As the second month of 2020 inches towards its end, what was I up to this past week? I would like to apologize in advance if Monday is quite long winded, I was trying something new this week. If it’s not clear, I abandoned that format around the middle of the week. Let me know what you think anyways.
MONDAY
Waking up at 7 am is tricky when you got to sleep late because the iced coffee you had earlier (at 6 pm) is keeping you awake. Oh, and YouTube on your phone as well… Why was I awake at 7 am? If you guessed that I had a job interview, then you guessed — wrong.
I was up to join Emmanuel on some errands. I was glad to be out of the house this day cause my dad called around 10 am to let me know that the roofing crew was there to work on the house. I’ll get to that a bit later, but our first stop was a vet in Norco. We were there to drop off Emmanuel’s rabbit, Marshmallow. Prior to this day, I was not aware that rabbit’s teeth grow, I imagine similar to other rodents now that I think about it. Marshmallow was not able to eat properly due to his large teeth and needed to get them trimmed. His procedure would take a few hours as he would need to go under, then after his procedure, would need to be cleared by the vet to be released home.
Emmanuel and I took this time to head back to Ontario to check out a store that possibly sold animal pens and other furniture. We arrived only to be disappointed that it only referenced school furniture now and it was closed. Who knew that certain places would be closed on President’s Day… We also stopped by another location in Ontario for a hair cut but they were closed on Mondays. Side note: I have been looking around for a different barber/hair stylist for a few weeks now. Next on the list: Walmart. We were there to pick up some feed for Marshmallow as well as peruse the video game/technology section. Not much to see, besides locked-up merchandise and some RGB LED strips. 5/10.
VISITING [REDACTED]
We then headed off to [redacted], although after speaking with [redacted], we decided to stop somewhere for breakfast (lunch at this point, it was close to noon). I let [redacted] know that we were stopping at Denny’s. If we knew that they were understaffed that day, we would have gone to another location nearby, or Wendy’s. Our waitress however was quite honest and attended us even though she needed to take her break. The other waiter she left us with on the other hand, was not as great. Our food did arrive soon after we placed our orders, but we had already been seated for over 40 minutes when the food came out. We both ordered the Beyond burger. 8/10. If I could have chosen between Beyond and Impossible, I would have chosen the Impossible Burger, try one if you get the opportunity.
After breakfast lunch, we finally made our way over to [redacted]. The activity we did from 12:30pm – 2:30 pm can not be disclosed due to nature of said activity and other parties involved. Maybe in a separate post in a few months once it’s old news.
Emmanuel was notified that we could go pick up Marshmallow just after 4 pm. His procedure was successful. We still had some time to pass after leaving [redacted], so we headed back to his place to unload the car. We rested for a bit before heading out to Norco again.
“DIEGO ENTERED CHAT”
On our way back, Diego reached out to go grab dinner somewhere, then walk around Barnes and Noble. We met up at Emmanuel’s house since we had to drop off Marshmallow in the process. Once Diego arrived, we sat around for a bit while deciding what exactly what we would be eating. I should really be taking more pictures of food for this right? If you ever find yourself in Ontario, California, near Ontario High School, they please do yourself a favor and visit LA Express Chinese Food.
We carpooled over to LA Express, and dined in as we were in no rush. Afterwards, we dropped Emmanuel off and headed off to Barnes & Noble. I was able to purchase a copy of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001 A Space Odyssey.
TUESDAY
So one bit I left out on Monday was that the roof was being torn out and re-shingled. I don’t quite recall when I woke up but I know that we had plans this day to visit Kiki out in Moreno Valley. I was awake early and made a few soft boiled eggs for later.
ROAD TRIP
Robert joined us on this trip, and offered to shuttle us all over to Kiki’s place. The last time we visited was three years ago on the 4th of July. Somehow Rob was able to remember the street and exit that lead us to Kiki’s. Emmanuel rode shotgun and Diego and I had the pleasure of riding in the back seat, which was not too bad. On the agenda: baked goods, lunch, and a trip to the mall (kind of).
On our visit, Kiki had baked some rather interesting cake cookies. There were chocolate chips in them. She didn’t think too fondly of them, but they were delicious. I had brought along a copy of our year book to make some conversation as well. The night before, I had mentioned to Diego that I’d bring it along so we could gossip discuss what had happened in the last few years since graduating. I won’t detail what was said, but some stuff was really eye opening and provided a different look at what was going on back in high school and the years that followed after. We then set out to find a place to eat since Rob had mentioned that he did not have lunch at work.
