Have a Nice Day, Irvine

My last couple of weeks in Irvine has been great! The overall gist of what I did was simply hang out, chill, and eat, eat, eat. It has perhaps one of the most awesome moments I have had in Southern California. I had to live it up, because, at least for the moment, this short time of hedonism must stop for now. In case you haven't heard, I have moved back to the Bay Area. Is it forever? For a moment? Who knows. Well, here's what happened these last few weeks.

However, I am now sitting in my room writing this blog. I've also slowed down my food consumption for a bit because of my binge from the last week I was in Irvine. As of now, I'm still on the job search, hopefully not for long though. I've also been taking it easy for the last few days because of all the hectic-ness that happened in Irvine.

Do I miss being in SoCal? Obviously, yes. Not the school though. I'm completely over UCI at this point and everything that is connected to that school (classes, professors, walking ridiculously long distances to get to school, staying up all night to just barely pass an exam, etc.) and surprisingly everything that's connected to Interfaith and UCC in general (If you don't know my true feelings about this topic at this point, don't ask because you'll never know!). I will definitely miss Liwanag and PUSO as well. Not necessarily the meetings and formal events, but more so the people and friends that I have met and became close to over these past four years. What else will I miss? Well I am a total sucker to the top fives, so here it goes:

Derrick's top five things he will miss, but will totally recover in due time:

5) Late night stuff: This is one big thing that I will miss. There's also only the few people that have become a part of this late night ritual (Since not everyone can stay up until 5am anymore!). Thanks to those who were a part of this late night crew. This will become a part of the past though since I want to maintain a stringent sleeping schedule at this point on.

4) Being with the ladies: A majority of my "personal" time in the last two weeks in Irvine was devoted to the opposite sex. Yes, they are my good friends, but it was definitely fun being a faux-pimp for my last weeks. Obviously I will eventually (have to) recover here in NorCal. However, I am making a drastic policy change at this point: No more friends! In other words, she either likes me back, or I will straight out tell her to "Fuck off, bitch!" I have enough friends, thank you!

3) The relative safety bubble known as Irvine or South Orange County: Being back in the Bay Area, particularly in Vallejo or American Canyon has made a huge reality check: it's not so safe to go out at night. This is something that many UCI people take for granted, that I can walk in the streets of Irvine on 3 a.m. to Jack in the Box and back to my apartment in Cornell without being afraid of getting mugged, shot at, etc. Sure I may be a guy and all, but there must be women who also walk the streets of Irvine or the UCI campus alone and will return to there houses safely. Sure there are those incidents that have occurred in the last year, but compared to everywhere else, it's ridiculously safe here.

2) The SoCal attitude. When you lived all your life in NorCal, and then all of a sudden live in SoCal for about 4 years, you know there's a difference. I don't know how to explain it, but there's just a difference in attitude. Especially in Irvine, people tend to be a tad stuck up and arrogant. It's like they got way to much to prove in life. Enough, okay! I get it, your fucking successful. Now just back off!

Well, to demonstrate how NorCal attitude, in particular Bay Area attitude is like, I have a story. It was in August when I was still at home. I wanted to get money from an ATM to the supermarket. Then there was this lady who was driving around with her Cadillac, her hip hop music pumped up, and she was pissed. I don't know why, but it was obvious she was pissed. She had her window rolled down and was yelling and cursing at everyone that was around the parking lot. Then all of a sudden she passes me by, and then called me a BITCH. Yes, you read that right, a bitch. I would have done something, but she was driving a car. And I don't want to get potentially ran over by her Cadillac. This is what I deal with when I'm in the Bay. Perhaps this is why I tend to be a little hot headed or intense.

1) The actual top 5: Well, I'm just going to miss how exciting it is to know everyone else's top 5 yet at the same time not really revealing my own top 5. In reality this is a very annoying question. This is because of many reasons. I would write about it, but it would be in the form of a five-page essay. And I'm over school, so I'll just "assume" you know what I'm talking about (I really hate assumptions by the way.).

So there you have it. Besides that "I'll miss you all, and I love you" message that perhaps I should have written about, these are the other random things I will miss while being in Irvine and the greater SoCal area.

Well, I guess it's time to really start living life.

Have a nice day, Irvine.

That is all.