Back in Motion

Until there's a BlackBerry version of Instagram provided for the Z10, people are still going to be fucking with the iPhone 5. 

Other than that, I can't wait for this Sunday's Superbowl and Primitive's Spring 2013 apparel line that might feature Filipina model Christine Mendoza. Until then, nothing else matters. 

Valuable Life Assurance

I've had better weekends in the past, and this is one of them. A first for the new year.

So on Friday evening, I stopped by my good friend Frank's crib to catch up on each others lives. I haven't hung out with him in a about a month. I had to get some 8x10s of the late Ashley Davidson printed out from him (thanks again Frank) and then we just talked about basic stuff and this Sunday's Super Bowl. We saw a few Jack in The Box commercials cause coincidentally, I ate some Tacos from there earlier that day (I like Del Taco's selection better) and also, the Lakers kept the Utah Jazz under 100 points that night as the final score was 102-84, which meant that the fans in attendance at Staples Center received free Jack in The Box Tacos.

Hey, it was only a dollar I spent though, and the value of a One Dollar Note is no where compared to how valuable it was when I was in elementary school. That shit was so powerful then, that you make any kid on campus do anything for a buck, from having to get him to do your homework done, to standing upside-down while saying the Alphabet backwards, to getting another person's Lunchables and to having that girl you have a crush on sit next to you on a field trip to the La Brea Tarpits (think Love Don't Cost a Thing and Can't Buy Me Love, which are both the same movies). I'm talkin' growing up in the 90's here. Now sometime in the future, the one dollar bill is gonna be like what a penny and a nickel is right now. Just useless change.

On the subject of money, I went to the Power 106 studios in Burbank on Saturday for a financial seminar workshop there. When I was a kid, I used to always think that Power 106 was broadcasted somewhere out from Slauson Ave or anywhere in South Central Los Angeles since west coast Gangsta' Rap was what they normally played back in the day in the afternoons and evenings (they played house, trance and Latin Freestyle during the morning and mid day). This was when the Baka Boyz ran the morning show and when Big Boy replaced them, he was fat as fuck at the time. Now that station is not the way it was 18 years ago, as its switched from the real legit underground hip-hop and the gangsta rap 40oz drinkin' listeners, to the soft European dance club, electronic colorful, underage shit to the "Barack Kardashian" iPhone audience. I picked this over the Dodgers fan fest because 1.) I've haven't been inside a music radio station offices other than ESPN Deportes to pick out tickets for Fiesta Lakers in 2009 and 2) I didn't feel like going to be surrounded in line with a lot of Dodger fans and their families that day.

So I park right next to the building in a empty street with no parking sign in sight (unlike Downtown Burbank next to the mall) and then went inside. The security guard there escorted me to the elevator and told me to go to the specific floor (which I won't say on here for confidentiality reasons) on where the Power 106 offices are. After the elevator ride, I got on the right floor and then I went to the reception desk where some dude, who look like he was in a community college, was taking charge there. He opened the door for me and then led me to the conference room where the workshop was gonna be at. As I was walking, I saw several plaques and framed autographed posters hanging on the wall of different R&B singers and artists that visited the studio in the past.. I couldn't think of one off the top of my head that I saw but Mariah Carey was one of them. I got to the conference room and there were three women around my age, who work in the stations promotions department I believe, and a light skinned black guy in a suit. They were there to check people in for the seminar workshop. I thought there was gonna be a lot of people that would also show up, but I was told that a few several people came earlier and left, so it was just me and the staff there.

After I checked in, the bloke in the suit sat me down on a table. He gave me his business then ask me some questions about how my money managing skills is going and the jobs I've had in the past and everything. After I told them, he then gave me some financial advice and other basics of Economics that I was never though in high school, as well as why certain banks merge and how it affected those who have accounts in the said bank that was going to be bought out by another bank. I knew I had something like this coming to me on my way there, but I thought I was gonna be in that conference room with other recession-bitten undergrads listening to several people in suits on stage telling us not to spend money on sneakers and bottles at the club. But instead, I had a one-on-one discussion with a representative from Chase Bank telling me some motivational stuff, from his thoughts on the economy to the real reason why the recession happened, and to why out-spoken protesters switched from banks to credit unions two years ago during Occupy Wall Street. It woke me up for a bit as I stayed interested in what he had to say. I originally wanted to come here just to check out the Power 106 studios since I met and took photos of Yesi Ortiz, Luscious Liz, DJ JustinCredible, and other Power 106 personalities in the past, but damn, hearing all the inspirational information about finances, keeping a steady balance and a healthy budget was uplifting. I knew about how to work on a budget and all that shit, but this was like next level, push you to the top of the ride-type shit. Shoutout to Power 106 for making good use of my time.

