Monthly Archives: June 2011

Food Trucks and New Bowling Record!!

I went to the food trucks at Irvine Lanes tonight with gem, Steph, Jessica, Andrew, Duke, and Natalie. There was a lot of tasty food! I had honey feta fries, beef kabob with tzatziki sauce, pulled pork sliders, milanesa sandwich, and nutella loukoumades. Everything was tasty!
After eating we went bowling. Jess had free passes that included shoe rental, but we paid for an extra two games as well. I got a 64 in my first game and 92 on my last, but I scored 114 on my second game! That’s a new personal best, beating my previous record of 106! Woo! It was pretty exciting 🙂

Wedding Recap!

alex and darnell's wedding

I can’t believe Alex and Darnell actually got married! It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
On Thursday, I met Jarrod and Shayne at Disneyland, and Jarrod drove us to Palm Springs. It was a lot of fun getting to know them during the ride. Jarrod does pest control for Disneyworld (so I had a lot of questions about dealing with home problems), and Shayne works for Kraft. We got in that night and hung out a little with the group. I had my own room with a nice sign and everything! =D The house they rented was amazing! There was five bedrooms in the main house with one or two (I think) in an unconnected part. There was a large living room and an entertainment room, but the outside of the house was the amazing part. It was absolutely beautiful! There was a large pool with a cool bridge leading over to the grass. This is where Hal had the canopy set up under which the wedding took place. There was a hot tub that flowed into the pool, and a rocky waterfall over the pool. Ther was also a cool lake on the property!
Friday we got up to a wonderful breakfast thanks to Jarrod. We had fruit salad, french toast, and biscuits with gravy. So good! Then it was time to get to work! I helped Hal with the canopy for a bit. It was very impressive, but I wasn’t surprised at all. Hal is the perfect guy for that kind of task, and I love how much he knows about building things and getting tasks done.
I went with Alex on some errands. First, we went to Men’s Wearhouse to pick up our tuxedos. There was one small problem. My tux didn’t fit at all. It seemed at least two times too big for me, yet the lady checked the size adjustment things on the sides to see if they could make it fit. Of course now. They assured me they’d get one shipped from Texas that would be there by Saturday at 11. Well, the wedding was on Saturday, and the photo shot was scheduled to start at 11. That wasn’t really going to work, but we didn’t have a lot of options. When Alex asked, they said they could bring it to the house. They also refunded my money.
Then we were off to pick up flowers and bring them to the baker for the cake. We couldn’t find the exact flowers because they don’t survive the heat in Palm Springs. Luckily Darnell isn’t the type to complain, and we found substitutes that would work. Then it was time to get home!
When we got home we met Venus who was performing the ceremony. She was very cool, and we quickly went through the rehearsal. Hal tried to try on his tux, but it was way too small. I tried his, and it fit perfectly. It turned out the had just switched our tuxes. Hal called, and they offered to bring us the tux that they had kept. Then it was time for dinner! There were tasty appetizers, a yummy salad, a tasty steak, and an amazing “pie” that was basically a sundae. We did our toasts to the happy couple. I was planning to make a toast, but I purposely didn’t prepare anytihng written because I just wanted to speak from the heart and leave most of what I wanted to say for the reception. The toasts were all very touching, but Hal’s was just amazing. He loves Alex so much, and it was evident even from his eyes. I couldn’t stop crying. After the toasts, we headed to the Fantasy Springs Casino for cocktails. gem met us there, and we all had a couple drinks. Venus happened to be at the casino, so she came to the bar to hang out as well. It was a lot of fun. Then Friday night we went home to drink and swim!
Saturday was the big day! We finished setting everything up, including building a photo booth that ended up falling apart in the wind. Alex gave all the groomsmen a gift – a glass with our initials on it, a pair of sunglasses, and a tie to match our bridesmaid partner! I received a green tie to match Laura’s green dress. The sunglasses were interesting because I had previously told Alex about how I wanted a pair sunglasses.
The wedding was amazingly beautiful. I can say that it was definitely good that I had tissue in my pocket, and Darnell couldn’t look over at me. There were three dogs in the wedding too! How awesome is that? I felt really good holding the ring, and I’m glad everything went well! After the wedding, we hung out for a bit while the guests were at cocktail hour. Unfortunately, Devin paid the servers at this time, and they just took off. We were a bit worried! Then everyone moved from the front of the house to the back for the reception dinner. The wedding party was announced, and we went out in pairs. Then a few of Alex and Darnell’s friends volunteered to serve the food. They did a fantastic job! Dinner was pretty tasty! There was a crepe cart, a hot dog cart, and four beers on tap! When it came time for the speeches, I got incredibly nervous. While I had a lot of it memorized, I still used index cards on a keyring. It seemed to go well! Although I recorded, I can’t get myself to watch it to see, but Alex and Darnell seemed to really appreciate it. The speeches were all great, and I enjoyed all the love that was there! They cut the cake, and it was cute that they seemed to have trouble. They also couldn’t quite figure out how to drink champagne correctly. I loved it, haha. In the evening we rested, talked, laughed, and eventually went swimming.
Sunday was a day of relaxation and eating. We grilled burgers and hot dogs, and everything was tasty. I spent most of the day in the water, and I ended up getting burnt. Oh well! We also went down to the lake and swam, found a row boat, and rowed across the lake. It was a lot of fun. But the most fun was just talking with people. Everyone was so fantastic. I can’t believe how great Alex and Darnell’s friends and family all are, but then again, I guess it makes sense that wonderful people attract other wonderful people. It was a great celebration, and I’m sure I’ll remember it forever.

