Rumblings…

So many random things have happened since I last posted:

- Attended a wedding this past Friday, which happened to be in Antigua (at Casa Santo Domingo http://www.casasantodomingo.com.gt/ ) and we had a blast. Lucky, Margit, Carlos H and yours truly attended the event, though we got there a little late since I had a basketball game at 7PM which started at 8PM… we got to the wedding around 10:30 PM. The ambiance was great, amazing food, plus we drank between the four of us about 2 bottles of Ron Zacapa Centenario (so freaking good). We left around 3AM and grabbed some quesadillas before heading back to the city…

- Next day was Estuardo’s birthday celebration, he was having a huge lunch at his house, and I ended up getting there around 2:30 PM. Since I had drank quite a bit the day before, I was taking it easy with the rum and cokes, till we had a shot of tequila in honor of my friend’s bday, and then someone decided we should play some drinking games. We all had about 5 or 6 tequilas shots, some took it better than others. At night, we headed to this place called O Bar, where a bunch of people were supposed to meet us, so we bought a bottle of vodka. Problem was, only five people showed up, of which only 3 people drank, including me! We tried to finish the bottle, but about ¼ was left… and I thought it was gonna be a chill Saturday… needless to say, my stomach was a mess the next day.

- Talk with some friends from DC this past weekend… Shawn, Felicia, and Tuk gave me a call from some restaurant, after they had some drinks… apparently the ladies had a good time! Thanks for the call angels!

- Went to a new bar in Antigua two weekends ago called Motherland Flava, which was so chill and I really enjoyed it, all they play is reggae music and the place is quite small, so everybody is talking with everybody. Afterwards, we headed to an afterparty, which seemed a little sketchy, and towards the end of the night, some dude had a beer bottle smashed in his face… lots of blood everywhere, which was our cue to leave.

- I’ve seen a few movies recently… “Shaun of the Dead” (quite funny zombie movie), Transamerica (really good soundtrack) and I’ll be watching “Syriana” tonight.
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- My mom is leaving for London this upcoming Tuesday for about 3 months… so my Aunt’s bday and my bday will be celebrated this Saturday. I can’t believe I have another birthday coming up.

- Sports wise, we ended up in third place in the basketball tournament. We lost a game on which at the end of it, due to injuries and people fouling out, our team had only two players left (including me) playing against five from the other team. We unfortunately lost that game in overtime… still, we ended up third in the tournament.

- Bosox are done… stick a fork in them! They had the worst August… they’ve only won 7 games! Good thing football season is starting soon.

This is my life, my card is American Express… (not really… hehe).
Take care,
CRCP

P.S. Another Late Show Top Ten…

Late Show’s Top Ten Signs Osama Bin Laden Is In Love With You

10. He carved your initials in an infidel
9. Always gets the camel washed and waxed before he picks you up
8. Never forgets to release an Al-Jazeera video on your birthday
7. You say you enjoy Barry Manilow -- next day he sends you Barry Manilow's ear
6. Orders 1 goat milk, 2 straws
5. Says only thing hotter than your body is his scorching hatred for the Zionists
4. Get a romantic greeting card that reads, "You jihad me at 'Hello'"
3. He lets you call him "Ossie"
2. New intelligence reports put his whereabouts at Zales
1. He says every time he thinks of you, there's an uprising in his pants

Marnix is now 2 years old!

Feliz Cumpleaños Marnix! Marnix turned two years old on August 21st!!! Can you believe it... the little man is growing up and getting bigger (though still not talking that much). His birthday was celebrated this past Sunday, here are some pics my sister sent from the bash:

Marnix apparently being held against his will close to the scary chocolate cake...

Patty (my sister), JD, and Marnix...

I wish I'd been there, since I haven't seen Marnix since thebeginningg of the year... but he's coming to Guatemala in November, along with his baby brother!!! Felicidades Marnix!!!

CRCP

Beers and Bowling and Basketball…

None of my friends from the city wanted to go out to Antigua or had other stuff going this past Friday, so I headed over there and met some friends from good old US of A. The night started relatively calm, as we went to a couple of bars and had some beers. Met some random people and had some more beers, then one of my friends got a little too happy towards the end of the night. We were wandering the streets with beer in our hands (no open container law here, you just can have the beer bottles with you), when one of my friends starts puking… too funny, right in the middle of the street… people were just staring at him, and walking by, giving us this “we hate drunk people” look… other were just laughing. Anyways, I then needed to go to the restroom, and I told the guy who puked to wait for me outside… After doing my business, I come out of the bathroom only to find my friend now wearing a different shirt… apparently, he just randomly switched shirts with some guy… now that’s funny. We ended up going to an afterparty, which was pretty cool: nice bonfire, some excellent music and random people making out everywhere. I didn’t get home till about 3:30 AM… so freaking tired.

Saturday I didn’t feel like doing much, but my some of my friends wanted to go bowling… considering it was a chill outing, I decided to join. First game went great, as I bowled 172… second game was a complete disaster, I bowled 100 and got beat by a girl (how embarrassing). We then headed to Applebee’s (yes, we have Applebee’s here, as well as Friday’s, but no Ruby Tuesday’s) and had some food and drinks.

