Day 204: The Return of the Amul

 

July 23rd, 2011Amul came all the way from Riverside to visit me yesterday, and subsequently I spent the entire day with him today. It was like last year all over again, except this time we tried to cram as much as possible into the day so we could maximize the productivity/enjoyment of the day. After both waking up this morning and getting ready, we proceeded to Pick up Stik for lunch, which was somewhat delicious cause I actually ordered fried rice this time. We got back to my apartment, where we watched some TV while waiting for Lauren to get ready. We decided to go hiking afterwards, so we picked up Jessica and was on our way to Mission Trails Regional Park to go hiking. The hike itself was relatively long and painful, but the moments spent were pretty enjoyable. Lauren kept lagging behind because she didn’t eat any breakfast and lunch, but somehow we walked roughly 5 miles (first walking down a long street road, and then encountering the beautiful lake I took a picture of for my picture of the day, and finally a long hike up a mountain). Going uphill was painful, but I loved jumping down stairs going downhill, almost slipping a few times of course. Lauren and Jessica were unable to finish, so me and Amul rushed back to the car, and picked them up at a local liquor store, where we got slushies, snacks, and drinks to celebrate/rejuvenate our bodies.

When we got back we picked up Geetha and dropped off Jessica, going back to our place to clean up. Afterwards we talked to Tyler for a bit, Alex came over, and then we all departed to Souplantation for a clean, healthy dinner. Amul picked up Jessica and her roommate and we all met up at Souplantation. The meal was relatively enjoyable, but I was extremely bummed at the beginning of the meal because I accidentally spilled two plates of salad all over the ground. It was SOOOOO sad and tragic, and made me not want to talk (for a full ten minutes). Afterwards, we all went back – with one of my roommates Tyler leaving for a party, and the other roommate Lauren basically passed out from hiking. I played Catan with Amul, Alex, Geetha, Jessica, and her roommate and ended up winning, even though the game was extremely dragged out. I walked everyone back to Von’s at the end of the night, Amul reparked his car, and we ended the night watching the South Park episode of Human Centipede. It was not that great, and Amul fell asleep, but it was fine, because it reminded me of old times when Amul would fall asleep whenever we watched a movie together. It was nice that he visited, because I don’t foresee him being free enough to do so in the immediate future. The end.

On this day in 1984, 21-year-old Vanessa Williams gives up her Miss America title, the first resignation in the pageant’s history, after Penthouse magazine announces plans to publish nude photos of the beauty queen in its September issue. Williams originally made history on September 17, 1983, when she became the first black woman to win the Miss America crown. Miss New Jersey, Suzette Charles, the first runner-up and also an African American, assumed Williams’ tiara for the two months that remained of her reign. Vanessa Lynn Williams was born March 18, 1963, in Millwood, New York, to music teacher parents. She attended Syracuse University and studied musical theater. In 1982, while working a summer job as a receptionist at a modeling agency in Mt. Kisco, New York, photographer Thomas Chiapel took the nude pictures of Williams, telling her they’d be shot in silhouette and that she wouldn’t be recognizable. After Williams became Miss America, the photographer sold the pictures to Penthouse without her knowledge. Williams later dropped lawsuits against the magazine and photographer after it was learned that she had signed a model release form at the time the photos were taken. HRM NICE.

British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse was a phenomenon: a Jewish girl from a London suburb with a retro beehive, a devil-may-care attitude and a voice that channeled Aretha Franklin and Ruth Brown. Music industry figures on both sides of the Atlantic hung their hopes on her, and her breakout album, “Back to Black,” did not disappoint, selling millions of copies. Less than a decade after her emergence as an original talent, she was more likely to be mentioned in the company of pop music’s tragedies — artists like Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, whose self-destructive habits led to their deaths at the age of 27. READY SAD, but that’s what happens when you do drugs….

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