As I left the studios and offices, I got into the car and saw that it was 12:30 PM. I had to be at my homeboy Elvis's brother's crib in Sun Valley for a Benefit Celebration for the late Ashley Davidson which started at 5PM according to the Facebook invite. I had a lot of time to kill, so I went to the Burbank library on Buena Vista Street and read Ebony Magazine and the Time Magazine "Person of the Year" from last year. I picked the latest issue of Ebony Magazine cause not only Black History Month is approaching, but it had rapper T.I and his wife Tameka "Tiny" Harris on the cover. The article about them discusses about all the shit that they went through during T.I.'s possession of illegal weapons and probation violations that landed him in jail a few years ago and their reality TV show on VH1. Also, T.I was one of my favorite rappers when I was graduating from high school in 2006 and I had his King album on Vinyl. I also went to his show  he performed at the Key Club that MySpace hosted in 2008 before he got locked up, and it was there that I saw Rhianna (three months before Chris Brown fucked up her face and her mind over matter) and Kanye West for the very first time in person as surprise guests performers. Hell, even Kanye West performed and debuted a few tracks from his 808s and Heartbreak album as he just came fresh off a flight from recording that album in Hawaii on that day. Such a great-ass show. But getting back to T.I. and his wife, even though I'm not a fan of their show, I do respect his hustle (hence the name T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle) and seeing that his wife still has his back and support despite the arrests and other famous couples having short marriages. Another thing I noticed in that issue was that it had a section on how to manage your finances during this income tax season. It had the same info that I was told earlier from the Chase representative, but then again, it might be a tax season thing.

Soon afterwards, I left the library and hour later and decided to stop by my sisters house close by in North Hollywood to chill there or a bit until the benefit celebration stated. When I got there, they weren't home and I don't have a mobile phone yet to contact them. So I just parked my car in front of the crib and just walked around the neighborhood that I spent my childhood in. I was wearing a suit that day and I felt uncomfortable walking around a neighborhood in a suit, making fools think that I'm one of those door-to-door Christian pamphlet converters, which I didn't do cause I had no pamphlets. I walked to Dollar store there (one of the only few place where a Dollar bill is useful) to buy a pen for the benefit celebration and a cheeseburger from a McDonald's close by cause I didn't eat anything for the whole day, which is another reason while I stopped by my sisters so that I can something there. As I got back to the house an hour later, they still weren't home, so I sat in the car, ate my Cheeseburger and waited for a bit. I figured that my sisters were coming back from church or something. Finally, at 3:00, I lost my patience and drove off to Sun Valley. I thought they would be home at the time, but apparently, they weren't.

I got to my friend's brother's house 10 minutes later, but unfortunately, I was too damn early. I even had to wait for awhile until they got home cause I remember them saying that they had to go to their daughter's performance at the Sunset Strip earlier in that day. I'm not gonna lie, I don't like showing up early to an event that's not photography related than I hate showing up late to an event, but I made good use of the time by playing soccer with their kids in the front lawn in my dress shoes (I didn't give a shit) and watched Batman Forever with them. Man, that movie was entertaining, minus the Val Kilmer/Nicole Kidman smooching "Kiss From a Rose" shit. I wish I saw it when it came out in theaters cause I remember that movie was hyped up back when I was in second grade, and I used to have the poster for it. Later on, more people slowly started to attend. I talked with them for a bit and then I brought out the 8x10s of Ashley I printed out and made everyone signed it.

