The theme of today's entry is People.

Yesterday was Dave's bachelor party. I know usually, what happens at a bachelor's party isn't discussed. However, I'm proud to say that the things we did last night wouldn't break up any marriages, so nobody has to worry. Plus Aileen told me no strippers because Vince was coming. Basically, it was pizza and a Giants game. I thought things went really well last night. I was really glad that most people made it to the dinner and ballgame. For some, it was their first baseball game, so I hope they enjoyed it. Although the Giants got crushed (to the point where Danny started cheering for the Cleveland Indians) and my scoreboard message for Dave never showed up, I still thought things were fun. I know a lot of people had fun at the pitching cage and Martin called me to come, but I wanted to stay with my brother and the other guys in the bleachers.

I think last night was a success to me because I could tell the people there really cared for Dave, and having the people close to me in life happy is important. Just the little things like being able to drive a car to the game, or helping with the pictures. Even Anthony bringing the giant ball and chain that Garson made and buying a new strap to latch on to Dave that morning was cool. Everyone made things so easy for me, and I appreciated that.

The thing about people is that they are so unpredictable, and maybe that's a good thing because it makes life interesting. At one point during the game, these two guys and their girlfriends sat down in our seats. About half of the guys left for the pitching cages, so I had to tell these guys that they were our seats. And he just replies, "No they aint" and then sits down in them. And I was hella pissed. This isn't middle school buddy. Turns out their tickets aren't even for that seat, but about 10 seats down. Then as soon as he checks his tickets, he moves towards the end of our row to his real seats and tells me to "cool my jets." To be honest, I was pretty angry at that asshole and it did bother me the rest of the day that some guy would push me around like that. But the weird thing was about 4 innings before those guys, there was this couple who also sat down at our seats and we had to tell them to move, politely of course. And they were so cool about it. As they moved, they even said to my brother that they just saw him on the Jumbotron (we must've missed it) because we bought Dave this giant King's crown and a "Groom to Be" pin. Also, some guy came down from his seats to ask Dave what was up with the hat. When he told him he was getting married, the guy gave him a handshake and some...words of advice. Lastly, as some of us walked to Norm's car on the way home, some group of high schoolers behind us started singing Happy Birthday to Dave before we could actually explain what the crown was for.

I guess the point of this was that for every asshole, there's a bunch of strangers who are going to treat you like a human being. It was a...refreshing feeling last night just sitting next to my brother and the other groomsmen, and seeing 20 other guys next to us who decided to spend their Friday night with us. I also know some guys couldn't make it because of work or other priorities in their life and I'm totally cool with that because I know they wanted to be there.

Last night reminded me of the golfing experience about two weeks ago. Some of the guys went to go golf at Castro Valley. Me and Kenny decided to go caddy for Brian and Pat. However, at the first hole, one of the workers there stopped Brian and Kenny because they said you can't be a standbyer or a caddy. If you want to watch or caddy, you have to pay $22 (golfing costs $32 there). So me, Kenny, and Brian had to leave and instead we drove around Castro Valley for the next 6 hours. Ultimately, me and Kenny were pissed. I think a part of us felt it was racial, although they claimed that they wanted us to pay because of insurance issues if we got hit (although Brian says that everyone on the golf course is already insured). I honestly didn't know if was racial or not. Perhaps rules are just rules, but we wondered what they would've done if we were another race. Perhaps they would've let us slide. But golfing is associated with a certain class, gender, and race. I guess a 20 year old asian who made $8.50 an hour isn't cut out to be in the CEO class (yet). And sometimes that seems to be my motivation, to become some millionaire businessman so that the guy telling me that my seats are really his or the guy telling me to get off his golf course can go and kiss my ass.

You know me, I wouldn't end my entry with that story. So what happens at the end, you ask? Later that day, we decide to go to Hometown Buffet, but we have no idea where exactly it is. So we end up driving around the mall parking lot and ask this woman for directions. She tries to remember but can't exactly, so she asks this other lady nearby if she knew where it was. That lady tells us that she was on her way to the Safeway near the Hometown Buffet, and told us to follow her. She basically led us to the front door of Hometown Buffet. So in the very same day me and Kenny felt dissed by the golf course, this stranger is willing to go out of her way and show us how to get to Hometown Buffet. And it was really a huge lesson to me, because as soon as I was about to write off Castro Valley as a lame place, we meet this lady who leads a bunch of hungry strangers to the promise land (Hometown Buffet).

It's weird to think that part of the world is kind, and the other part doesn't care about rules (or follows them too closely). And I guess it's scary because you never know which part you'll face when you wake up and get out of bed every day. In my opinion, that's why we make friends and build our relationships with each other, because with friends we know which part of the world we're going to get.