It's like all the pictures I take are of street art and food.

I've been productive today.

It surprised me how much I did today, here's a list:

• I woke up really early today.  I was out of the house at 1PM.
• Before leaving the house, I only limited myself to playing one game of League of Legends
• Oent to the bank.
• Opened a new account at CItibank because they're all over Korea.
• Visited my grandparents
• Then I checked out a used camera store to see if they had any tripods.

Now I'm relaxing and watching Law and Order: Los Angeles.

Law and Order: Los Angeles premieres tomorrow.

I've been seeing the hype for this on TV since I've been back and I'm really excited for this. For one thing, I am a huge L&O fan. I even own some box sets. There's also the fact that it's set in LA, which I think will have it's own unique effect on the show. However, I can totally see this going really bad, but hopefully Terrence Howard will be enough to save the show.

The OC Japan Fair

The fair was interesting but not overwhelming. It was held at Orange County Grand Park, which I thought was a weird location to have it since a lot of it is still under development, but they did have a lot of open space for it. The sad thing was though, that since it was outdoors, there was no way to avoid the relentless heat except by hiding in the shade. The only reason I say it wasn't overwhelming is because there wasn't a lot to do.

Probably the most interesting thing was watching them make takoyaki.

There were a few shows on the stage though, a kimono fashion show, some girls dressed in maid outfits, the UCI taiko drum team, and some no-name hip-hop artist. The most entertaining was probably the cosplay contest.

I'm sure they looked crazy to everyone who was unfamiliar with the concept, especially the American flag part.

I spent most of my time taking photos and finding secluded spots of shade to smoke cigarettes in, but my admission was free because I had a flyer, so I can't complain. Check out my flickr if you want to see some of the other photos I took.

I'm enjoying life without responsiblities.

I currently don't have any obligations, so life has been pretty great lately.  Here's what I did today:

• Woke up at 4:00 PM
• Played a game of League of Legends
• Grabbed Jack-in-the-Box
• Played more League of Legends
• Messed around on my iPad
• Read a lot of shit
• Napped

It's sad that "looking for a job" wasn't on that list, but I'll get around to it.

The Loneliest Samurai

There were quite a few cosplayers at the OC Japan Fair.

It's pretty easy to forget how strange anime fans can get until something like this violently reminds you. I'm not making fun of the culture or anything. I'm a big enough nerd as it is, having started my own anime club at my junior college and having cosplayed before.

Glow

I went down to Santa Monica last night to check out the Glow event. It was crazy how many people were there.

Take that 7-11.

The other day I was carded for buying cigarettes. This hasn't happened in a long time, so I was actually surprised by it. What makes it worse though, is that I didn't have my ID with me because my friend accidentally took it the day before. Shamed, I walked out of the place without my cigarettes mumbling that I would be back.

Of course, I did not admit defeat. I walked back into the same 7-11 half an hour later, after driving out of my way, just to show the clerk my passport. She couldn't find my birthdate on it, so I pointed it out to her and said that I was 23. For good measure, I even stated that I could have bought a beer if I wanted to.

Technology these days.

I was just sitting around and my mom asked me if I was doing anything. I told her that I was going to buy a book. About thirty minutes later my mom told me that I should stop being lazy and go buy my book already. Then I had one of those moments how crazy technology is now, because it took me twenty minutes to explain to her that I ordered a digital ebook for my iPad and that I was already reading the book. I'm entirely sure that my mom still doesn't quite understand what my iPad is. I have this feeling that she thinks that it's a video game device, but I can never quite tell with my mom.

Sandara Park posted this on her me2day.  Our wedding is some time in July.

I bought a new camera.

I bought a Holga the other day. Since I spend all my money on beer and cigarettes, I wasn’t able to afford the Canon flash that I wanted to buy, so I bought this instead. I got an alright deal and I even bought an external flash attachment for it just for kicks. I’ll be trying it out this weekend and see what comes out. Hopefully I can get my hands on a scanner at some point.

I'm testing out blogpress.

I just downloaded this app for my iPad. It let's me post to all the different blog services I'm on. So far, it seems really useful. The interface is a little confusing, but I'll figure it out. So if anything weird shows up on. My blog, just know that I'm trying to figure this all out.

My mom's not capable of making many facial expressions, but this is her most common one, displeased.  She'll probably make this face when I tell her that I've posted pictures of her on the Internet.

