First Weekend of Summer

Instead of the weekend, I'll just recap the past full week.

I stopped by at Los Angeles Pierce College last Wednesday just for the fuck of it since I had too much time on my hands that day. that's where I took a few classes between 2007-2009 and I haven't stepped inside that school in about a year and a half or two. As I got in, the place looked almost foreign and unrecognizable to me. There were so many changes and construction around the campus and it wasn't like since the last time I was there. The school was empty since the Spring Session just finished. As I walked around, I started recalling so many mad memories during my times here. Few of them were good, yet many of them were not good that I should've improved on. For example, I once got into a heated argument with the school's only photography instructor there. I wanted to transfer some photos I took at the Fiesta Lakers event in 2009 from my SD card to my flash drive on the Mac Pro's there cause I sold my black Macbook a few months prior for cash (it was a rising peak of the recession then) and I didn't have a legit computer at my house that time. He gave me such little time to transfer them and being that those photos were large file sizes to move, the bloke got impatient and then that's when the fireworks went off. Never stepped inside that room after that moment. Other than that, Pierce College looks brand new. The refurbished up to date buildings make me feel old for some weird reason since I'm used to the old style of the campus. Here are some photos I took off the T-Mobile G2.

The old cafeteria used to be there, which is being replaced with this building. I once had a lunch date there with this Russian chick that I kept seeing while riding the Orange Line since I didn't like parking my car at Pierce. The food was alright, but she was on her SideKick III 50% of the time.

My first time seeing this fountain there, AND THERE WAS STEAM COMING OUT FROM THAT SHIT! Major upgrade.

A statue of Pierce College's mascot, the Brahma Bull. Again, this is something new that I've never seen there before.

These stairs are no joke, and it leads up to this...

My favorite spot of the whole entire campus. A scenic view area to see 3/4 of the San Fernando Valley, next to the performing arts building where I took an Acting course there once just for extra units. Unfortunately, they closed it off due to ANOTHER CONSTRUCTION PROJECT. WOW. I used to invite females up here several times in between classes or whenever a class was cancelled.

After seeing all the changes there, I walked over to the Westfield Promenade to try on a couple of Levis 501s at the Macy's there, then chilled at the Barnes and Noble there and read this one book which has OG photographs of some youth and young adults skateboarding in Southern California back in the mid to late 1970s. Very similar to Lords of Dogtown and most of the kids featured on the skatebords had long natural (yes, natural) blonde hair and rockin' a pair of old school Vans which also fits the vintage California lifestyle. Then I walked to the Westfield Topanga Mall up on Owensmouth Avenue and just walked around the mall like usual. Nothing special happening there that day, other than seeing the Sony Style there being closed down. One of only stores that I like checking out at the Topanga Mall has always been the Sony Style, and most of the items there are not being displayed. I saw employees inside just cleaning up the store inside. Damn, now I have to go all the way to the Sony Style at the Beverly Center or the one at the Americana at Brand in Glendale.

On Thursday, I witnessed (pun intended, I guess) the Miami Heat winning their second World Championship by defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the NBA, and Lebron James getting his first title that shuts the whole world up. Everyone was upset that he won a ring, saying that it the playoffs was an inside job for him or shit like that. The best part in my case is that I no longer have to hear those "Lebron will never have a championship ring" jokes anymore. They were amusing for five minutes but then got quickly dried out after that. What I didn't like was that Mike Miller of the Miami Heat didn't get the Finals MVP, which Lebron James received, since he hustled his ass on the floor by dropping Ray Allen-type 3 point field goals. I said the same thing about Ron Artest when he made that one desperation 3 pointer towards the end of Game 7 two years ago to give the Lakers the advantage to win the series, yet they gave it to Kobe Bryant instead. Thy have to let the non-big names receive the MVP for once in my opinion. Other than that, regardless if the NBA is worked or scripted from assumption which I doubt, congrats to Miami and especially to the Thunder for displaying their talent and performance despite them not winning. By the way, I kinda dislike Commissioner David Stern. Hell, one of the first two acts he did as becoming commissioner was announcing Michael Jordan's name in the 1984 draft and fining him 5'Gs for rocking his original Black/Red Air Jordan 1s as it violated the dress code then cause of the shoes colors.


Speaking of Air Jordans, I finally copped the White Cement IV's the next day. I 've already told the story about these shoes several times on my previous posts back in February. Drove all the way to Flight Club LA straight from work via 405 Freeway southbound Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard and Fairfax Ave just to get these since I got paid very nice that day. Reason why is that they were doing construction on the Wilshire Blvd off ramps which I usually take to go to West Hollywood from the 405 freeway. Surprisingly they had parking available on Fairfax Avenue that day since its always hard to find. Was about to get the Size 13 but that shit was $400. Fortunately, they had a size 12 which was a $50 difference less that turned out to become $350, and plus they fit more comfortably than the Size 13. After I got the sneakers, I then walked over to Diamond Supply Co. down Fairfax to purchase one of the t-shirts there. Last time I bought a shirt there at Diamond Supply a year ago, the workers there acted bored and uninterested as if they didn't drink coffee or something. This time they were showing kind courtesy and displaying excellent customer service as I asked for the size of the shirt I wanted. I was about to stop by the Beverly Center, but I decided to rush back home to the Valley. Took Coldwater Canyon instead of Sepulveda Blvd to avoid the wekend traffic there, as well as the effect from the demolition of the Wilshire Blvd offramps. Stopped at Best Buy to purchase two blu-rays, which I kept one of them now cause the other wasn't working on my pops Blu-Ray player due to firmware issues.