On Monday night we had our second playoff game (basketball), which we lost due to the fact that we only had four players show up… fudge! I was so upset, the fifth guy showed up two minutes after they had cancelled the game, and the refs refused to go back on their call that we had lost the game (even though the other team wanted to play us anyway… so frustrating).

Yesterday (Thursday), Samsung was throwing a party at TANTRA since they were releasing some new mobile phones. Since my brother works there, he was able to get us some invites, including a bracelet for all you can drink till 11:30 PM… some cool pics were taken, which I hope to get at some point ant post.

Over this past week, I rented “A History of Violence” and “Weatherman”. “Violence” was ok, but I thought the acting and lines of some of the characters left a lot of room for improvement… Overall, I though it was gonna be a better movie. “Weatherman” on the other hand was quiet entertaining, though a lot of cursing and interesting topics are discussed: Cameltoes (I laughed so hard when they talked about this… if you don’t know what it is, please see this link… it’s hilarious http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameltoe , also known as Veggie or Ninja Slipper), BJs, teen smoking, junkfood, living funerals, child molestation, Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock”, archery, Bryant Gumble (from the show: Gumble to Gumble). Anyways, I highly recommend it; it’s a very weird / funny / entertaining / perplexing movie.

Last but not least, I’ll leave you with this cartoon:




Later and enjoy the weekend,
CRCP

So this is what victory tastes like...

Woohoo! We won a basketball game yesterday... it was a real offensive struggle, as both teams had problems scoring any points, but we won the game by 12 points. Again, it's not the first time the team has won, but the first time I've won with the team. The first two matches we played at the start of the season were against the better teams in the league (I got hurt my ankle on the second game), and we had lost two or three games since I’ve gotten back to the hardwood… very glad I finally have a win under my belt.

Tuesday night we went out to Antigua, as it was Ladies Night at Monoloco (2 x 1 drink specials for the ladies), so the place was packed! We actually got there relatively early, and then headed upstairs for the night specials, and within and hour, the place looked like the DC metro during rush hour. Met a few people and had some drinks, but then one of my friends wanted to go dance to Casbah, this club / bar in Antigua… So we left Monoloco, walked 8 blocks or so to Casbah, only to find out that it’s closed on Tuesday… WTF? We checked out a few other places to see what the crowd looked like, but it appears that EVERYBODY heads over to Monoloco on Tuesday nights. So we called it a night, it was a good time to head home (being a Tuesday night and all).

Speaking of Casbah, we headed over there on Friday 4th, and had a great time. We had a bottle of rum (pretty much between 3 people, which maybe was a little much) and met some cute Dutch girls… My friends took some pictures of the events, though he hasn’t shared them with me yet (will post when I do have them). Saturday we a friend’s birthday, he organized a nice lunch, with plenty of beer and shucos (Guatemalan style hot dogs). Some of my friends were then heading over to a rave about an hour away from the city, which I was supposed to attend… but I ashamed to admit it, but I chickened out! My friends were heading over there around 12 AM and said they wanted to come back around 6 AM…. so I was gonna get home around 7AM… I was too tired from the work week and a hectic Friday night. My friends still went and had a good time, but I needed my weekend rest… but next time there is a rave on a Friday (not Saturday), I’ll definitely go.

Sports wise, Bosox are doing horrible… they’ve lost the AL East lead and are down 3 games to the Evil Empire. Still about a month and half to go, but with Varitek out, things aren’t looking great. Also, saw that the MLS held its own against European superpowers Chelsea and Real Madrid… too bad Pescadito Ruiz didn’t get a chance to show off his skills.

Un fuerte abrazo,
CRCP

P.S. Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.

August...

So guess who's in town? Brenda! She came over for some work thing (she also works at PAHO, where my dad works), so we got together last Wednesday for a bite to eat. We went to Shushiito, which is similar to Cafe Asia in the DC area. Afterwards, we headed to Rattle and Hum for some drinks... though I was quite disappointed that Estuardo and Marianna backed out at the last minute (they sent me a text message, didn't even have the decency to call).

Friday I had a basketball game, which we unfortunately lost.... I've only been to four games, and every single game I've been to we've lost (hope there is no correlation there). Afterwards, we headed to Monoloco for a little while, had a few beers and came back to Guatemala City.

Saturday we had the a company event, were the top sales people for the past trimester are given some extra cash, plus some motivational movie (Remember the Titans). Problem was, I had to be there around 8:30 AM, which means I got no extra sleep on Saturday... so I was pretty much beat and didn't do anything but veg out for the rest of the day.

By the way, I finally got my own version of Phase 10 this week, can't wait to play it and get better at it.

Here's a pic from this Wednesday, when Estuardo and Marianna finally decided to join Brenda and your host for some dinner. Both the girls didn't want the picture taken, since they claimed they weren't feeling pretty that night... oh well! Brenda left today to go back to DC... have a safe trip Brenda!

Estuardo, Marianna, Carlos, Brenda...

How you doin'?

Take care everybody...

CRCP

P.S. Let's keep hoping for peace in the middle east...

P.S. II - So how hot is it in the US? Apparently a lot of 100 degree days over there... thanks goodness for AC!!!