Gameworks

sonic championship

Today I discovered that Gameworks in Las Vegas is a great arcade! We went there to play Pac-Man Battle Royale, an awesome cocktail cabinet featuring 4-player versus Pac-Man action. I won the first time we played, but gem beat me the second.
We also ran into Sonic Championship, the Sonic fighting game! I never expected to run into one of those. It looks sort of like Virtua Fighter (yeah, bad) and has a story with a strange continuity issue; you’re trying to collect the eight Chaos Emeralds. Anyways, it was actually pretty fun. Whenever you get hit, rings fly out too! gem beat me. 🙁
They also had Sonic-themed air hockey! Hell yes! Sadly, she beat me at this too. Lastly, we played some Mario Kart Arcade GP. Unfortunately gem’s unit’s camera didn’t work. I got 3/4 and gem got 4/4. We sucked!
All of this cost us only $7, which wasn’t bad considering they were all some rare games and it cost $2 just for the game card. I wish we had some of those games closer to home!
I’ll always remember this arcade… because I just might have bought a Sonic toy to take home. The cashier asked, “do you have a Sonic fan at home? If you want to write down his email, we can send the Sonic catalogue.” No, no Sonic fan at home. He’s right here. And yes, I’ll take your catalogue!

The Freakin’ Frog



The Freakin’ Frog, originally uploaded by theuser.

The Freakin’ Frog. Oh my god. It was amazing. No one (include the cabbie) had heard of it. It looked like a little hole-in-the-wall joint from the outside but we were pleased with the bar inside. Upstairs it had a whisky attic that was unmarked. You have to ask about it to be taken up there, and it boasts the largest selection of whisky in the United States. It was cool to see, but we didn’t buy anything.
Okay, the food! First we had the chips, and they were fantastic. Checking out the bar, we found that the two bartenders do all the cooking themselves right there at the bar in a small deep-fryer and grill at the bar. They cut the tortillas and fried them right there!
We were warned a bunch about how hot the chili was, so of course we ordered chili cheese fries. It was so good! Yeah, it was a bit spicy, but still safely in "white people spicy" levels, not Asian or Mexican spicy. I ordered the BBQ pulled chicken sandwich, which was fantastic, and I had some maple bacon steak as well that was pretty damn tasty and nicely medium rare. I also had a bite of Devin’s fish sandwich that was good.
The food was amazing. I very highly recommend eating here if you’re ever in Vegas!
But there was more than the food! We asked about some beers that weren’t on the menu, and our waitress, Jenny, asked if we wanted to see the beer cooler. Remember how the Freakin’ Frog had the largest selection of whisky in the United States? It apparently also has the largest beer collection in the Western United States. The cooler was huge and packed with beers, and Jenny stood there in shorts easily discussing beers while I shivered in jeans!
We were told that they have live music every night, and while we were enjoying our beers a three-person acoustic band set up on stage. They played soft rock covers and while they were nothing special, I always enjoy live bands.
After talking with Jenny more, we found that the owner, Adam Carmer, was her professor at UNLV. Despite her never having witnessed Adam finish a drink, he’s a beer a whisky connoisseur. Jenny was a lot of fun, and Jack, the biker-looking, large bearded bartender was pretty friendly and awesome.
The pricing on the beer on tap was average, but some of the rarer beers in the cooler were pricey. The food was absolutely amazing and very cheap though. Combine this with the superb service and atmosphere and you get a great bar to which I’m definitely going to return.

