wasn’t paying his half but Steve was cool and would give him until December to pay the back rent.

For whatever reason he dug himself the hole that he could not dig his way out of and had me fooled the entire time. I wanted to trust him as I had trusted roommates in the past. As of now I have found a new roommate and currently taking the steps to reset my living situation. Steve is letting me start from $0 as Eric never gave him the lease I signed.

I still wonder what happened to Eric and hope that he didn’t do anything drastic and that he figures out what he needs to. I hold no grudge against him and only wished he was more honest with me and his family so that we could have helped him.

Friends from the PastPosted by cczernia on November 1st, 2004

Every now and then I think about people from my past. Usually friends from college or high school. Apparently, other people do the same thing, but go even further back because I recently received an email from my best friend when I was in the second grade.

I was flattered that I was remembered after, what 20 years. My friend Nathan Fisher (now, Nate Fisher) must have been doing some soul searching and decided to contact me. I do remember him.

Funny thing is my last memory of him is not a pleasant one. I remember it was the summer before I went into middle school and was riding bikes with my (at the time) best friend, Adam. We were both nervous about going to the new school and I decided to visit my ole friend Nathan and see what he had to say. We walked up to his door, and rang the bell. Nathan answered the door, standing in his robe and looked like he just woke up. He looked at us as though we were selling something. We told him why we came and he just shook his head and told us he didn’t have time for us kids and that he needed to get some sleep. He then shut the door and we left. Adam and I were pissed and he couldn’t beleive that he was once a friend of mine.

I havn’t thought about that day in a long time. I do have some fond memories of Nathan (he may call himself Nate now, but to me he is Nathan, and apparenlty he remembers me as Christopher). Many action figure filled days, exchanging presents during Christmas, and Little League baseball which I was awful at.

So, even though it was strange to get a message from a friend that I knew when I was 7-9 it was still really neat. And chance to look back and think about a time long gone and see what happened to those people that I once played GI Joe with.

Selling My Soul on Ebay Part IIIPosted by cczernia on October 26th, 2004

I thought I’d go ahead and wrap this up as the saga has finally finishes.

After awhile the guy calmed down and stopped trying to sue (probably found out he couldn’t) and decided to just send me the other guys package. Of course by this time I had already refunded him the money.

I managed to contact the other guy who I had refunded and told him what happened. He didn’t respond, for 4 or 5 days I waited for his message. Finally, it came and he said his package was destroyed!!!! I couldn’t beleive it, either the pissed off guy decided to take some revenge out, or the USPS can’t handle large boxes.

He said most of the books were good and he would give me $100 (of the $180 I had refunded him) and I quickly accepted. I took the $100 and sent it the original guy for part of his refund which was $280.

At the same time the insurance thing was going underway. It took almost two months but I did get a check from the USPS for $200. Very exciting, my first insurance payout. I immediatly pay the original guy his final $180 leaving me with $20 bucks.

Overall, I didn’t loose any money on the auctions, I broke even. However, I’m not sure if it was worth the mental anguish. I did however sell a series of RPG books on ebay before receiving the insurance check and they all went perfectly.

Capital StepsPosted by cczernia on October 26th, 2004

I went and saw The Capital Steps last weekend. The Capital Steps are a comedy group, similar to Saturday Night Live except all their humor is based on politics and it is a stage show. Apparently, they are on NPR a lot but have made guest appearances on a number of TV shows. I had never heard of them but was still excited.

I had high expectations and was slightly dissapointed. They were a lot more “pop culture” than I thought they were going to be. About 50% of the show was singing a dancing which I don’t have problem with, I enjoyed two musicals over the summer. However, all the songs were pop songs in which they changed the lyrics to make it political and funny. Hmmm… who else does this but Wierd Al. It was amusing for awhile but got old fast, a lot like Wierd Al that way.

The other 50% of the show were skits that were a lot funnier than the songs. This was classic “Saturday Night Live” style humor with actors posing as politicians. It even stretched to a skit about Martha Stewart in prison in which I didn’t understand how it was political, just newsy. They made fun of Bush, Kerry, Cheney, Edwards, Clinton (both Hilary and Bill), Anne Colter, and many others. I got at least 90% of the jokes which means I’m a lot more aware of what is going on in the world than I’d like to be.

