Vacation! At Home? (What I did during my break.)

January-February 2013


How cool is it that I get to vacation at home?  What a concept!  Work all over the world and then vacation at home.  I was ready for the task.  So, what did I do?

In-N-Out Burger!

Oh yeah!

While on vacation, I went to In-N-Out Burger EVERYDAY.  Every, freaking, day.  (And by day, I mean night, and by night, I mean morning, right before closing.)

My order was this: 2 Hamb No Salt WhGr Mf P K M inst XT

which translates into: Two hamburgers, no salt, whole grilled onions, mustard fried, pickles, ketchup and mustard instead of spread, and extra tomatoes.  Try it.

Over the course of my vacation, I ate over 100 In-N-Out Burgers.  Yes, this is one of the things I am most proud of in my life.

Dates!

No really, dates.

If you live in California, and you don't take advantage of the fact that the best dates in the world grow right next to you, then you're missing out.  Whenever I'm back in California, I order a large box of the chewiest medjool dates from Shield's Date Garden.

I put them in ziplock bags, and then into the freezer (except for the ones I'm eating that day).  I never lack for energy when I have dates.  Yeah, it's pure sugar, but it's plant sugar so your body knows what to do with it.  My favorite thing to do with these dates is to blend them with pineapple juice and a fresh young Thai coconut.  Here's a link to this box: My Order.

-Gifts-

One of the first places I went when I got home was straight to my grandma's house to drop off some gifts.  My grandma is simple: she likes rocks.  So, what did I do?  I brought her coral (yeah, that might be illegal) and then through in some bells.  And you can't go wrong with a box of Caribbean Rum Cake!

The best thing about gifting rum cake is that nine times out of ten the person will open it up right away and share it with you.  (I don't like Indian givers...oh wait- I take that back).

My dad got Marzipan from Germany, my mom got her collectors spoons, and Jason got some gargoyles from Notre Dame.  Before leaving the ship, I stocked up on lots of Rum Cake and Rum Chocolate just in case I forgot anyone.  So, if you didn't get a gift from me, come by my house sometime, when I'm home, and I'll pretend to have thought of you when I bought the rum chocolate that I pull out from my stash and hand it to you.  And then you can pretend to be oh so grateful!

~ Piano Tuning ~

The insides of my piano.

I had been greatly looking forward to being able to play piano again whenever I wanted, for as long as I wanted.  But as soon as I got home and hit the keys, I realized I needed to call Bruce Heying, my long time piano tuner, and make an appointment.

Bruce Heying hard at work.

Bruce had to come by twice because my piano was so neglected in my absence.  He did amazing work though, and the thing was sounding good again.  What I was most impressed with though was his ability to fix the action, the sticky notes, and the dampers.  This is why you hire a piano technician instead of just a tuner.  If you're in Southern California, and you're piano's giving you trouble: Call Bruce.

The New WiiU!

In the background: My super awesome Dragon Mask and a signed Collectors Edition of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty.

 I bought a WiiU.

And Nintendo sent me three posters just for being awesome.

Actually, it's because I spent too much money in their rewards program.

Starcraft II

Now I can computer while I computer!

Let me introduce you to my favorite thing to do in the world: PWN NOOBS.  Since the coolest people in the world already know what that means, and the people who don't know usually end up thinking it's retarded when I explain it to them, let's move on.

ABBA

Can't kick the habbit

I know, I'm on vacation, but I just didn't feel good about going two months without putting on any ABBA shows.  So, I got this awesome ABBA dance game for my Wii.  It did the job.

Oh yeah!  I almost forgot, Grant Gershon, hired me into the L.A. Master Chorale for the 2012-2013 season, but I had already signed my cruise contract while I was waiting to hear back from the Chorale.  But Grant was awesome and he let me perform with them while I was on my break.  We did the Brahms's Requiem at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  It was pretty epic.

Well, that's my break in a nutshell.  Next post: back to work!

Oh! P.S.

Paul Mason Got Married!

He totally got married by that Asian guy from the Hangover.

Way to go Paul and Elaine!

It's totally that guy...and Zach Galifianakis too!