By far the shoe of the year for 2012. Celebrities, models and rappers were rocking these all over the place since February, more than the Air Yeezy IIs and the South Beach Lebron IX's. Fuck, even Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother was sporting the OG's back in 1989 from his Doogie Howser M.D. days.

Here's a video I took talking about the IVs and everything else. 

Fucking glad I finally got them. 

Next day on Saturday, I went down to Hollywood to meet up with Gianna Michaels (yes, the adult star) at some novelty store on Hollywood Blvd. There were two other stars there that I've never heard of before, but I wasn't concerned about them. Before that, I stopped by Amoeba Records on the other side to see if I can sell the Moneyball Blu-Ray that I bout the day before, which was the Blu-Ray that I had issues with. I picked Amoeba over Best Buy, not only because I was close to where I need to go, but Its also because I misplaced the receipt. I REALLY didn't want to sell this movie, but the screen on the TV was black for 10 minutes after I pressed play. So I gave it to him and got $3 in return. Yeah, I know, that was totally bullshit but I didn't want to give it away for free. Then later I met up with Gianna, and took only three photos of her... with her clothes on obviously. That meeting went by really short and fast but then again, the San Fernando Valley where I grew up my whole life is know for people like her.

I then later jetted on over to The Grove to test drive the new Cadillac XTS sedan they had there. All I can say is that the car is really nice. Just another luxury car to me, only with some interesting tech. First of all, the gauges are digitized like the Lexus LF-A gauges. Second, they have what its called the Cadillac CUE where the touch navigation screen has a menu display featuring icons similar to an iPad. I kinda think General Motors over did it with that feature on the XTS. There are even other automobile manufacturers that have their navigation  systems in which you can check your Facebook updates on it. WHAT?!?! Major plus for the insurance companies I guess, unless if there's weekend traffic and nobody on the freeway is moving that causes the driver for nothing to do other than to... check his or her Facebook status. Man, do I really hate that site, but I bitched about it on my previous posts several times admist the recent events that the company went through (instagram acquisition, Facebook's initial public offering, Mark Zuckerburg's marriage to Priscilla Chan) since I last posted here back in March. And I'm about to approach my  five year anniversary this Sunday of joining that site back on July 1, 2007. Time fucking flies. By the way, here's a video I took of the startup for the XTS, where it shows the digital gauges. 

So afterwards, I finished driving around Fairfax in the new XTS, which feels like driving a CTS mixed with the Ford Taurus SHO that I drove at the LA Auto Show two years ago, and then the staff at The Grove gave me a $10 AMEX gift card just for driving it. I remember when I got a $25 AMEX gift card for driving a 2010 Kia Serento when it came out back in March 2010. Stayed at the Barnes and Noble there and read another photography book there, only this time it featured epic portraits of A-list celebrities for a photographer named Michael Thompson (not the Showtime Laker from the late 80's, only which it was spelled Mychal Thompson). His work is actually great. Got some motivation from reading the entire book. Went back to the Valley to eat at The Habit in Encino, but I stopped by Primitive first to talk with their awesome staff there. Shoutout to the homegirls Ashley and Irene over there. Feasted at The Habit by using the AMEX card and then headed straight to my pops house to rest. 

FInally on Sunday, I did some typical sprucing up around the house and then for the rest of the day played most of my vinyl collection of out of print, hard to find 80's albums (not bragging because its true). I then later walked to O'Melveny park in Granada Hills to meet up with my Aftergloam family there since their member Elvis gave out an open invitation for anyone to come and hang out. Its been months since I was last with them, but we made use of a good time by playing soccer and ultimate Frisbee simultaneousley. Then I listened to some amusing stories that they were telling and then we all went home two hours later. 

What a great way to start of summer. Couldn't ask for anything more better that weekend. Oh and don't forget to find me on instagram.I didn't mention it on her since it on Android came out while I was on hiatus from updating this blogsite. My username is: justforsneaks07. I'll leave a few comments on your photos once you start following me on there. Thanks for your time reading. 

October Month in Review

I want to get this quickly off myself first of all.

Yes I know I'm late on this but FUCK THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION FOR DISQUALIFYING THE TROJANS INTO THE PLAYOFFS FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS. I've said this before and I'll probably say it until they make a movie out of this shit which will never happen. Some people here worship the Lakers, some idolized the Dodgers, I'm not sure about those who devote themselves to the L.A. Kings, but for me, its all about the USC Trojans football team. Out of at least 30,000 or more schools in this country, regardless of any division, why the fuck is the University of Southern California the one taking the heat. Oh yeah, its those agents willing to feed and fuel the athletes with gifts to make them play better and feel good about themselves. Its like steroids without the steroids.