As the night started to progress, everyone started to show up. I saw several people that I haven't seen in about a year or two and had some small talk conversations with them. These were people that I used to see and photograph at the shows and Nicole Stetter's house back in 2011. During the majority of the night, while everyone was outside talking, I was inside making sure everyone that attended (who knew Ashley very well) sign the 8x10s. The homegirl Julie Canizalez had some candles on display with another photo of Ashley on it. She was selling them and also she created a suggested donation jar so that the funds can go to Ashley's family. They're were about 20 candles and all of them were sold by the end of the night, which amazed me. What also amazed me more was that about $500 was raised in donations that night. I've been to fundraisers in the past were the most people raised was 50 bucks, but the amount made that night was tremendous, and again, it was going towards a good cause. The only time I stepped outside was when there was a performance. It was my first time seeing the homeboy Elvis perform with this band called Craters. They play very mellow rock music that you would likely hear in surf movies that was filmed at night. Makes you feel like you were feasting at Island's with a Hawaiian shirt on during a sunset. It was a fantastic performance. Then later on, Elvis other band Aftergloam performed, and I haven't seen them play  in person in over a year. My homeboy Luis Sanchez is a new addition to the band and he's always been wanting me to see him perform in the past, which I never got the chance to except for that night. Great seeing them entertain the crowd while playing a selective set of new tracks that I've never heard before.

Then later on, the homies Victor Diaz and Sevonne Alossi band Astral Jubilee went up next. I never got a chance to see them perform, but WOW, their music.... I mean not just only the music, but their setup as well... damn, it was amazing. More than just dope in person. Some of their instruments that they had were vintage-looking instruments that you would've have to dig deep on eBay and Craigslist to find. Their smooth style of music feels like being inside the "Coconut Grove" nightclub in the old Ambassador Hotel (where Robert F. Kennedy got shot at), or some other fancy mid- twentieth century lounge.  There was a person playing the piano with the visible strings being stuck by the keys, another dude with three different wind instruments (he even switched from a sax to a flute to another wind instrument during the same song) a drummer, Sevonne with the percussion and vocals, and Victor with the bass and lead vocals as well. This is something you would hear on KCRW during the Morning Becomes Eclectic show or in the evening with DJ Raul Campos. Man, that night felt like I was at the Dragonfly on Santa Monica Boulevard or the Five Star Bar in downtown LA again, just like old times. That performance gave me even much more respect to them than before. I wanted to spend the night there since it the roads started to get wet from the small rain, but I decided to head home after the atmosphere started to decreased. Major shoutout to Willam and Ginger Galvez for hosting the benefit celebration at their place. Another shoutout to Craters, Aftergloam, Carbon Stereo, Astral Jubilee and everyone that attended and also signed the 8x10s and contributed. Despite the performances, alot of people were emotional everytime they looked at the photos of Ashley as they're signing their names on it. Like I said, I only met her once. If I saw her and knew her more often, then I would've been just as emotional as everyone else closer to her was.

On Sunday, I went to my pops house to stay there for a few days. I watched a bit of the Lakers/Thunder game there since my favorite LA blogger/celebrity jeweler Ben Baller was celebrating his 40th birthday at the game on courtside inside Staples Center and getting some national exposure on TV. It was a fucking close game which each team exchanging leads. At the end, despite their decrease in wins than losses, the Lakers won again for the second game in a row at home, against one of the current best teams in the NBA in The Oklahoma City Thunder. Also, the jerseys that Kevin Durant, Russel Westbrook and the rest of the Thunder was wearing caught me by surprise. It was design with the words THUNDER on the left side and the jersey number on the top right side in dark navy and white instead of their regular blue/orange/yellow color scheme jersey. But that feeling of the Lakers winning that game was the same feeling from watching them four years ago during the back-to-back champion seasons. It just felt good (especially in Ben Baller's case) cause we haven't seen them win like this in a while. Laker fans and everyone else was talking about it on instagram and Twitter after the game. That probably the best way to end that weekend.

Instead of the term "Good things happen to bad people", I think it should be known as "Good things are given to emotionally deserved people". I hope the best for Ashley Davidson's family, as well as anyone that's working on another chance at whatever in life, be it repairing a broken relationship or replacing something that was lost. Thanks for time reading this.

Lining Up is For The Children

Last night while everyone in their Twenties was getting drunk off overpriced bottles of Patron and Smirnoff on Hollywood Blvd, I was just browsing though random images on the cyberspace until I came upon this image.

I guess the late Dirt McGirt was right at the Grammy's 15 years ago. Speaking of which, The Wu-Tang Clan, along with many well known and unheard of bands (excluding Ultraista which got me upset) are featured in this years lineup at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Here's what was placed on the table last night. 

