Hellboy II: The Golden Army Teaser

New Year’s Eve

I believe this is the first year in a long time that New Year’s Eve plans for my friends and I have been laid out well in advance. And by “well in advance” I mean more than a week in advance. This is how New Year’s Eve plans are usually made in my circle of friends, usually a day or two before.

Bhavik: So what do you wanna do for New Year’s?
Me: I dunno, what do YOU wanna do for New Year’s?
Bhavik: I dunno. There’s a party at this place. And then this person was saying something about a party at that place.
Me: Hmm. Yeah. My cousin told me about some party over here and then my one friend was saying something about a party over there.
Bhavik: Hmm. Well I’ll call some people and see what they want to do.
Me: Yeah, I’ll do the same and then we’ll figure it out from there.
Bhavik: Cool. I’ll talk to ya later.
Me: Later.

And then we end up at some party that we don’t really want to be at. Reminds of the scene in Swingers where Jon Favreau is bitching about how all the parties they go to suck. But to be fair, we do have fun for the most part.

So what’s going on this year? My Myspace bulletins are flooded with fliers for the desi parties that are going on that night, but I’m really not interested in desi parties for New Year’s Eve. Not that there’s anything wrong with them. I went to one years back and it was a lot of fun. I went with a good group of people, all of whom I don’t even talk to anymore, and I was lucky enough to have the doorman misread my ID and give me a 21+ wristband for the bar even though I was 19(holy shit, it really was that long ago) and didn’t have to worry about having this person or that person buy me drinks. But I don’t think I’d ever willingly go back to a desi party for New Year’s Eve, due to the fact that I don’t like to repeat New Year’s Eve plans. A few years back my friends and I went to a party in the same place two years in a row. The first year it was a lot of fun. The second year, not so much. It makes sense though. A whole year later, as a totally different person you’re trying to emulate the situation and emotions from the year before. Not gonna happen. Last year was a lot of fun. I spent it with a few of my cousins and the girl I would be seeing for the next few months.

This year I decided to just skip that whole decision making process and make my own plans independent of my friends. Back in October, they announced that The Mars Volta would be performing in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve. I don’t know many people who like that band, but I love them and couldn’t think of a better way to spend New Year’s Eve. So I bought two tickets and my New Year’s plans were set.

Or so I thought. A month later I was talking to someone who is very near and dear to me and she said that she’s been wanting to go to Times Square for New Year’s Eve. The concert which I had been so excited about before became little more than an afterthought and the next day I bought a ticket to NYC. I’ve said I would like to do the Times Square thing as well, but realistically, being on the West Coast and most of the people I know in New York going home for the holidays, I didn’t ever really see it happening. The Times Square New Year’s Eve party was something that would remain on my television while getting ready to go out for my own New Year’s Eve with my friends here. And in a split second, that conversation took it off the telly and made it into a reality. See the power that words have? Thanks jaAN! That could be your slogan, if you had one. “jaAN: Making dreams into reality.” So yeah, this year ends and the new one begins in NY for me. I’m pretty excited.

So what happens to The Mars Volta concert? I gave the tickets to my sister and her friend for their respective birthdays and my sister gets her first New Year’s Eve outing. Not only that, but I found out through my friend that his friend is going to the concert as well. I think that made him more keen on wanting to go, and the lucky bastard ended up winning tickets for it on the radio yesterday. So with a good sized group of people going to that, it may be easier to convince the rest of our friends to go. That’s pretty funny. The concert which I had planned on going to with my sister because I didn’t think any of my friends would want to go now looks like it’s going to be what my friends do to while I jet off to NY. That seed grew into a nice sized tree. Way to go Ashish! Do I feel a little remorse over the fact that a bunch of people close to me are going to the concert now? Not even a little. I wouldn’t give up my plans for anything. When am I going to get to do something like this again? As much as I don’t like to admit it, my 20s are almost over and later on I wouldn’t enjoy it as I would now. That’s not to say I wouldn’t enjoy it if I went when I was older, but it would definitely be in a different way. So on that note…

HELLOOOOOOOOO NEEEWWWWW YOOOOOOOORK!

Vagina Beans

The subject of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans was among the topics of discussion between my friends and I last night during our weekly viewing of Dexter. Yes, we sit around watching a television show about a serial killer and talk about Harry Potter while we’re at it. I suggested that it would be a great idea if they added a vagina flavored jelly bean to the line. I wonder if they take suggestions for flavors at the Jelly Belly factory near UC Davis. Probably wouldn’t be the best idea to vocally express that during the tour as I would be with my mom, since she’s the one who wants to go so bad.

It’s time to open up….

I think it’s time to open up my head and let my sick and twisted thoughts out. For too long I’ve kept them inside, out of fear for what others might think, how they might look at me, how they may take offense at what goes on in my head. And who knows, maybe the inside of my mind is not as sick and twisted as I think it is, and people won’t look at me weird for expressing any of it. But most likely they will. Yeah, it’s time to just start saying whatever the fuck I want. When we start buying into this “don’t say something because it might offend some people” bullshit then we really are paving the way for our individual rights to be taken away. I think it was Cliff who said that this generation is becoming a generation of pansies. I’m inclined to agree with him in some respects, the point I’m making being one of them. And yes, as someone who knows how to wield them, I know that words have extreme power. They can create, they can destroy. But they are just words. Since they exist in the realm of the mind, the only effect they have on you is the effect you choose to let them have on you. Get some thicker skin, read some more books and learn how to use them, dodge them, work with them, deflect them, absorb them, etc. Because I’m coming out swinging with words.