My body aches.

I took my bike out for the first time since I've been back yesterday.  It was a little strange being back on my fixed gear after a whole year on a steel road bike.  I also road about 16 miles yesterday, so I'm sore as fuck.  Sixteen miles isn't actually a lot, but it's more than I did in an entire month back in Korea, since I only road my bike to pick up groceries and go to ping pong lessons.  I also have a new pedal setup now.  I bought some new straps in Korea before I left and I put on some BMX pedals, which is working out really nice.  I'll probably squeeze in more riding before I go back to Korea.

BoA's Copy & Paste teaser

The actual video comes out in a few days.  It's so exciting.

CL is such a badass.

Gettin' down to business.

It's been two and a half weeks and I haven't really been looking to hard for a job, but it's about time that I get cracking.  I've started gathering all the documents I need for the job.  I just need to get everything apostilled and all that.  Now all I need is someplace to hire me.

To my confused friend Robert,

I hope that one day you will put down that cross of ignorance, which is a hard cross to bear for the rest of your life, and that you will let go of your misguided notions about whipped cream.

Your friend,

Joseph Gutierrez

The Top 10 Reasons Why I Love the Jersey Shore Season 2

I've been busy these past few weeks so I haven't been able to sit down and watch anything, but I just caught up with all the episodes of the Jersey Shore and I'm still going to have to say that it's the greatest reality TV show on air right now.  I think season 2 is just as good as the first, maybe even a ltitle better, so here's ten reasons why I love this season:

1. Angelina.  At first, I wasn't really sure why they brought her back for a second season, but it's great that they did.  In season one, we didn't really get a chance to see just how crazy she is, but now that she's here and here to stay, FUCKING RIDICULOUS.
2. There's so much in-house drama.  I feel like last season there wasn't as much conflict within the house.  There was just a lot of talk for the first few episodes how crazy Snooki was and the shit between Ronny, Sammie, and Mike.  This time there's just so much shit happening with everyone.
3. "I have the best blow-out in the nation." -Pauly D
4. There's a camera placed right at the mirror.  Every clip where it shows someone looking themselves at the mirror is fucking hilarious, whether it's Mike looking at himself, Pauly D fixing his hair, or J-Woww fixing her boobs.
5. Vinny.  To be honest, he was my favorite character in the first season.  He was down-to-earth and seemed like a guy I can actually get along with.  None of that has really changed, except now he's just doing more shit in the show.
6. Snooki is still bat-shit crazy.  I'm glad to see that nothing's changed.
7. Mike always pulls up his shirt in a club, girls start feeling his abs, and then he turns and looks at the camera.  This happens every episode, guaranteed.
8. It's in Miami.  It might be because I'm from California and I'm not that familiar with the actual Jersey Shore, but I've seen enough of CSI: Miami that the location speaks to me.
9. Ronny and Sammi's relationship is still so frustrating.  I thought I was really going to be tired of all their dumb shit this season, but I just can't stop watching it.  It's also the driving force of the rest of the drama of the show.
10. It's reality television at its best.  I'll stand by this statement if you want to believe me or not.

The tables have turned.

I was sitting down using the computer and my mom just walked into the room asking for $20 so she can go and watch the movies.  The crazy part is, that my mom can't drive, so I had to ask her who she was going with, how she was getting there, and what time she was coming back.  That's just ridiculous.  Of course, being the wonderfully unemployed son that I am, I was unable to give her $20.

MAJOR NEWS FLASH.

If you saw me in Korea before I left, you must have noticed my ridiculous hair.  What you might not have known, was that I was growing it out for a purpose.  This plot was devised before I even stepped onto the plane at LAX.  The plan was to grow out my hair for an entire year and then when I came back to America, I would get a perm.  Now, I am proud to admit, that the I went into Salon 25 yesterday and got it done.

I didn't get my hair straightened, like someone ridiculously suggested when I came back from Korea.  I now have an afro-like mass of curls sitting on the top of my head.  It's fucking badass.  I'll post pictures of it soon.

The Gutierrez house has Internet again.

The new modem arrived today and I can finally feel like I'm alive again.  It's nice because I was actually expecting it to come tomorrow.  Having no Internet though, has sort of been a nice change of pace.  I managed to get a lot of reading done.  I actually finished a novel this morning because I was so bored, but that's actually nothing compared to the tons of useless shit that I consume while I'm in front of a computer screen.