Unfortunately, they don't have any holographic performances being billed on here. So instead, you can imagine your own private concert of your favorite deceased artist by tripping out on some 'shrooms and cannabis you got in exchange for your generated refrigerator filled with bottles of ice cold SmartWater. Afterall, Coachella Valley gets very hot, and this is from experience. If you don't believe me (which you should by now), here's my synopsis from the time I went there three years ago Coachella 2010 recap.

Oh and before I finish, the Los Angeles Dodgers are selling tickets for this upcoming season tomorrow at Chavez Ravine, along with a festival that will have a shitload of long-ass lines just to get an autograph from Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and several legendary former Dodgers players in attendance that your kid or younger cousin has never heard of. I've already met former Dodgers manager Tommy LaSorda two years ago and posed for a photo with him along with the bling from the 1981 World Series that we owned against the New York Yankees during the fall classic that year. Don't believe me again? Man I'm spoiling y'all.

This is much more valuable, to me, than getting Ethier's signature for a high school sophomore. Otherwise if that moment never happened, then I could've been driving up past Elysian Park and the Los Angeles Police Academy at 5AM in my Kemp jersey and a Venti-sized Starbucks drink with me, talking to other Dodger Fans waiting to get tickets and enjoying the festivities as we all watch the sun rise while waitin' and chillin' at the Ravine.  Still can't believe that we have to play the World Champion San Francisco Giants on opening day again (I don't wanna bring up the last time we played them on opening day, and they also won the World Series the season before), which is one of the main points on why Full House sucks (except Lori Laughlin as Aunt Becky). Here's the link with more info on the event. Dodgers FanFest 2013 info

To those going there either yourself or with your girl and your families, and whatever else you got planned this weekend, enjoy it and have a safe fun time. Thanks for reading.

The Sneakers that John Connor is wearing back in 1990...

are gonna be released this Saturday. For those who can't see to closely, here's the big picture. 

The Nike Air Jordan V White/Fire Red colorway, which is what Edward Furlong was rockin' during his pull-up session, was released around the time when Terminator 2: Judgement Day was being filmed a year before the movie was played in theaters and WAY before Arnold looked after my state of California. The Air Jordan V was the first pair of Jordans I ever bought, but in a limited Black/Carolina Blue colorway in the summer of 2006. It came with a card (known as a retro card) that showed a black and white image of Michael Jordan spreading his arms just like in the "Wings" poster and on the back, it detailed the history of the shoe, such as dissecting the moments that Michael had in the NBA that year while wearing these. I also have another pair of these in the White/Emerald Grape colorway that will also be re-released again this year. 

What I like about these Jordan Vs is not what Michael did while wearing these, but the background I learned from it as well. The bottom of the sneaker was one of the first to have a clear sole with the Jumpman logo visible through it. Two other cool features of the Jordan V's was that it came with lacelocks for those too lazy to tie their shoes and the other is the reflective tongue that brightens when exposed to a large amount of light such as a flash from a camera (the other version of the Fire Red Vs had a black tongue that doesn't reflect). Will Smith was know for constantly running and dancing around in Uncle Phil's lavish house while wearing these during the first season of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which also came out in 1990. 

Speaking of which, the retail price for these back in the day was $125, a shitload of money that year for basketball sneakers. This was at a time when anybody and their moms can go into a Foot Locker or an Athletes Foot and just purchase them anytime of the day, any day of the week. That process is no longer relevant nowadays in the present. Everytime an Air Jordan Retro is released, it sell out in less than 5 minutes online and many athletic footwear stores (Footlocker, Finish Line, Champs, Sheikhs) and boutiques (Undefeated, Blends) received limited shipment of each particular Air Jordan retro, with in some occasions, certain pairs are captured for the store employees as they take advantage on their employee discount on them. So don't expect to see this and other future Air Jordan Retros in the stockroom, otherwise the only other option is to pay beyond retail for these at sneaker reselling consignments like Flight Club LA, eBay, or make some offers through sneaker websites like Sole Collector and/or N-SB.org. 

