Happy Birthday to Two of Our Frenemies

There are two birthdays to celebrate today with wishes going out to Beetchie and CLee.

CLee, we did not get you a prezzie, much less a prezzie of some smug Apple product.

Beetchie, I am too lazy to go take a picture of your prezzie to post it on the blog.

We're wonderful frenemies, aren't we?

Happy Birthday!

Happy Pi Day!

Was your 3.14 day actually happy for you guys?

Our day was not because we did not eat pie today.  How we managed to let that happen is beyond me and disheartening.

Pie less on pie day is not how we want to greet the Ides of March.

This does not bode well for us.

I at least hope that CLee is wearing his shirt I bought him this day.  Are you, CLEE?! Hmmm?!?!

Ridiculous Sightings in Retail: Key Jobs and Pancakes

Since 2012, the HOchieS have been putting people out of a job.

We're heartless bastards but can you really blame us or the crazy automatic key maker we found in Lowes?

The Great 2011 Frenemies' Visit, Part III: Asshattery and Blokus

If there was one thing we did a lot of during Thanksgiving week, was play Blokus.  Budgie and Angelo introduced us to Blokus Jr. when they bought Boohead a copy of the game for his birthday.

We all were hooked on Blokus Jr. and after playing two players for a few days during the Frenemies' visit, Luuuuiiiisssss and everyone decided that a 10 p.m. run to Walmart was in order to get the full, adult version of Blokus.

The keyword here is that it was the 'adult' version.

The Great 2011 Frenemies' Visit, Part II: Seminar

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving it rained and put a damper on our plans.  Ha! Sorry, I could not help myself.

The rain was pretty intense but off Clee and I went to meet up with Pandy, Jilly and Pandy Incarnate of Evilness (True story - PIE is wickedness and we love him plenty!), spend time at Nintendo World, eat at Shake Shack and then to drop some culture on Clee's ass at 7 p.m.

The Great 2011 Frenemies' Visit, Part I: It's Love

Thanksgiving week seems as if it was ages ago.  We were fortunate to have some of the frenemies visit NYC that week and as per usual, it flew by.

It's awesome enough when frenemies hang out but it's twice as awesome when they bring you goodies and oh the goodies they brought.

A handful of tunnocks? Yes, please.

Reminder: Must go over there and eat last one before Luuuiiiissss gets to it.

A box full of fudge? Indeed.  And thanks.

Reminder: Inquire as to whereabouts of the fudge.

A plethora of multi-coloured and flavoured rums? Uh... yeah... why...not..?  Rum is always welcome.  The radioactive green one though? Huh.  It certainly makes my life (and cabinet) brighter!

And maybe my insides brighter too? Huh.

Happy Birthday, Bs!

Today, the HOchieS are wishing Clee and Beetchie a fine day full of Birthday cheer and Birthday beer, respectively. 

Sorry this is so late but you know, I forgot.  Bwahahahaha.  Just kidding.

Lots of love!

Just For You: A Message For CLee

Dearest CLee,

I've been thinking of you much these days.

Maybe it's due to the fact that I have not called you in some months now?

Whatever it is, I miss you plenty.  But then again, I always do.

I am writing to let you know that I got you...a preeessseeennnnttt.

It's nothing grand but along with your Blog-Away Prize, remind me to give it to you when I see you soon.

I wonder what it could be...hmmm.

Lots of love,

Or 2.

Currently listening to: "Oni Island" by Masami Ueda, from the Okami Original Soundtrack.  Great game.  Can't wait for Okamiden.

Blog-away II

Hello Frenemies!

I have a bit of an update on the Round I activities.

So far, I thank those of you who have commented - they're all really fabulous and have H1 and I rolling around with laughter.

There are '4' more people left to comment but Gen'Frien' informed me that she's not really funny and I informed her that that's due to the fact that she's not a hateful biatch like the rest of us.
Then I was told by X today that after Beetchie's comment, she was not sure she could compete this round.
 

Being the clever bunch that you are, I logged in this evening to find two more great ones and now H1 and I are having a difficult time choosing a winner of that lot and goodness knows what's going to happen when Frass and MC have a crack at it...IF they have a crack at it.

It's Day II of the Blog-away but I am having a hard time choosing the next photo for one particular reason.
 
As you all know, The HOchieS are not really fans of putting ourselves or our friends out there on the internet in pictures.  However, some of the photos are just nothing without the expression on your faces.  I can draw bao heads to capture the moment but my drawings are terrible and more than likely will not do most of those things justice.
 
So, I have a proposal.
 
I am going to post the original pictures behind a cut.  If you want your pic. removed immediately just let me know and I will do so and I'll e-mail the pic. to the group instead.

 

Please know too that I will never keep the picture in its original form forever on the blog and will alter it at some point soon after your entries are in.