Pechanga Resort & Casino

I don't go to Indian casinos very often.  Actually, I haven't even been to one since I've turned 21.  When I went to community college though, and Vegas was out of the question, I usually went to Casino Morongo, so this was actually my first time at Pechanga, even though it's closer to my house.

Anyway, I didn't lose too much money yesterday, only $30.  I first went in and started playing dollar slots.  I play dollar slots because I'm a baller.  I somehow lost $70 after doing that shit for half an hour.  I then started playing roulette, which I actually like playing.  You have a lot of chips when you play, it's random and doesn't require you to know anything like blackjack, and it's fun watching the wheel spin.  Even though it's all chance, I usually do well at roulette.  I did well enough to win all my money back.  I was lucked out a few times because I forgot some of my chips were still on the table and I ended up winning on those.  TI played a little more because I figured going home with the same amount of money in my wallet would be pretty boring.

I should probably spend more time looking for a job then wasting money though.  Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiet.

Celebratin'

Since I've been here a week now, it's about time I do something crazy, so I'm heading to an Indian Casino.  Hopefully I don't lose tonight.

The simple joys of driving.

I've really enjoyed public transportation in Korea.  It's easy to use, efficient, and cheap.  However, I really have missed just being behind the wheel.  I didn't think that I'd enjoy it so much when I got back home.  It's nice being able to turn on the a/c whenever I want, listen to the radio, and get to places on my own terms.  Plus, driving makes me feel like I'm really in L.A.

I've been a bum.

Since I've been back, I've been spending most of my time on my iPad, playing computer games, and eating.  It's been pretty fucking awesome.  My sleep pattern is still off.  It's probably not jetlag, but just some weird shit about me taking naps every few hours.  I feel like I should be doing something more exciting though, since my time here is limited.  However, I don't have a car, my friends all have work/school, and I don't even have anyone's phone number, so I've been pretty isolated.  Hell, I don't even have pedals for my bike right now so that's even out of the question.  The weekend's coming up, so hopefully I'll be doing something worthwhile.

Find me on Flickr!

I guess you don't have to look to hard.  Here's the link: my photostream.

I’ve finally decided to cough up the $25 to pay for the damn pro account.  I know it’s lacking content right now, but I have a ton of photos that I’ll be putting up over the next week.

For Joseph Teacher

For their video projects, a class of sixth graders broke up into groups and made me good-bye videos, even their homeroom teacher made one.  They put all the videos onto one disk and I seriously teared up while watching them.  WHY IS IT SO HARD TO SAY GOOD-BYE!?

I've started watching Korean dramas.

Since I couldn't sleep yesterday, I was watching anime on my iPad on the crunchyroll app.  Then I realized that there was a ton of Korean dramas on there that I should probably started watching, so now I'm halfway through Coffee Prince.  I've been meaning to get into them for a while now.  I just never got around to downloading them.  Knowing me, I'll probably be spending the next week of my life in my room watching this shit.

Familiar faces and places

I could write a long and touching spiel about how nice it's been to see all my friends and how I've come to really appreciate what "home" is, but that just isn't my style.  Instead I'm going to tell you how I went to mother fucking Chipotle yesterday and ate a mother fucking carnitas burrito.  I also went to Wal-Mart and bought some fucking crazy American shit. 

I saw some crazy shit at the airport.

I know that I've been in Korea a long time because when I got home, there was a ton of normal shit that I thought was crazy:

• I saw three guys talking to each other.  Two of them were Asian and they were speaking fluent English.
• The third guy in that conversation was black.
• Mexicans.
• When I went through immigration at the airport I was able to use the line that said, "citizen."
• Someone cleaning the restroom.

It's good to be home.

I took some pictures in Hongdae before I left.

Creepy

These statues are in my backyard, which probably has the oddest assortment of items.

Incheon Korean Music Wave

I'm actually really mad that I missed this concert.  It's especially frustrating because the concert was 10 minutes from where I lived, but I was too busy moving all my stuff and leaving Korea to attend.  Anyway, allkpop.com collected all the videos from the concert, so I'm watching them all right now.

I'm back in America.

After a long and tiring journey, I'm finally home.  I've already had a bacon ultimate cheeseburger combo from Jack-in-the-Box.  After a nap, I'm going to head out and buy my iPad.  Man, it's just good to be home.