Went to the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach last Sunday to see Jay Leno's comedy act...  it was my first time seeing live stand-up and I highly recommend it to anyone.  Josephine and I were lucky enough to be seated in the very front row.  We were so close to the stage that I could literally reach out and touch Jay's shoes. During the show we even had a brief exchange with Mr. Leno, went something like this:

Jay (to me): What do you do sir?

Me: I'm a CPA.

Jay (to Jos):  And what do you do?

Jos:  I am also an accountant.

Jay: Well, that must have been one hell of a prenuptial agreement, huh?!

I didn't have the heart to tell him we weren't married.  Anyway it was pretty awesome.

On a side note, I finally signed up for the gym on Friday (24 Hour Fitness).  You're about to witness a transformation like you've never seen!  People will see me on the beach and think, "he must be a model for Calvin Klein underwear."  They will be shocked to find out that I'm only the world's most ripped tax accountant.

Saw Disney Princess' on Ice Show today with my uncle, aunt, mom, and grandparents.  I wouldn't have chosen it myself but it actually wasn't half bad.  Made me realize that my dreams as a young princess can one day come true.

Woke up at 1:40 in the afternoon today... that's got to stop or I'm going to have jet lag by the time work starts again.  Gotta make most out of my days off ya know.

I never realized how much I love reading lists and rankings.  I spent a good hour last on usnews.com reading about this year's Best Careers, Top Graduate Schools and Best SUVs.  There's something you get from looking at rankings that's so meaningful.  Maybe I'm just a "numbers" person, but I think rankings can help you assess your own status quo and strive for better quality of life.  Speaking of lists, here's a list of things I'd like to accomplish in my 11 days off:

1. Clean my room.  I need to take all my old clothes, books and toys collecting dust to the Salvation Army.

2. Do 2 month's worth of expense reports from work so my AmEx card does not get frozen... again.

3. Do work from home if I have time.  I have a memo to write and an online training to take.

4. Finish reading my 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  Self-help books are often eye-opening and always interesting to read.  They are such a good deal because you get insights and tips that, in some instances, took the author a lifetime to accumulate and all you have to is pick up his/her book to make them your own.

5. Hang out with family and meet up with as many friends as possible.

6. Watch the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, compliments of Josephine's apartment being literally one block away from the parade route.

7. SNOWBOARD TRIP w/ my new snowboard, bindings and boots! Yayee yayee!

8. Play Mario Party 8 and Cranium WOW Edition every opportunity possible until my fingers fall numb and my brain gets fried.

9. Take pictures to capture all happy memories before I return to work on January 2...

10. ANYTHING ELSE?!?

"Cheaters never prosper."

Does anyone in the world really believe that?  Maybe I'm an evil person but that's the biggest load of BS I've ever heard.  If you can cheat and get away with it and no one ever found out, wouldn't you do it?

Let's say you are playing Blackjack in Vegas.  Unbeknownst to the table dealer, he is standing in front of a window that bears a slight reflection, just enough for you to make out what he's holding.  Some people might be compelled to let the dealer know.  Let's say you're not one of those people and you play at the table for 3 hours straight, racking up a cool $5,000 in winnings (let's not be greedy).  Then you walk away to enjoy your favorite buffet and no one ever found out.  How did you not just prosper?

I had a summer intern working for me who told me an interesting story about how she won a car in a drawing.  She was walking in the mall with her mom and came across a sweepstakes to win a brand new Mercedes Benz sedan, a couple of days before her 18th birthday.  So they each filled out a form and thought nothing of it.  A couple of weeks later, she receives a call from the contest officials - her name had to been drawn to win the car!  Unfortunately, at the time she filled out the form she was still 17 and contest rules stipulate that you have be 18 to play.  Even though she had actually turned 18 at the time of the call, she was disqualified.  For a teenage girl to win a car and then lose it on a technicality, that must have been the biggest bummer ever.  Now, let's say she turn back the hands of time to when she was filling out that form.  Let's say that she lies and puts an earlier birth date on the form.  Couple of weeks later she wins the car, and no one bothers to check her actual birthday.  Somehow I doubt that she would be huddled in the corner of her bedroom, contemplating the ethics of her decision.  She would be estatic that she won a car and got away with a technicality!  She prospers big time!