Thanks to the Air Jordan XI Concords release (I blogged about that shit already http://justforsneaks07.blogspot.com/2011/12/kickin-and-screamin.html), now its getting more tough and challenging just for a pair of Air Jordans. The whole reasoning is because from the logic of Supply and Demand: the lower the Supply, the higher the Demand. People should realize, or have already realized, that Nike, and its shoe distributor accounts like Foot Locker and Finish Line, is a business. And in a business, its all about making money and maintaining that procedure. Buzz generates interest, which makes the hype for these shoes to spike while reselling. That's why those same shoes that sell out will still in shelves of Flight Club LA cause not too many people will pay alot more for a sneaker as opposed to suggested retail price, which the term MSRP comes in, Manufactured Suggested Retail Price. Because of the buzz and the mayhem from the example of the Concord XI release, many Foot Lockers, NikeTowns and several other athletic stores now have the so-called "raffles", which is a way to avoid the campouts and potential wildness during a Air Jordan Retro release. I've never done a raffle for a pair of shoes, but how it goes is that you walk in to the store, obtain a raffle ticket by giving them your phone number or email address and wait until if they notify you that you won the said raffle in exchange for a secure right to purchase that Air Jordan Retro on the day it releases. Here's a screencap I took from Beverly Hills NikeTown's Twitter account as a example. 

They also do a raffle process, but in a different way. You have to have a Twitter account in order to secure your pair at NikeTown through their "Twitter RSVP" method. Here's the link to Nike's website that explains it further. NikeTown Twitter RSVP information

I'm explain all of this for those parents and others who like Michael Jordan (or dislike him) and the design of Air Jordan Retros but aren't into sneakers and have the knowledge of them as I do. If you swim around previous release date threads on NikeTalk and Sole Collector for a particular Air Jordan Retro that dropped, you'll not only read stories about dudes crying for not being to get these off Finish Line's website or the Foot Locker nearby them had 15 pairs and ten of them went to the employees with the remain 5 not available in his size, but you'll also read the posts on these threads from people saying that they either have to know somebody that knows a connect, and that you have just have to do their homework by researching a way to get that Jordan Retro that your favorite rapper or that reality TV star you hate and his girl is wearing. Not only does this happen with Air Jordans, but hype and purchasing process usually happens whenever Kanye West's Nike Air Yezzy drops or if there's a different shoe like the Galaxy Foamposites from last year.

As for me copping the V's this Saturday? I don't want to go through that raffling Twitter RSVP bullshit. Sucks how there are young kids (post 1994 babies with money) who maybe know more about shoes than I do, but has never got to experience walking into a Foot Locker or NikeTown on a Saturday afternoon instead of camping out the night before and purchase the sneakers in his size right then and there. I don't give a fuck about paying more for these when they get re-released at Flight Club LA like I did with the White/Cement IV's last year, but I will be getting them in the future. One of my favorite bits about this retro is that

1.) There's no 23 on the side, and its the first time since the 2000 Fire Reds Vs that these retros will be released without the 23 just like the OGs from 1990 (yes, there was another pair of Fire Red Vs that came out in 1990 as well, but it had the 23 on the side, the midsole had more red than black, and like I said earlier, the tongue was non-reflective black.).

2.) The OG design box that its gonna be packaged in, just like Nike did with the IV's last year and the III's the year before.

I know for sure these will sell quickly now that people got their tax refund at around this time. Now you can see why Nike is bringing back the Black/Royal 1's and coincidentally re-releasing the White/Cement Jordan III's again with the Nike Air on the back this time. For those getting these Vs and those other retros, good luck. For those who didn't, find a Terminator or a T-1000 and have him take you back to 1990 in Los Angeles so that you can pay for these less cheaper than it is in the present. I suggest you use a credit card instead of cash cause the cashier will look at the dollar note and think that the money is counterfeit by looking at the year the cash was made.  

Like The Virgin

The thirst is real. 

Usually, I would upload this type of stuff on my other blog site, but after two years, I decided to not update the Nobody Reads Anymore. Nowadays, I can't handle running two blog sites as I envisioned it when I launched the Wordpress site back on January 2011. However, I'll leave it up for nostalgic purposes and to admire the women and current events from mostly 2011 and a few from 2012 that I discussed on there without the long paragraphs. As much as I liked it, the same concept will be posted on here like I did in the past. The link is below

NOBODY READS ANYMORE

Its time to grow up, unlike those two blokes in the image unless they eventually did it. 

