Happy New Year everyone!!

Okay, so I haven't blogged in a few weeks. Just been too lazy and sick since New Years weekend. I think I have a small case of bronchitis cuz this cough wont go away. Maybe I'll go to the doctor again this week. So far my anti-biotics haven't killed my cough yet. So, New Years has been off to a bad start with getting sick and with Michigan losing to USC (again) in the Rose Bowl. Boo.

Anyhow, just got back from Tahoe, and boy was it fuunnn!! Instead of driving like last year, we all decided to fly. We arrived at Sacramento and had to chill a bit since Southwest forgot to send Belle, Lou, and Keno's luggage. No worries though. Stopped by the local REI store for some last minute supplies, and Costco for lunch and groceries (aka a crapload of beer). Once we started getting up the mountain, we can see the thermometer in our Suburban drop to as low as 5 degrees! Got to Tahoe City after the check-in office closed, but the lady working was really nice to still help us out. She was literally out the door, but was considerate to open up the office and check us in (even though I arranged the keys to be left at a drop box).

Got to the cabin, and man it was freakin awesome! It had a garage, 3 bedrooms, a pretty big living room, and a hot tub. It was actually a lot closer than expected, and just down the street from our cabin from last year. We took advantage of the hot tub, while getting drunk at the same time. There wasn't too much snow, but we got to snowboard at Squaw mountain for most of Saturday, while 5 of us snowboarded Alpine Meadows on Sunday. We overdid the beer, but managed to finish about 83 out of the 97 bottles, drank all of the wine, and ate most of the food we bought. Had a lot of fun, got to hang out with good company. Hopefully we can do it again next year!

Earlier today, right before we left, some of the gang were playing around in the snow, sliding down on their little snow sleds. While they did that, I took a short stroll up the street for a bit and just thought about what happened 7 years ago today - the passing of my roommate and good friend, John Paul Halog. I had a nice talk with Cesar the night before while cooking hamburgers for dinner, and we just reminisced that day we all found out. So as I strolled along the street, I just kinda looked up into the clear, blue sky and just was hoping John was looking down at us, laughing and smiling. I've might've said it before, but I think things happen for a reason. And with his passing, I think it just brought a lot us closer as friends. For example, I didn't really know Cesar that well, but it definitely brought me closer to Cesar when John passed. So it was nice to bond with him last night. And today, when Romeo departed ways from us at the airport, I walked with him to his gate...just cuz we went through a lot this day when John passed and I wanted to just be with him as long as possible. Yeah, yeah, kinda gay, but whatever.

I don't really talk about John's passing much, but its probably the worse thing I had to go through. I wasn't use to death or anything like that. The most was my dog in junior high, but that's pretty much it. I still remember everything that happened that week. John started feeling sick around Wednesday. Two days later, I was just about to leave for Oxnard and I asked him if he needed anything before I went. He told me he wanted some crackers and some soup from Albertsons, so even though I was already packed up and ready to go, I still got him his stuff.

Anyhow, I got back that from Albertson's and just asked if he needed anything else. He told me that he was okay and that his aunt and uncle from Long Beach were going to pick him up for the weekend and that I'd maybe see him Oxnard. So I left, and little did I know that would be the last time I would talk to him.

I got a lot of 911 pages that night (cell phones weren't really big back then). But I was half asleep so I didn't really pat attention. It wasn't until maybe I got a third page from Romeo's brother, Tony, that something must be going on. So I called him and he broke the news to me and that was that. The following day, my dad, John's dad, cousin, uncle and me went back to our apartment in Irvine to grab John's stuff to take back to Oxnard. Once I opened the door, I saw the soup he left on the kitchen stove and the bowl he used in the sink. It looked as if he barely ate any of it. I opened the door to our room, and I just broke down in tears.

It's a lil weird because right before he passed, I knew something 'big and bad' was going to happen. The September before, one of my neighbor's father in Oxnard passed away and I thought that was it. Later in December, another neighbor's grandfather passed away that John and I talked about also one day. I thought maybe that was it. Little did I know that this 'big and bad' thing was going to happen with John.

But anyhow, it took awhile for me to get used to. I had planned on taking the quarter off that time just to heal from everything. But I knew John wanted me to continue, so I moved out of our apartment and moved in with Ryan, Lou, and Thano at Campus Village and spent my last few months at UCI with them. It's still hard to think that he's not around anymore. But I still remember his voice and I still remember all the good times we shared. I'll always cherish those. So with that, rest in peace John. I miss you and I love you...