Floyd Landis, winner of the 103rd Tour de France, tested positive for a high ratio of testosterone last month and will probably lose his victory.  When he won that race and stood to receive his trophey and worldwide acknowledgement, that must have been the most memorable moment in his life.  If his steroid use was never exposed, do you think that his moment of victory would have been any less significant to him?  Maybe somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that it was not a clean victory.  But he would probably have justified it by thinking, "I would probably have won anyway" or "I'm sure others were hitting the steroids too, I couldn't be disadvantaged."  Point is, Mr. Landis would probably be basking in his glory right now if he hadn't been caught.  So overwhelmed by success and international acclaimation, he would not have given cheating a second thought.  Now he is totally screwed.

I think cheaters proper more often than not.  There are only two main instances when they don't prosper.

1. When they get caught (like Mr. Landis above)

2. In the long run.  Sometimes, in the long run a cheater may live to regret it.  Take high school SATs for instance.  The SATs are supposed to be a measure of how well a person will do in his freshman year in college.  I know more than a couple of people who cheated on their SATs.  I didn't cheat on my SATs but frankly, if that opportunity were there, I would have jumped on it faster than a fat kid on cake!  Heck yeah, why not?!  I was like any other high school junior who desperately wanted admission to a college of choice.  It wasn't until a couple of years later when I realized that the SATs do serve a meaningful purpose.  Based on your score, it tells you more or less which colleges you'd be most comfortable at academically.  A person scoring in the 1,300s would probably fare better in a U.C. than someone who scored in the 1,000s.  A person scoring in the 1,300s would probably struggle in Yale where the average score is 1,500.  (The new SATs are scored out of 2,400 but I took them when the best was 1,600.)

A potential cheater on the SATs might reason, what's the big deal if I cheated on a couple of verbal analogies and math problems?  I could very well have gotten lucky and guessed the same right answers.  If I could just get 100 more points, I would have a better shot at getting into my college.  That's probably what thousands of juniors thought as they peered over their nerdy friends' shoulders.  Most never got caught and got into "better" schools than they were suited for.  The result?  Some of these cheaters were actually pretty smart and adapted to the challenge.  But I'm willing to bet that most who cheated found themselves with a crowd of people that they didn't belong.  They found themselves at the bottom of the curve in class and had to work longer and harder just to keep up.  Some eventually had to give up.  You see so in the long run, some hurt themselves by cheating.

I didn't do horribly on my SATs.  My target school was U.C.L.A.  Those bastards in admissions never gave me a chance.  In retrospect, I am so glad I did not have a nerdy friend to cheat off of, because I totally would have done it.  Who knows where I'd be today...?

I have a crapload of work consuming me like an avalanche.  

Everyone deals with stress differently.  For me, I've always been able to deal with most stress as long as I can have something to look forward to.  Sometimes, light at the end of the tunnel is natural.  For example, when you pull all-nighters during finals, you can take refuge in the fact that summer vacation is around the corner.  Or when you were little and you had to endure your aunt pinching the life out of your cheeks, you can bank on the fact that she probably will slip you a twenty later for being her favorite nephew. 

As I am sitting at here work with piles of paperwork, I realized that I needed to make a list of the upcoming events that I can take temporary refuge in:

1. Within 1 week. I will receive in the mail my new Canon SD800, 7.1 megapixel digital camera.

2. September 12.  Dodger game w/ client service team (complimentary of course!).  Hotdog Eating Contest - my kind of contest!!!  And free Dodger Dollars!  I love going to the game

3. October 25 - 30.  Orlando, Florida.  Four full days at Disneyworld Resort and related parks... time to experience the Disney magic.