Sneaks Of The Union Address: A Tribute to Ashley Davidson and Everything in Life

First post of Two Thousand Thirteen, and I kinda picked the right day to type this.

Traditionally, I would do a recap of the past year on New Years Day, but I didn't do it this time cause I had to care of some personal shit. It wasn't the best of the past couple of weeks and the past holidays was lame as fuck. I didn't receive anything other than some money, but I didn't fucking care. Adults would rather have money so that they can buy what St. Nick would put under the fake pine tree on their behalf, or they would receive a gift that they're not too fond of and exchange it for cash (if it came with a gift receipt) or store credit at a department store, or they can just re-sell that said gift on eBay or Craigslist. As far as New Years Day, well, I'll just say I had better New Years Days in the past. I didn't do a photoshoot with a gorgeous model or partied for 72 hours straight with friends like I did for the past two New Years. After spending January 1st watching overrated Nigerian films with the family at my uncle's and getting cussed at by my pops while leaving because of my disinterest of the holiday spirit, I was then recollected that New Years Day is just another day, same with Christmas.

I stayed away from reading current events in the news and CNN's website and uploading photos on Facebook and several different forums after that. Just like Brendan Fraiser and Eugene Levy from Blast in the Past, I honestly still don't know whether the Fiscal Cliff had gone through or not, or who won best Actress in the Golden Globes and what designer dress she wore while having drunk, champagne-celebrated sex in the following evening. The year 2013 begun a week before it even officially started after Kanye West announced to the world that he was going to embrace parenthood after going raw on Kimberly. Dude just squished alot of Black men's feelings and potential hopes (excluding mine). Yeah, her family is going to keep Ryan Seacrest and the mass media livid and relevant and irritating for at least the next nine months and about eighteen years at the most (21 years if their offspring takes after his or her mothers' clubbing habits in Vegas). If I never went around Beverly Hills and Robertson Boulevard taking photos of her and her fine ass four to five years ago, then that last sentence would've never existed. This is the new version of the Jay-Z/Beyonce/Blue Ivy Carter-expecting frenzy from a year ago (already a year?) but the exposure is gonna be much more bizarre.

Even though I had a rough couple of weeks (which is why this blogsite had been dry for over a month), I managed to make good use of that time. For example, last December, I went all the way on a long drive to Indio with The Orange Rev (now Astral Fractual) drummer Elena Castro, her sister, and one of their friends to a Tamale festival that was taking place there. I went for several reasons:

1)  I haven't seen Elena for about a year
2)  I haven't tasted Tamales for a decade
3)  I wanted to escape LA on that day
4)  Indio is one of my favorite places, and its in the same city where the infamous Coachella festival event is held every spring

The event was great. Tasted so many different Tamales, had some music-related discuss with Elena, took a few photos on 35mm Film, and listened to Eddie Murphy's Raw stand-up comedy movie through her car stereo on the way back while cruising on the 10 freeway. If the holidays wasn't full of shit last month, I would've blogged about this more at the time. Special thanks to Elena and her sister Lauren Castro for the invite.

Now as if I though that 2013 was gonna be set for another predictability-wasted 365 days and 52 weeks, I got hit with a serious bolt of reality this past weekend. I'll divide it into three segments, which are kinda a play on words from Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence: Life, Liberty, and Pursuit, for Happines.

Life
One of my friends' nieces (withholding her name just out of respect) gave birth to a young baby boy last Saturday. I was invited to her baby shower a week prior to that and another different baby shower a week before that as well. I wasn't in the mood to go out to events and gatherings in public this recent month due to the botherness of personal stress, and after this past weekend, and now I wished that I did attend just to show support and give them my blessings in life for their new life blessings. A simple birth will make an immediate impact of someones life, whether you're a family member, a close friend, or a co-worker. Any female who just gave birth to her child won't be the same person as you knew when you first met her, regardless if she's 17 or becoming a mom for the first time at 47.

Whether having a child is intentional or not, just seeing that newborn is an amazing feeling, especially after being inside a woman's stomach for three-quarters of a year. That's statistic gives me much more respect to women dealing with pregnancy, and the husband/father/life partner that has to deal with her emotional mood swings every night as well. I'm not a parent (thankfully), but I was there when all of my siblings and majority of my cousins were born. Half of the females from my high school graduating class already full time moms, and I got a fortunate chance to photograph some of their children, which is another reason why I like to take photos. Young children grow and evolve mentally at an unprecedented rate and before you can realize it, your son can configure and sync your iPhone5 to your computer or your daughter will learn most of her vocabulary from a Katy Perry or Taylor Swift record.

