By Michael Tolosa | February 28, 2005 - 2:02 pm
Posted in Category: Work, Love & Dating, Sports

It’s snowing hard outside. I’m working from home, sitting on my couch with my laptop, listening to Frank Black and drinking a Diet A&W. I just finished watching the last episode of X-Files. The TV will be off until 24 this evening. I am determined…determined to get my Nextel work done today. I’ve been so preoccupied with girls and sports, that my work has taken a hit in the past week. There’s no use in raising expectations, if I’m not going to meet them—much less exceed them.

But so much is happening outside of work, I’ve got to stop and jot some of it down…

I held my kickball interest meeting two Sundays ago, and almost forty people came and signed the info sheet. I’m continuing to recruit players at the Athletics booth after the Frontline service. I had six more people express interest last night. Of the forty-five or so interested players, seven have officially registered for the team, and about six have told me they won’t be joining. That still leaves about thirty folks, who are undecided. There is a max of 26 players on a team, so I’m hopeful to make at least one complete team. We may end up with enough for two teams.

Prior to the interest meeting, I was contacted by a girl named Kim, who I knew from a church youth group in Arlington I had attended thirteen years ago. She was organizing a Frontline ice skating social and e-mailed me wanting to join the Frontline kickball team. After catching up, I asked her to be the Co-Captain of the team, and she accepted. Since then, I’ve seen her at the kickball interest meeting, as well as her ice skating social this past Saturday night.

Last night, a girl came up to the Athletics booth, and I instantly recognized her as Maureen—the cute girl from my tennis class last fall. She was the one I had wanted to ask out to lunch, etc. She recognized me, and we were both surprised to see each other at Frontline. I told her I was forming a Frontline kickball team, and she said she’d join. We also made plans to get together for a game of tennis at Worldgate sometime soon. Aside: Maureen has now shot to the top of my “potential date list.” She’s cute, is a Christian, plays tennis, and wants to play kickball. I swear, if she tells me she reads comics, I’m going to ask her to marry me immediately.

I’ve decided that if I hang out with the 19-year-old girl from the bank again, it will solely be to invite her to play tennis with me in South Riding, or to come to Frontline. I just don’t think I could hang out regularly with someone who isn’t old enough to drink. Plus, I don’t want to be creepy.

As of Sunday morning, I am a member of the Worldgate Sport & Health Club in Herndon. I get 25% off the membership price, because I work at Nextel. I’ve also made arrangements with the tennis director to get a 3-for-2 deal on tennis classes. That means, I will sign up for the Tuesday and Thursday classes, and get the Sunday morning class free. I plan on playing tennis three times a week during March. It will be a crash course in getting fit for the Spring. Kickball starts in April, so we’ll see when I can play tennis then.

Now, I simply have to concentrate on work. Go to my tennis classes. Continue recruiting for the Frontline kickball team. And try to hang out with Maureen (and other potentials). I gotta keep it simple, or I’ll become overwhelmed by everything.

By Michael Tolosa | February 25, 2005 - 8:49 pm
Posted in Category: Love & Dating

I’ve missed a lot in my journal the past week or so. I don’t have the energy to fully catch up right now. But I do want to write an update regarding one side story in my life. I’ll keep it short…

Last Friday, I finally asked out the girl who works at my bank.

Today I found out that she’s only nineteen.

By Michael Tolosa | February 23, 2005 - 8:23 am
Posted in Category: Shopping

For the first time ever, I bought a toner cartridge for my HP LaserJet 4000N printer. It’s a top-of-the-line network printer I got from the “going out of business” sale at Roku four years ago. Original cost for the printer was about $1,500, but I got it for $300. It’s the only printer I have, and four years later, it’s just now running out of ink. I went to Amazon.com to buy a replacement cartridge (which normally runs $100), and found resellers offering brand new ones for $35. So, judging from the longevity of the previous toner cartridge, I estimate the cost of owning an awesome network laser printer for eight years at $335. That’s pretty awesome.

