The first time I saw actual snow fall from the sky was in San Diego. I was in 10th grade, and we were in first period math class. It was so cold that morning, that San Diego got a little unusual weather. We were amazed. All of us except our teacher, who made us continue class after a one-minute peek at the snow. He was a jerk.

The second time I saw snow, I went snowboarding with my friend Becky. We had heard that the conditions may lead to actual snow, but we didn't expect the huge storm that came through. At one point, I was snowboarding through heavy, beautiful snow. It was enchanting! Then it got a little scary, and we had to get off that mountain quick before being snowed in. We survived.

The third time I saw snow, I had just come back from The Netherlands with my friend Michelle. We were in Austria, walking back to our friend Matt's place. Just a few blocks from his apartment, it began to snow. It was thrilling, experiencing real snow in a big city.



This time of the year, Disneyland ends their "Holiday" fireworks show with the song "White Christmas" along with a snow simulation all around Main Street. It's quite moving. Matt and I caught it last night. Even I got a little misty-eyed (much like Mark did last year).

Hey, I put together another episode of The Good ol' Mike Show!

In this episode, I go to Gays Days at Disneyland. Gay Days is always a fun and unique experience, and I always wind up seeing a bunch of my LiveJournal/Twitter/Instagram friends there. I took out a lot of my narration this time, because I thought the shots spoke for themselves. Enjoy!

The other day, I had a total craving for sushi.

It's funny about that. I used to never want sushi. It wasn't because I didn't like sushi; it was because Mark, my ex, always wanted sushi and cuisine along those lines, so we'd always default to that. Now that I don't have to go to sushi/Thai/Vietnamese, I love it.

There was a great sushi buffet by my house, but it was torn down a few months ago. Turns out its replacement, TORA Seafood Buffet & Sake Lounge, was added to the food court on the other side of the attached mall.

Matt, who was still in town from the Morrissey concert the night before, and I went for lunch. $16, all you can eat. Loved it!

Last night, we met up with some guys from LA for dinner. As I was hugging one of them, I joked, "We don't have as many celebrities here."

But at dinner, sitting a few feet from us was Rebecca Black. Yay!



You don't know who she is? Lemme help.

Last night, we had dinner at Freebirds! for the first time. Freebirds! is a restaurant that mostly serves custom-made burritos, but they also sell Americanized versions of other Mexican faves like tacos and nachos.

It actually opens today, but last night was a sneak preview / fundraiser. For $5, which went to a local hospital charity, you get admission to the restaurant, some schwag and a full meal.



The staff were all very friendly and eager to please. Before we left, JP was thinking out loud about having some nachos. From hearing that, an employee went and fetched us some, free-of-charge.

The food was great, the atmosphere was nice, and it's about 5 minutes away. We'll definitely be back.

Side note. I was disappointed that this didn't happen while we were there.

I picked up the new Meshell Ndegeocello album. It sounds really different than her older work. It's very mellow and piano-based. It is beautifully produced. There are some funky parts, but most of the album sounds sad and slow. Perfect for a rainy day like the one on the cover. I listened to it like 3 times last night. I definitely recommend checking it out.



I also

- Signed up for iTunes Match - Yay!
- Watched Human Cenitpede 2 - Boo! (It's lame.)

My trip to New York was really, really great. Now, I've done a lot of traveling in my adult years, and I've learned that vacation stories get old fast, so I'll condense my vacation summary in to the top five events of the trip.

1) Spider-man

The original point of my trip to New York was to see the Broadway musical Spider-man: Turn off the Dark. I had heard that it was bad, and it had it's problems during development, but I'm happy to say it was great! Matt and I both had a blast. It wasn't perfect, but it was certainly entertaining.



2) Central Park

Central Park was beautiful. We spent hours walking as much of it as we could. While we were there, we saw several famous spots including places where Hair was filmed. We also ran in to Laura Linney!



3) Broadway and Times Square

What a spectacle! We saw Harry Potter dance his ass off, we cried as Jan Maxwell and Bernadette Peters tore our hearts out in Follies, we visited a Toys R Us with a ferris wheel and we had unbelievable BBQ. All within a few blocks.



4) Bros

I admittedly didn't want to spend too much time hanging out with Matt's friends in New York, but they turned out to be some great folks to meet. Plus, they provided a unique insight in to day-to-day life in New York. Matt's friends Raffy, Shannon and Andy were gracious hosts and fun people to meet. I'm honored to call them my friends, and I can't wait to see them again.



5) The Statue of Liberty

We wound up seeing the Statue of Liberty in the late afternoon on our last full day in New York. It was a gift of an experience. We get some great pictures, and we had a very memorable and beautiful afternoon.



6) Shhhhhh. WHITE CASTLE!!!!!!

Had to sneak this one in. Mid-vacation, I realized that New York has White Castle. I told Matt that if he cared about me at all, he would let me go there. It was his first time, and he liked it. Yes!



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I need to say an extra thanks to Matt for really making this trip happen. I decided I wanted to go to New York to see Spider-man, and I didn't care who went with me, and I only intended on going to a night or two. Matt turned the trip in to a full-on New York vacation, and I owe him big.

Also, thanks to chulo_los for suggesting Follies. It was great!

I wear this shirt every year. I'm actually a little surprised it fits. I guess dieting last week was a good idea after all. :)

Today:



2010:



2009:

Last night, I treated myself to a little Taco Bell and watched Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. It's about as bad as I remembered it. My favorite is Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors. It's the one where Freddy's victims realize they have powers in the dream world, too, so they fight back. The 4th film is also great; it continues the story from 3.



Speaking of those movies, I still haven't seen the remake from last year. Is it any good?

I'm really in to a singer called Gotye. Last weekend, xxtapemakerxx hipped us all to his music. It's effing brilliant. I think he's a big deal in Australia right now. He certainly is not big in America... YET.



( Click here for some of his music. )