 

That said, click the link to see Round II's Caption This Picture Contest (and I'm posting it a bit earlier before everyone has commented on the last because X will be on a business trip for the next week and wanted a shot in this Round).

My apologies to CLee in advance...

 

Trinidad...

First, let us discuss our as per usual, frantic on the fly trip as a whole and all the shart we ate while there.

We got to Trinidad last week Thursday in the afternoon, and ! Boohead came with us! and managed to stuff Royal Castle in his mouth before I did..., then we proceeded to eat Aunty P.'s awesome times pelau then went out with CLee to stock up on stuff:







Dinner was the KFC we quickly ate before tuning in to the Burn Notice season premiere but really we tuned out because there were too many distractions around for us to pay attention. I feel as though TD5 somehow, distracted me on purpose even though he wasn't around.

We awoke on Friday and while H1 was at home secretly eating Hops and Cheese like an ass without me, I was out with TD5 getting doubles to feed her.

H1: 1
Or 2: 0

Before going into the details of Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning I would like to do a wrap up of Sunday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday morning.

Sunday afternoon brought us family that once more invaded Aunty P.'s and Uncle P.'s house. Heh, we're very grateful for letting them converge like that.

It was a little bit strange seeing everyone. I've not seen many for a long time, not for about 13 or so years and it was a bit sad too as it was a reminder that we truly are getting older (I still don't feel it myself). Still, it was also a very good thing to see everyone. We miss them.

Monday turned out quite relaxed.

Aunty P. made salted fish with tomatoes etc. and boiled some sikia figs. Mmmm, it was the first time I had the figs like that (not quite ripe, not quite fully green) and I knew it'd be awesome but sometimes when you got that one fig that was sweeter than it should have been..oh yeah. That's what you call good times, my frenemies.



We also ate chicken puffs that morning, followed by TD5, Luuuuuuiiiiiissss and I going to see awesome B Movie times Drag Me To Hell.

I. Love. Sam Raimi.

The movie was everything a Sam Raimi movie of the horror movie genre should be - fun, ridiculous, gross, cheesey and with at least one dancing candarian demon. Bruce Campbell is forgiven for not being there due to the fact that he's off doing awesome Burn Notice related things but he was missed.

I also missed Ted Raimi's cameo but not for a lack of trying. It was off-screen! Clever, Sam R. Clever indeed.

Dinner was in two parts though I ate only a litle the first time - a little bit of buss up shot and curried goat with pigeon peas that Aunty P. made for us from the day before.

Oh, that's right? Did I forget to mention that the day before we ate like amazing times? Curried goat with pigeon peas, dahlpuri AND buss up shot, curried mango (yum!), stewed chicken and channa and alloo?

2nd Dinner was Royal Castle. I really missed that place. Their chicken is great and their crinkle cut fries are still hella' awesome. CLee, I might have to abandon the KFC but not the zingers.



A little near 1 AM, we boarded our flight to NY and was met with drama on the plane. Some asshole got to his seat and scoffed at the woman and baby sitting in the row by proclaiming that he did not want to sit near "no effin' baby" (I cleaned up the language because it's horrifying to repeat as is).

Security came and kicked him off the plane after the woman rightly made a stink (and came over to sit next to my empty seat) but then they stupidly let him back on the plane citing that 'two wrongs don't make a right". Their logic was that if the woman also used obscenities then she should be kicked off the plane.

Now. How idiotic was that? She did not curse him, she cursed at the general situation and so what? She was reacting to a horrible mess of a man!

So, they let the stupid back on the plane because it was only fair in their eyes that he should be allowed to fly too.

I'm often pissed off at Trinis stupidity.

But the same applies to racist, power tripping customs officials in the US.

When we got to the U.S., and got in line for the first customs official...I knew we were in for some shit. I watched the man get up, not acknowledge he had a line of people waiting for him (ie us), go to the bathroom and disappear for 10 minutes, saunter back to his post still without acknowleding us and when he finally called us over...he was a dick.

He insulted the intelligence of flight attendants and the respectability of their jobs (you know, as if he's the shit at the airport that has the most important damned job there) and then with an assholish attitude asked Luuuiiissss if he'd ever been in the back before ie the Interrogation room because that's where he sent Luuuuiiiisssss.

It still boils my blood thinking about it.

Anyway, as mentioned, there's a bit of a gap on the details between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Friday afternoon we got on another plane for a 12-20 minute flight to the Sister Island.

Memorable Conversations:

H1 and TD5 are discussing work, and my favourite parrot Billy: ::steups::
TD5: Billy, stop steupsing.

Or 2: Ugh, do I really have to get up to go brush my teeth?
TD5: You are lazy.
Billy: ::extreme laughing::

Can you believe that parrot was laughing at me because I was called lazy?