It’s possible that we might have found competition to Corky’s, but it’s a ways out of Ontario. Polly’s Pies in Moreno Valley had quite the selection of food and a very inviting atmosphere. Usually the hostess just seats you, then the waitress takes over, but the hostess was very involved in the process. We all had a burger with the exception being Kiki, she had a club sandwich. My combo came with a slice of apple crisp, however, it never arrived after I finished. When I brought it to the waitress’ attention, she was quick to rectify the situation and even brought us a slice of cherry pie. 8/10
ROUND ONE, FIGHT?
After Polly’s, we went over to the Moreno Valley Mall to browse and visit Round One. We visited a few stores and fought the urge to spend at Bath and Body Works. We also decided that visiting Round One would have to wait due to the time. Rob needed to sleep since he wakes up early for work. We got back to Ontario around 7 pm.
WEDNESDAY
Waking up at 9 am, getting out of bed at 11 am, texting with [redacted], Watching Twitch and Discord with friends. Gym at 10 pm. ROOFING WORK. That’s it, that’s the whole day.
THURSDAY
Basically Wednesday part II. However, I did have breakfast with Liza, an old coworker and friend. We settled on In-n-Out since we were in the area and it was probably the fastest thing to grab and go. We visited [redacted] for an hour or two before heading back home.
“WHEN YOU’RE HERE, YOU’RE FAMILY”
Back home, I basically changed and went out again with Diego for dinner. Some how the Sonic movie last week inspired us to visit and partake in their Never Ending Pasta special, although the twist was that they were stuffed pastas. We had the most amazing waitress, Chloe, who was on top of everything the entire time. She was quick to check in and get our next serving to the table as soon as it was assembled in the kitchen.
Honestly, I felt that something more than pasta was being served that night. I skipped the gym due to our dinner, I was not about to work out on a full stomach or stay up too late, even though I did… Diego had gone in the morning if I was not mistaken. I went to bed at 4 am.
FRIDAY
Honestly, What Happened On Friday? I remember waking up and hung out with Vanessa. We drove out to Fullerton looking for a breakfast spot (we’re both indecisive), but we settled on the Iron Skillet in Ontario. We were intent on grabbing breakfast, but were already well into the lunch hour.
I was probably not in the best head space this day, but the partly cloudy weather was quite pleasant. We ran a few errands, which I won’t disclose due to the nature of them and I’m sure my other sister wouldn’t want that on here, but I stayed home after all that. Later that night, Diego and I hit the gym. The Olive Garden from the day prior was still acting up. It was probably the quantity of those never ending bowls, or the cheese.
SATURDAY
Saturday morning was comparable to the previous mornings this past week; however, I woke up to shower quickly and hit the gym. Why would I shower before going to the gym you might ask? Well if you guess (or read the part above on Friday), I did not shower after the gym because I was dead tired. Sue me I know. I was up and out of bed by 8:30 am.
In my mind, I was honestly not looking forward to visiting the gym in the morning/daytime hours as I knew there would be more people present. I then also reminded myself of why I was going and pretty much knew that everyone there was not going to judge others. Granted, I never know what to expect most days, most people don’t.
After the gym, sometime around 11 am, I was back home, doing absolutely nothing. Well, I say nothing because it was one of those days that I did not feel like doing much. Well maybe go bowling. I jumped into the shower again after tidying up my room and finishing a load of laundry. Around 4 pm, I began to entertain the idea of going bowling. Diego was open to the idea and began to look around. We were close to going, but a few factors shelved the outing. First: the Groupon we purchased to visit a local alley was not valid until 24 hours after the purchase. Second: our friends we invited were not available or in town.
A NIGHT IN AND SOME RAIN
We settled on just heading out to acquire some drinks and food. To my surprise, it had started raining in our area. I was aware of the forecast, but did not fully expect rain since it missed it’s arrival late last night. If you don’t know me in person, I am possibly the worst person to ask where to eat. I am glad to know that most of my friends are also as indecisive as I am at times. We had two places in mind after some back and forth: BevMo!, then Raising Canes. We bought some provision at BevMo, then grabbed two Box combos at Canes. The rain ceased just before arriving back at my place.
We spent the rest of the evening watching live-streams on Twitch and chilling with Kiki on Discord. By midnight, the provisions had run dry, but a phone call to my sister earlier was quick to replenish that. Around 1:30 am we called it. I was not in bed until sometime after 2 am.
Check back next week for more, and let me know what you think on Twitter. Thanks.