So, overall I enjoyed the Capital Steps. My favorite skit was one of the actors talking about current events but would switch the first two letters of words. This was extremely high humor but was hilarious if you could keep up as at times he would speak very fast, and my cognative process had trouble keeping up at times. The other thing that surprised me was the audiences reaction. Every person I over heard thought the Capital Steps were the best thing in the world. I could only chalk it up to NPR elitism or these people just hadn’t seen anything funny in a long time because like I said, funny but on par with Wierd Al and SNL.

Best quote from the show “Vote for Bush or I’ll kill the baby!”

On to other things. Just became a little more aware of current affairs. They had Madeline Albright on the Daily Show last night and I thought cool, she was part of the Clinton adminitstration and did cool things. The talked about her dealing in N. Korea and I thought it was all interesting.

I also knew that N. Korea was a problem with weapon of mass destruction and was more of a threat than say… ohhh Iraq. Now, what I didn’t know was the details behind it and that Jimmy Carter, the Clinton Adminstration, specifically Albright had managed to prevent N. Korea from developing WMD and they were close to introducing N. Korea to the rest of the world.

Then Bush got elected, said fuck it, attacks Iraq, freaked out N. Korea and they now have nukes. Maybe I’m over exaggerated but I feel that Bush has put us in a more threatening position than what we were.

Freakin Cell PhonesPosted by cczernia on October 18th, 2004

Ok, lost my phone again! Thanks to my man Lee for trying to keep me reconnected. I should have a new phone by Nov 7 in which my phone plan will let pick a new phone. They currently have a 2 for one deal so I might jump on that given my history with cell phones.

There is a slight chance I might still find it as the last time I used it was last Tuesday at 9pm in my apartment. I never left the apartment and realized it was missing right before I went to bed so it should still be there. If I find it I’ll leave a comment here.

So, if anyone needs to get ahold of me please email me and if you want you can request my home phone. I never answer it but you can leave a message and I should get it. You’ll be able to call again normally on Nov 7.

Ho downs and DragonsPosted by cczernia on October 11th, 2004

A lesson in humiliation is suppose to be good a thing and a hope it is because Stephanie and I certainly made asses of ourselves last Saturday trying to dance at a Cowboy bar. Having learned the two step about five years ago I thought I’d remember how but realized that I didn’t. We asked a dance instructor how to go about it and she showed me, then I showed Stephanie. This resulted in us on the dance floor trying our best from not falling over.

However, we did not give up and kept trying to make it work. The dance floor became more and more crowded resulting in us getting more and more frustrated. If no one else was on the floor (which was small in comparison to others I’d seen) we might have been able to figure it out. But inbetween people swirling, bouncing and square dancing (yes, there were people square dancing while other two stepped around them) we didn’t have a chance.

The dance instructor, watching our peril pulled us outside to give us a couple more tips. After a quick 5 min lesson we were ready. The instructor said she would play a slower song so we could have an easier time. By the time we got out for the slow song the floor was so packed we could barely move. Try to actualy step, much less two-step was an act of futility. But the end of the song we finally had enough and left. We aren’t giving up though, either with some friends or a free lesson we’ll figure this thing out just to prove to all those damn yuppie cowboys that I do have rhythm.

On another note there is something about Dungeons and Dragons. Perhaps I’m elitist roleplayer but I suffered some form of shock meeting with a bunch of people who were straight D&Ders. Many of them were new (or inexperienced) to the game but they all wanted their Drizzt Do Urden, Dragonlance, Base Attack Bonus, level 5 elven wizard. Even upon suggesting playing Iron Kingdoms they scratched their heads and said “D&D with guns??? It doesn’t make any sense.”

So I, an uber-elite roleplayer have agree to play with these inexperienced D&Ders in hope to mold them into something great. An asset to gamer society. It is a lot of work but hopefully something positive will result from it.

The Great Out DoorsPosted by cczernia on September 28th, 2004

So, I went camping this weekend. Stephanie and I headed out to Cuyamacca State Park (which had been burnt down a year ago and was starting to grow back), about 40 miles East of San Diego on I-8. We left around 5:30 and got their about an hour later with just enough time to check in, set up the tent before it got dark. We only stayed the night but a few interesting things happened.

- Cooking hamburgers became a slight challenge as the grill was too high above the coals and the bars spread far apart. The charcoal I brought was not adaquite so first I tried cutting open a can to use like a frying pan (in honor of Scott’s and my adventure at Elephant Butte). It didn’t work but tossing more wood on the fire did.

- Stephanie and I were talking, drinking wine and what have you and it started to get cold. I decided to put on a warmer shirt but first I had to restart the fire. This proved more difficult than I thought and I was only able to get it started by tossing in large weed. It started to crackle and I backed up, when it lit I jumped back and fell off the wall.