4. Thanksgiving weekend.  San Francisco baby!  Visit Alcatraz Island, Union Square and much, much more.  Quality time with the Chu Family.  There's something special about this city, it's like a mini New York.

5. Sometime December.  Club 33, Disneyland.  Got the hookups through work to secure a nice dinner reservation in this exclusive restaurant.  Also comes with 1-day park-hopper tickets.   

6. All of December.  This is my favorite month.  I basically work only one week this month.  I spend another work at training, and the rest of it is vacation.

7. Sometime soon I hope.  Jonathan is supposed to be keeping his eye out for good desktop deals.  He is my tech consultant, and quite a good one at that.  Once he gives me the green light, I will buy my first new computer since 2002.

Whoa, haven't Xanga'ed for over a year.  Time to update my invisible faithful readers on my life.

For the past year and a half or so, I've been studying for the CPA exam.  Actually, it was more like half a year of actual studying and a year of procrastination.  It was the most miserable time of my life but thank God, I finally passed all parts in June.  WHOO HOO!!!  Although, I thought that once the exam was done, I'd have a lot more time to myself after work.  Haven't figured out what "after work" consists of yet outside of 1) Hi mom! 2) Brush teeth and 3) Pass out.

My job - it's not so bad.  The days fly by and most of my coworkers are more or less pretty cool.  It's mainly the quantity of work plus the added stress that makes it a kick in the groin.  Come to think of it, most of you haven't the slightest clue what I do.  The extent of your knowledge is probably David does taxes, his best friend is the ten-key and he files a crapload of returns on April 15.  Not the most accurate assessment, but I'll spare you a detailed explanation of what I actually do.  I'm not that evil and I won't bore you, my only faithful Xanga reader, to death.

So what now, you ask?  I actually need three more classes to get enough units for my CPA license.  Arif and I are taking planning to enroll at El Camino College - just like old times when we'd take summer school at the local JC.  Any time remaining between work and El Co will be spent exercising, playing Wii, BBQ-ing, traveling, hanging out… everything I had to hold off on for the past couple of years.  And after I've finally exhausted myself with all the fun, then I'll consider putting myself through more pain and suffering in grad school.  Either law school or business school. 

So there you have it.  The past two years and the year to come in a nutshell.

One a side note, here are some things I wish to purchase:

1.      PrisonBreak (Season 2).  Can we say BEST SHOW EVER?!?!?  The series should have ended in Season 2 but the show was such a mega hit, they decided to extend it a third season.  All I can say is, it better not go down.

2.      Desktop computer w/ 22" flat screen.  For games and just because.

3.      New digital camera.  Current Cannon camera has been dependable and has served me well but is already six years old and only boasts 2 mega-pixels.

4.      Digital camcorder.  Always thought it was interesting and often priceless to look back on footage you took years ago.  I'm so nostalgic.

5.      BBQ grill.  So I can be the master chef of my own backyard.  Carcinogenetics, here I come.

6.      Bike.  Nothing will replace the sensation of riding in UCSB.  I'll try to recreate the feeling by riding to Redondo Beach.

I ran across this link while checking out a buddy's xanga:

http://futureme.org

It's a website that allows you to write an e-mail to yourself and receive it some time in the future at your discretion. Actually I remember doing this exercise when I was in 7th grade. Our teacher had us write a letter to ourselves and she promised that in eight years or so, she would send the letter back to us. Of course I forgot all it until last year, when I received a letter addressed to myself in the mail. A light immediately went off in my head as I recognized my 7th grade handwriting. Enthusiastically I tore open the envelope and what do I find? 

A stupid random picture I drew and a list of names which I listed as "friends".

Dammit, just like me to be not following directions... I didn't write anything insightful or any goals that I could now measure myself against. It was quite disappointing to say the least, but funny I guess that I was drawing during English class.

Now that I've grown up and exponentially matured, I wrote an e-mail to myself, scheduled to be sent exactly one year from today. In the e-mail, I attached a funny digital picture and included a list of my favorite people at work!!! WHOO HOO!!