Or 2: Did you hear what Billy does? He imitates the sound of fruit falling from the trees and hitting the ground... 'buddup'.
Mk: Umm..ookkkaaaay...
Or 2: Yeah because then the dogs go searching frantically for the 'fruit'.
Mk: ::extreme laughing::

Currently listening to: "The Pot" by Tool.

777

Lucky Sevens!

What's that, B. in FFVII terms? Ass-kickery, right?

The HOchieS are sending their 777th Blog Post to our friends - CLee and Beetchie, wishing them both a Happy Birthday!

We hope your respective Drop Days are full of luck and goo'd times.

CLee!

Dear CLee,

You will be excited to know that I got a new phone.

It's an...

Wait for it...

Wait for it...




..LG Voyager!

Aren't you proud?

Love,

Or 2.

Interpunct This, CLee

Currently listening to: "Fuuki Iinchou Hibari Kyoya" by Toshihiko Sahashi, from the Katekyo Hitman Reborn Original Soundtrack I. I love it!

The Perfect Pyos

I've started rather late this year with presento-pyo collecting but the constant fear of being jobless and a recession contributed to questioning whether there'd even be a Christmas this year.

The good news is, I'm still excited about Christmas because I have the Office Treat ideas all sorted out and stores are displaying lights and everything festive.

Oh, and I started buying a few things. There's a lot of cool things you can get with $20.00. It's quite nice.

The hunt for presents led to the discovery of two of the most awesome present ideas for a couple of you guys.

Here's one from www.tshirthell.com that's tops for Bunji (tops...t-shirt. Ha.):



For CLEE:

A little something to make the Apple Iphone appear awesome because it sure as hell isn't now, and I'm not just talking about your cracked one either, I'm talking about all Apple Iphones and Ipods.





I especially like that picture of the frying.

As we all know from one of my slogans, bacon makes everything (taste) better.

Currently listening to: "Your Eyes Open" by Keane.

Message to CLee

H1 wants to know why you hate her.

She says she is sorry for chopping you but wants to know why can't you just move on and forgive?

Also, who's the chick?



Currently listening to: "Final Fantasy VII Demo" by Nobuo Uematsu.

Second-Rate Celebrities: A Penchant For Ruining Things

Whether it be a movie or a concert, 'celebrities' are just out to make things sucky when things shouldn't be.

Thursday night was going great - H1 got to leave work early, I left early and went to dinner at Sapporo (The 2008 HOchie HOtspot, 2006 was Pongsri) with Chrissy Lee. Good eats were enjoyed including tonkatsu and karubi yummies and then I took Chrissy down to Penn Station, all the while threatening him with the notion that he was going to go off on the LIRR to someplace he didn't want to be, namely on a plane back to Trinidad.

Instead, the surprise didn't quite go as I planned because I guess the MSG entrance I was at didn't have a large flashing sign indicating that R.E.M. was performing and that Chrissy Lee was actually going to a great concert. Still, I suppose a merch. stand will never let you down. It was not as grandiose as planned but he was still reaaaally excited when he found out. I was bombarded with about 22 or so "R.E.M.?!" questions with awe and disbelief bunched together with many "lies!".

I was excited too, and why wouldn't I be? That was the first concert for the year, surprisingly enough and not only would I get to see the guys of R.E.M. but The National and Modest Mouse were the openers.

So yeah, things were going well. We got there early but that's okay, we relaxed and Chrissy got to take all that is MSG from our fantastic-at-the-time seats Section 7, Row B, Seats 9 and 10 which is on the floor right behind the 'pit'.

With that said, let us just move right along to The Low-Lamps and the Highlights.

The Low-Lamps:

1. Julia Stiles and her 'friends'. She effed up movies and now she can add my R.E.M. concert to her list. Her presence there, right in front of me was distracting. Did concert security have any real reason to come check on her for every minute of the 16 minutes she was there? No! The only real celebs that night was R.E.M., so please! Ugh, and her friends were even worse. That short skirt one whose face was hideous, yeah...you really needed that short skirt to distract from the rest of you.

2. Our seats. Now, Section 7, Row B, Seats 9 and 10 are fantastic seats...in theory. There's a clear shot of the stage, it's fairly close and details need not be shown on a big screen to viewers in that section. So enjoy those seats while you can ie enjoy them during the opening acts because as SOOOOON as the headliner takes it, everyone and their effin' eff decides they need to walk back and forth behind the pit. Aren't you people supposed to be watching the show?! Trust me, you really didn't need the beer and why didn't you think to get it sooner?! Ugh. UGH! So instead of watching R.E.M., I got to watch a bunch of people walking in front of R.E.M. and my line of vision.