- Right after we went to bed a racoon got into our food.

Overall, pretty basic even though sleeping was tough. Quote of the trip “I feel like I just got out of a dryer.” Second quote “She got the elevator and I got the shaft.”

Tangent – We also went and saw Shaun of the Dead. Amazingly funny movie that everyone should see.

Wedding and BabiesPosted by cczernia on September 20th, 2004

Some exciting things have been happening. First there is Scott and Denise’s baby, Conner. Went and had a cigar with Scott to celebrate the miracle of life. So, props for Scott for getting his groove on and making something out of it.

Also, props to Jonathan and Michelle for throwing the most kicking wedding, EVAR! They threw tradition out the window and threw a great party. Lets start with the bachelor party.

Technically, the 2nd time I’ve been to a strip club in San Diego. The 1st time was with Scott when we came up to San Diego for comic con. We left at 1 in the morning and arrived at about 12 in the afternoon. However, the motel wasn’t going to check people in until 2 so we decided to kill time at a strip club our friend Shane recommended. However, the place we walked into wasn’t really a strip club, more of a pervert theater. The place had theater ceiling with the house being completly dark and the stage lit. You couldn’t see who was around you or what they were doing. Made me feel icky so we left after about a half an hour.

I have returned to San Diego strip seen in the guise of a bachelor party for Jonathan. A few of us went out, got some beer, sang karoke… well, I didn’t sing karoke (I wasn’t ready) but everyone else did. We left after the electricity went out and headed over to Pacers, the partially nude bar where you could drink. We found out there was a $10 cash only cover and I was the only one with cash. So, a quick detour to the wamu. Jonathan was then distracted by an adult bookstore so we had to visit that, where I introduced him to man’s greatest enemy, The Rabbit.

We changed our minds about Pacers and a few minutes later found ourselve at Deja Vu, the fully nude strip club. A quick run through the medal detector and $14 poorer I found myself beholding beautiful naked women. Of course I found that San Diego strip clubs are much more conservative than the ones in El Paso including a 3 ft buffer between the stage and audience and cover lap dances. This didn’t stop us though and we made sure the soon not to be a bachelor received his due, plus bonuses for the rest of us.

A few hours later we decided to give Pacers a second try as our buzz had worn off because you can’t drink at the fully nude club. Unfortunatly, Pacers was closing as we discoverd it was 1:30 in the morning. We returned to Jonathan’s, had one last beer and all returned home with visions of sugerplums and candycanes.

Two days later was the wedding. A few of us put a gift together entitled the “Essential Marriage Kit.” I went and picked up Stephanie and we headed down to Ocean Beach. Of course, thinking more traditional wedding, decided to arrive 15 min early. There was no one else there. We waited and discovered there were a few others waiting who were just as confused as I was. Others started to show up and Jonathan, Michelle and most of the immediate family show up right at 4 (when the wedding started). Of course it didn’t actually start as I realized this was a true Southern California Beach Wedding which once you’ve experienced it there is no going back. Oscar and his clan show up making an awsome enterance.

They than started the ceremony with Jonathan’s dad (an Episcopalian Priest) and step mom marrying them. Even though the two were lacking in tradition they certainly were not short on the symbolism as Jonathan was given his dad’s and mother’s marriage rings to be married by.

The cermony was beautiful and probably one of the best and most meaningful I had seen. Instead of being bogged down in bad music, and cluttering tradition you had a very honest ceremony. The audience faced the ocean which framed them nicely. The sun was coming causing some glare but was still amazing.

After the ceremony some pictures were taken. And than Michelle decided to throw her bouquet. I know what you’re thinking and even though it was traditional it was a mixture of single men and women. And yes, I did catch the bouquet, thank you very much.

After the ceremony we headed over to a place called “Tower Two.” A nice little Cafe/Bar where we partied for a good four hours. There was no bridge/groom table, no silly dances or DJs, just people having a great time. A let hear it for the coolest old people in existance who were all hilarious and tons of fun. I blame viagra. Quote of the evening:

Oscar’s Dad “So, have you managed to convince our son to vote for the right candidate.”

I ended up driving so I only had two beers, but Stephanie made sure to take advantage and managed to work four Pear Ciders. Taught her how to two step, apparently we have no rhythm. So, good luck to Jonathan and Michelle and thanks for throwing and wicked party.