All kidding aside, here is what I really wanted to share with you guys. There's a link in that FutureMe website that allows you to view what random people have written to themselves (you can chose for your letter to be for public viewing). Going through some letters, this one really struck a cord...

**************************

Dear FutureMe,

You need to be reminded of who you are, and how you got here. You were less than nothing. You were a drunkard. You were a pothead. You were messed up, alone, dead and defeated. You got to the point where that wonderful euphoria of being stoned out of your mind couldn't overcome the hatred you had for yourself.

After a week of barely eating or sleeping, just staying up at night and trembling (you didn't know why), you finally called your mom for help. All you got out was, "I'm never happy." She freaked out and flew to Pittsburgh to be with you. You got checked in to see a psychiatrist. After the first visit, you knew she wasn't going to be able to help you.

Sitting at home, you knew you couldn't do what you wanted to do, it would kill your mom, and you came to the realization that you had to live like this the rest of your life. It seemed impossible. Then the phone rang. You hadn't answered it in weeks. You picked it up, and it was Candace, who you hadn't talked to in years. She asked how you were, and amazingly, you told her the truth. She told you the only way you were going to get through this is Jesus Christ. Suddenly you remembered why you hadn't spoken in years. But this time you just listened. She asked you if you wanted to say the sinner's prayer with her, so you said you would, for her sake. You finally agreed to go to church with her, and you hung up thinking about those words, how great it would be if they were true, and it was that easy.

You don't remember anything about the church service that night, you just remember afterward. After a cordial hello, how are you, the pastor asked if you wanted to get filled with the Holy Ghost. You didn't know what that meant, and all you could think of was getting out of there. You said no. He said, "Do you want to be rid of all that pain?" What the heck? What do you say to that? You didn't say anything, and he took that as a "yes."

The pastor went through all the scriptures with you about speaking in tongues. After two failed attempts, finally you let go of all the doubt in your head, and gave in to the possibility that what he's saying, and what Candace had always said, and what's in the bible, could be true. You surrendered, and immediately you got filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke in a new tongue.

You walked out of that room knowing there is a God, knowing who you were and why you're here. You left a new person. Literally, born again.

Today you're 10 years old in the Lord. Remember who you are. Left to yourself, you are less than nothing, dead and defeated. In Christ, and only in Christ, you are alive, and loved, and more than a conquerer.

-Kristin77

*********************************

Merry Christmas everybody.

So it's 6:30 and I'm ready to go home from work.. but I have to wait for my carpool buddy to wrap up so why not post another entry.

What's new what's new...

Last week my business group (State and Local Taxes) went out to a bar in downtown LA to bid a manager farewell because he was transferring to the New York office. There were about fifteen of us gathered around this table and everybody was laughing and having a good time. The bar was dark and noisy, like most bars.

After a while the appetizers came so I was like finally some food, I'm starving. So I reach for the chips in the middle of the table and I thought wow, these are some really soggy chips. And as I'm feeling around the plate for a less soggy chip, I find a piece of chicken. So I took it and ate it.

Well it turns out that what I thought were chips was actually someone's chicken casear salad. But not just any chicken casear salad, but  a senior manager's chicken salad. How did my stupid ass finally realize you ask? Well the senior manager was sitting right across from me the whole time. He's like, "David, what the HELL are you doing with my salad."

As if I wasn't hazed enough in my office for being the youngest and newest associate... now everyone's got another story to tell on my expense. And to wrap up the night, my mentor announced at the top of his lungs so the whole bar could hear, "David, I'm going to have to write this in your evaluation. If you're going to be rude and eat someone else's food, at least use a fork!"

I think he was a little buzzed.

On a side note, Happy Birthday Jonathan!!! Come back Jon!

Solving this jigsaw puzzle and posting about this sweepstakes for Big Red makes me eligible for free Xanga Premium for life...