3. The National's performance of "Mistaken For Strangers". That is my favourite song by them (oh I've decided I like them well enough. They're cool and an easy listening experience) and they fuck it up. If I didn't hear anything else by them that night I'd be okay but I waited for 2 weeks to hear that shart and I got the lead singer singing without his trademark baritone. Really...I want to scream at them for being asses, or him rather. Thinking about it now, I probably should have because he may have heard me, I would have been kicked out and I would not have had to experience the assness that was Julia Stiles. I did myself an unkindness.

Also worth mentioning, the lead singer's stage persona sucks an ass. I swear the man was drunk and brain challenged, not that there's anyting wrong with being brain challenged but if you're putting the act on then yes, it's very wrong.



4. The crowd. O.M.G. As expected, of the thousands at MSG, I found a total of 7 people who were not white. Alright, okay, whatever. That's fine. I guess but the fact that they were not... aging well, and I had to wonder what rhythm they were hearing to put down the 'dances' they did. Yes, I can say that that was not a good look. At all.

5. The Pit. What pit? Not that I expected a pit, kind of understanding what crowd may have been in attendance (and were, much to my dismay) but it was still sad to see seats in a pit. SEATS. A seated pit! Lame. Just...lame.

6. My failed camera. Again. You'd swear from the pictures I was a million miles away but no, thanks to x3 Optical zoom, I got shart!!!!! I was much closer than it appears, honest.

7. My inability to get good shots of bassists. Sorry, Peter!

8. No H1. Yeah, this was the saddest part and should be first on this list. She couldn't come with and not that Chrissy Lee was not good company but it's always sad when H1 is not with.

The Highlights:

1. R.E.M. of course. They performed an excellent show as expected. The sound was great, the songs were great (even the ones I shamefully admit I did not know) and the stage set up was great. The guys rocked!!!



2. Michael Stipe. I've always loved that man and if ever there was a doubt as to why, all that has been erased. From Bush bashing to banter, to stage antics to the dancing! M.Stipe was amazing. And boy can he dance. He was great fun, the jokes were funny and he was fabulous.



3. Mike Mills. He performed a song, vocals and guitar work which was quite awesome and cute. Aww, love that little M.Mills. So cute!



4. Modest Mouse was awesome. I went in with no kind of expectations from them considering a DJ once described them in concert as "putting up a poster of the band on your wall, putting in their cd and listening to it while staring at the poster". Turns out, their latest album did not do them dirty, nor me. 2 drummers (you how I love not 1 but 2 drummers!) and The Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr will do that for you and will certainly assist in not sucking.



Note-worthy mention to Johnny Marr who rocked with Modest Mouse and then later on with R.E.M on their final 3 songs. Ooo, I love him now.



5. For all the 2 shits they pulled, The National were good. I was happy I saw them and their setlist was awesome save that damned Mr. November song I dislike but kind of have a better liking for now since they dedicated it to "Barack", as if Barack pitched marbles with them in school.



6. Did I mention a megaphone? Ah yes, Michael brought it out during Orange Crush and you know how I love me a megaphone especially a tossed one, though I'm not quite sure what happened to it after that song was done...



7. R.E.M.'s performance of "Let Me In" was very much awesome, even if all that mainly stood out other than the song was Michaels head. Har Har.



8. Surprising Chrissy Lee. He was happy. That counts for a lot.

The R.E.M. "Accelerate 2008 Tour" @ Madison Square Garden on 06/19/2008:

1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
2. These Days
3. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
4. Bad Day
5. Drive
6. Hollow Man
7. Ignoreland
8. Man-Sized Wreath
9. Leaving New York
10. Disturbance At The Heron House
11. Houston
12. Electrolite
13. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville
14. Driver 8
15. Harborcoat
16. The One I Love
17. Until The Day Is Done
18. Let Me In
19. Horse To Water
20. Pretty Persuasion
21. Orange Crush
22. I'm Gonna DJ

Encore:

23. Supernatural Superserious
24. Losing My Religion
25. Begin The Begin
26. Fall On Me
27. Man On The Moon

The Modest Mouse 06/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden Setlist:

Invisible
Dance Hall
Satin In A Coffin
Custom Concern
Fire It Up
Truckers Atlas
King Rat
Dashboard
Education (Jam ending)
The Good Times Are Killing Me

The National 06/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden Setlist:

Start A War
Brainy
Baby We'll Be Fine
Slow Show
Mistaken For Strangers
Squalor Victoria
Secret Meeting
Apartment Story
Fake Empire
Mr. November

Memorable Conversation of Today 6/23/2008:

A convo. had in the kitchen at work this morning

Or 2: I like these marble cutting boards. Yeah, we need one of those.
H1: Yeah, they're cool. We should get one.
Or 2: You know, I have space in my bag...

Currently listening to: "Stay Don't Go" by Spoon. I wonder if H1 would object if I got tickets to see them...