I don’t spend a lot of money these days, but when I do, this is what I buy…

Rubber bases and cones for kickball
Registration to two WAKA kickball divisions
Tennis classes
Sport bags
Skateboarding shoes (for tennis)
Slim-line jewel cases
DVD-Rs
Postage
Food
Beer

By Michael Tolosa | February 22, 2005 - 10:27 pm
Posted in Category: Media

I’ve been glued to the television. Some very good shows are on DVD, and I’ve been enjoying them in bulk.

I watched ‘Angel’ season 5 this weekend. It’s the only season I liked (other than the first half of season 1). The addition of Spike to the cast was the best thing to happen to that show. Season 5 was sort of a slow burn following the end of ‘Buffy,’ but it’s still good television. Especially the final episode.

I also added the second and third seasons of ‘24’ to my ever-diminishing DVD collection. I missed much of season 3 (because a certain favorite character of mine was killed off, and I was pissed). But in the next few weeks, I’m going to watch the first three seasons back-to-back-to-back.

Right now, I’m watching the final two seasons of ‘X-Files.’ They’re my favorite seasons. Robert Patrick played a really great character (Agent John Doggett), and I was sad to see the show end after he took over. It’s incredibly unfortunate he hasn’t landed a recurring role on another TV show (although he had an okay guest role on ‘Lost’ last week). I thought he’d be perfect for a serious cop show like ‘NYPD Blue.’

After finishing up with these, I’m thinking of watching the final couple seasons of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation.’ Those are going to bring back some very positive memories of when I really loved to watch TV.

By Michael Tolosa | February 17, 2005 - 1:32 pm
Posted in Category: Work, Christianity

Her: hey
Her: do you know why peeps pray?
Me: ha, ha
Her: tryin to learn!
Me: it’s like talking on a phone with God
Me: wireless communication
Her: that’s a high tech God
Me: infinitely fast broadband
Her: but can u hear things from him
Me: not literally
Me: but yes
Her: like let’s say i ask you to pray for someone who’s sick
Me: yes
Me: i would come to him via prayer to ask for his intervention
Me: understanding that he may not
Her: ooooh
Me: nor does he have to
Her: do you pray out loud or in your head
Me: either
Me: some people pray as a group
Me: out loud
Me: like asking God to bless dinner
Her: oooh y
Her: do u do that?
Me: my family does
Me: i usually don’t think to do it on my own.
Me: though i probably should
Me: ;)
Me: but not out loud
Me: prayer is a personal thing
Me: i wouldn’t use it to show off or make a statement
Me: it’s communication between you and god, not an opportunity to preach at other people.
Her: i see
Her: did you grow up religious?
Me: yes
Me: my parents were Catholic first, then converted to Christianity (protestant) when i was young.
Me: then i went to christian school until 5th grade
Her: i didn’t grow up religious, obvi
Me: most people our age didn’t. ;-)
Her: i’m trying to understand how peeps have a relationship w/ God
Me: you don’t need years of experience. it can start at anytime.
Her: cuz if someone is sick…i can keep them in my thoughts
Her: but not nec. pick up the God phone
Me: sure
Me: but since we as humans are powerless to help our friends who are sick (aside from medicine), some look to a higher power who can help.
Her: oooh i get it now
Me: it’s something to hope for
Me: i guess a lot of christianity has to do with hope. …for an afterlife, etc.
Her: i’m still trying to figure out what i think about God…i’m thinking it’s more of a spiritual energy
Her: and i dont get the jesus stuff
Her: i’m a unitarian
Her: but i’m openminded to learning diff. religions
Me: basically, christianity says that there is a permenant rift between man and god, and jesus repairs that rift.
Me: and it is an exclusive belief (i.e., not unitarian).
Me: and that’s what most people find offensive with christianity.
Me: that they believe that there is no other person/diety that can repair that rift.
Me: other than jesus
Her: oooh
Her: well peeps can believe whatever they want
Me: they sure can
Me: we have freewill
Her: well i’m sure i have more questions!
Me: anytime!
Her: some of my christian friends have a hard time explaining things to me
Her: and then we just argue
Me: well, we can get in a fist fight, if you want. but i’d rather just talk. ;)
Her: haha ok
Her: well i cant go to the 5.30 service this wkd cuz i have to go be gay at the l word premiere party
Her: ;-)
Her: but maybe the next wkd
Me: yeah, come to Frontline anytime. let me know though, so i can sit with you. :)