As I look as at my close friends' kids, I realize that these children will never get to select a movie to rent at an actual video store on a Saturday night, or purchase stamps for less than 50 cents so that they can write in their best, awful cursive to a another kid their age in Thailand or Lebanon as a pen pal, and those kids will probably never know what a smog check or an oil change is now that 100% emission-free automobiles are starting to exist now (unless if they treat maintaining modern day Honda Civics and Cadillac Escalades in the future as we treat maintaining Ford Mustangs, Dodge Challengers and Plymouth Barracuda's from the '60s and '70s today). If you were a parent not too fond your kid's legitimate decision of having a kid (say she's over 18 and still living with you for example), you may not like it, but from a challenging standpoint, its best if you respect her decision so that she may be more comfortable and less stressful while she delivers her new part of life. The bottom line is this, however way its put on or viewed, the birth of a living being is the greatest moment in life.

Liberty
As I'm typing while listening to every Sade album on Spotify, not only is today Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but also the day that Barack Obama gets sworn in for his second term as President of the United States  again. The last (or First) time that he got sworn in was back in 2009. I know that day very well cause that was the day I joined Twitter, without realizing how much it would have an immediate impact it would have in the years to come. I've told the story before, but the reason why I created a Twitter account was because my Facebook profile at the time got suspended and deleted, just for hitting on a random girl (I was 20 at the time) and she had ovaries to report and flag me. I thought snitching was just a kids thing. So then, just to get over this, I joined Twitter as an alternative to Facebook while they were televising Beyonce performing at one of the inaugural balls that The President was at. Here's the screencaps from exactly four years ago today.

Now a days, its kind of hard to imagine a time when this wasn't possible since we're used to a kind like Barack running the show in this country, let alone the entire world. But there was a time when people were specifically limited to exercise the options and opinions. Today is being recognized for a person who went out and did all he can physically and mentally to show that people are just people, regardless of their appearance and their beliefs. If the Civil Rights act never took place in the 60's, then I would've never lived in the Valley, where at the time its was mostly populated by affluent middle-class Whites. The whole purpose of Dr. King's vision, to me, is not just only about race, but there is more into that. People's hopes shouldn't be put down just by an opinion of another person with a higher authority.  That's like barging into a foreign persons home at their own time and telling them that they should not be practicing their everyday traditional rituals, even though YOU have nothing to do with it. That is was the purpose of this country is.

Many of the views and ideals here are either forbidden or not used in other parts of the world. They're certain places where you have to like something or listen to whatever the media there want to put on the news in that said country. Many people want to take advantage of their lives here either because, no offense, they're fed up with the rules from where they came from and they want to have their kids not deal with the shit that they dealt with when they were growing up. Dr King envisioned this. He didn't want to see the segregation and discrimination for those who have similar interests or achieving the same profession. They are some people out there in America who still don't agree with having Barack in the White House or stuff with that nature, but to each its own.

The impact that Dr. King made from his time done in jail for taking a stand in equal rights, to that march on Washington back on August 28, 1963, being part of the Civil Rights Act the following year as well as receiving the Nobel Piece Prize influenced so many people and activists that it lead for Dr. King to have a legal holiday created after him every Third Monday in January, which is around the time of his birthday. Its one of those type of days that should be respected, which is why a lot of public schools and federal/city offices are closed today. What threw me off was when I saw club promoters posting flyers for their events on the Sunday night before Dr. King day since there is no work or classes on that Monday. I mean, its cool to celebrate Dr King's life, but leave off the VIP lists, the $800 bottles of Cirocs and Grey Gooses, the thick chicks in mini-skirts, and the house DJ mixing the music with his iPad. Anybody here is fortunate to do whatever they want (except take people's lives away) and exercise it. Just respect their work and let them do them since you don't have anything to do with it or have any part in it.

Pursuit, For Happiness
I was gonna label this last segment with the word "Death" instead of "Pursuit, For Happiness", but I though it kinda sounded too dark.