The rest of the weekend



The rest of the weekend, originally uploaded by theuser.

Saturday afternoon was time for Texas Hold’em! I didn’t really want to play anything at a table, so I hung out with them and watched, betting on who would do well. Pretty much no one. Mike ended up with some money left though!
John had driven to the casino, so when we decided to go back to his casino, Hooters, we all walked while he drove. We never did make it. It’s like a magical casino that can cloak itself I guess. We stopped somewhere else after getting lost and just started drinking. When it was time for dinner, we headed to the Freakin’ Frog!
(I wrote about the amazing bar here, but it got so long that I’ve cropped it into its own post. Super great though!)
After dinner and drinks, we drove back to the Flamingo, hid from some cops, etc. Devin may have mooned the camera in front of a cop car. Back in someone’s room, we drank a bit and hung out even though the girls trashed the room completely. Oh, and a guy I didn’t know very well showed us a body part that I didn’t really want to see. 🙁
I was pretty tired, but Alex was up for more, so Alex, Mike (awesome guy by the way), gem and me walked the strip for hours!
When we got back, I took a nice bath and then went to sleep around sunrise!
On Sunday, gem and I watched the fountains at the Bellagio before heading to the M&M World Store. We bought some for us and a bag for Alex and Darnell in their wedding colors. Then we went to the MGM to see the lions! They were cute and napping! We played some penny slots because we like Lobster Mania. It took our dollars, but then… ta da! gem won $6! Amazing! But then we realized we lost the M&Ms 🙁
My grandparents picked us up and we went to Ta Ta’s, a Japanese restaurant for dinner. We ate with Uncle Rocco, my cousin Akira, and her friend. Afterwards we stopped by my great-grandmother’s house and then my grandparents’. We scratched Tilly’s (their tortoise) chin and looked at some of their various souvenirs from countries they’ve visited. I also saw my grandfather’s expanded collection of gems he’s found, cut, and polished and the award he’s won. It’s really impressive! I hope I do as many great things as they have. Oh, and I also saw his huge collection of DS games. He plays every night and has beaten most of his collection. He gave me Flower Sun and Rain (a Suda51 game) and Mystery Tales.
We went back to the M&M store, made our purchases a second time, and then checked out the Coke store. They had a soda bar! It was amazing! I do happen to love soda. We tried the World Tour sampler of Coke products from around the world. It was pretty interesting! Then we met back up with the guys for more drinks and adventures across the strip!
This morning we were going to head out, but I decided to check for Pac-Man Battle Royale locations. Turns out it was at Gameworks on the strip! We checked out, walked down there, and was amazed the arcade. I’ll post that separately too!
Anyways, some drama happened between a few people, and Daniel was left without a ride back to CA. He was going to have to fly back or rent a car, and we couldn’t have that! He’s with us in the car right now. We stopped at Peggy Sue’s for lunch and are now about an hour from home. Lunch wasn’t too special, but the burger with ham and pineapple was tasty.
And that’s the end of my weekend!