Just this past weekend, I learned that a mutual friend of mine named Ashley Davidson has lost her life from a car accident at the end of last week. That really got me by surprise. She was close friends of the members of Aftergloam and I met her only once at a Christmas party that Aftergloam drummer Tianna Edmonson hosted back in December 2010. After that, she added me on Facebook and we spoke a few times. I wanted to meet up with her and get to know her more. I even wanted to do a photosession of her cause I thought she looked beautiful. But she was always busy and didn't have the time to get together. Out of all the great people that I met through Tianna and her Aftergloam bandmate/vocalist/lead Guitarist Elvis Galvez, Ashley was the one I wanted to meet the most. Afterwards, I stopped messaging her to see whenever she's free, and I don't blame her since many people around my age during 2011 didn't have the time to go out alot. Earlier, wrote that I stayed away from Facebook since New Years Day, but I only went on just to message certain people, not upload a photo or to "like" some random status. After I read that one of my homeboys posted about Ashley's tragic passing, I was surprised. I'm talking "NO FUCKING WAY!!!" surprised. I felt kinda cheated. Its like a business you wanted to work for so bad, that you had to go to a number of years of schooling and invested so much money from your parent's savings to pay for it that when you just a few steps to start your goal, you get stamped on the face saying that the job you deserve to earn is no longer valid since its operations are no longer in existence.

That's just shows that nothing is forever, regardless if its a person, place or thing. Its just takes a few unnecessary words and a slight lack of honesty to lose your girl to another person. You can make out without the rubber to some female you just met at the club in second only to find your swinging days are gone for the next 18 years (even after all the legal custody shit, you'll still be labeled as a father). Also, that $200 21'st birthday money you got from your grandparents will be dry off your wallet after experiencing a Vegas casino for the first time, where "The house always wins" as they say.

What I'm saying is that anybody can obtain anything, whether is cold hard cash, a nice beautiful girl to their desire, the hottest whip, the flyest job, and the bad-ass doberman to guard your crib. However, the hardest part is keeping and maintaining it. People can tell you how to raise something and give you pointers about it, yet its your responsibility to find the answers and resources to keep your possessions active. If not, then its gone just like that. The part that sucks about it the most is that even if we were keeping and maintaining that said possession, sometimes, just out of nowhere, its can disappear just like that. We have no control of it, but the only thing we can control is our emotion and reaction to it.

I feel very sad and disappointed that I'll never get the chance to meet Ashley again. If I knew her alot more, then this portion of the blog post would be five times longer, if not, the whole entire blog post. I'm not used to experiencing losing someone that you have a connection with aside from Steve Jobs' death, a celebrity you saw getting slimed at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards back in the day or a sports athlete that hung over your bed in a poster when you were a kid. From what I heard and talking to her a few times on Facebook, she seemed like a very nice woman. Not to sound like an overused Wiz Khalifa/Drake inspirational-type quote on Tumblr, but whoever you have in your life, hold on very close to him or her. Whatever you have in life, hold on to it. Living is precious and fragile, and everything else is secondary and materialistic. These are the only photos I have of Ashley Davidson from my first and only encounter with her back in December 2010.

Ashley on the left with the homegirl Julie Canizalez. 

Two photos of Ashley with my good friend Christina Campa.

I really hate to post this, but out of respect, this screencap image is one of my last conversations I had with Ashley on Facebook.

I can't think of anything else to say other than to take good advantage of your life and everything about it. Cause once its gone, its gone. In closing, I just wanna say thanks to the little brother for going to church with him over the weekend and to Jim Mcdonald (http://www.jimmcdonald.org/) for taking over the service with his singing voice and his stories from living in Normandy, France. Also, special shoutout to Vanessa Cuenca and Cecilia Navarrete for the luncheon yesterday in Northridge, even though it was rushed, it was all about spending time together and another shoutout to the De La Torre's for a interesting quality time on Sunday Night while watching the Baltimore Ravens get the AFC Championship over the New England Patriots in Gillette Stadium (where the Patriots play at) and reflecting on Ashley's life as well as getting to know some more stuff about her. Finally, my condolences go out to the Davidson family and very close friends of Ashley. 

I really wanted to get to know her more, but that'll never happen. Rest in Paradise Ashley Davidson.