Why did I bring this up again? The game against Oregon yesterday made me very upset. I didn't see the game on TV but the only thing I saw was the score online. Shit, this was at the Coliseum in front of a national television audience. If this was 2005, either the result would be the other way around, otherwise if the score was the same, then Keith Jackson would be speechless or whatever just like the 2006 National Championship game, which I don't want to get into. The only thing you would hear after the game is the Ducks fans texting their colleagues outside the Coliseum that their drive from Eugene to Los Angeles was totally worth it. But sadly, the Trojans aren't playing for anything this year, and for some people, there's no point of watching them this year. I just watch them cause they're the only team that I actually liked for a long time. They beat the shit out of Berkley in their previous home game, which really impressed me.

Another thing that I wanna spill out is that I really dislike Halloween and everything about it. The only positive thing about it is looking at the females dressing up like whores and strippers, but its more convenient if your wife or significant other was with you in that attire, otherwise its gets dried out really fast. Again, I do not like Holidays, including Christmas. I say Christmas cause everyone views it as a marketing tool for the corporate "white collar big wigs" in the Fortune 500 companies to generate such extraordinary revenue for themselves. This person form my church said that its all about getting "free stuff", which is... in a sense, true. I wanna go to a church with somebody on that day, regardless of any christian domination and just enjoy the holiday spirit by watching and listening to the choir telling the story of Christ's birth in songs. I could care much less if I get don't anything in December 25th, cause, that's kids stuff.

Plus its amazing how they're already hyping up the holiday frenzy already since last week, and October is damn near not even finished yet. I was at the Glendale Galleria last Thursday to take photos of Cindy Crawford (who looked the freakin' same after all these years) promoting her signature skincare product at JCPenney. As I was waiting, I walked by Macy's and they already had CHRISTMAS TREES up at their fragrance department. I was like shit, why not make Christmas Day a month early? But that's already been superseded with the annual "Black Friday" shopping event, the day after Thanksgiving. I'm surprised that those traditions are still going on during the recession where the unemployment rate is STILL increasing.

I wanna touch up on that real quick. Yesterday, I saw a 60 Minutes documentary on how those people unemployed had 99 weeks to be financially taken care of by getting unemployment checks during that period until they find a stable job. But unfortunately, after 99 weeks, those people are still unemployed , and they can't get unemployment benefits after that timeframe expires. So now those people, who went to college back when compact Japanese import vehicles like Honda's Civic, Nissan's Datsun line, and Toyota's Corolla gain notoriety during the oil crisis, are not working since they are almost close to reaching their retirement milestone. The sad part is that they also can't find work and be hired cause of the younger generation, or those under 25, are pretty much dominating the entry level lower-end workforce. I don't know whether to view this as ageism, which is like racism towards age, but I've seen people who I thought looked like they should be a CEO or an exec of some company in a high rise building in Downtown Los Angeles working in places my little brother should be working at. Very sad to see this and embarrassing if it was one of your parents in those positions or worse. All I can say is that to those fortunate enough to make a decent living at the least, just be glad and blessed with what you have, and hold on to it tight. I mean, VERY TIGHT, with knowledge. Just remember where it came from and how you got it.

As for myself, the past month has been pretty much a whirlwind. More like 50/50 or 85/15. There have been some fractures in my family recently (nobody died by the way) and it got to the point where I HAD to move out. So thankfully, my mom's knows this Filipino lady who I think she worked with a while ago and she lives at a house in Sylmar and taking care of her disabled family, who are all older than me. There were a lot of rooms in that house, so she reserved one for me. I might be there until everything turns out well at my legal address, but from the looks of things, I don't even know when' I'll move back there, or how long I might live here in Sylmar. Its a weird coincidence cause the place I'm residing at right now is less than 30 seconds from my church and my friend Frank's house. Other than that, I'm doing fine here. Spent a month already here, don't have to pay rent cause lady knows my situation with not getting hired for the past two years. Plus they have a lot of great food, and I've been trying out some Filipino entree's that I've never tasted before, which is fantastic to the max.

I've been very busy like a fuckin' beast for the past few weeks also. I've been taking a lot of photos, test driving a bunch of cars and meeting celebrities. I know that sounds like the shit I've been doing every month for the past year, but this was somewhat a premium version of it. I spent a lot of time with my good friend Nicole Stetter and her friend's group Darger De Milo by supporting them in their recording sessions. Nicole had a lot of people she knew who had a number of parties and kickbacks, so I took photos of those and made some new friends/clients/acquaintances or whatever you want to call it. I can't describe all of those gatherings in detail cause there was a different one every other day which made it look like it was 2007-08 all over again. It was very fantastic, including Aftergloam (one of my friend's music group) bassist Cecilia Navaratte's birthday at Universal Citywalk. I've never thought that I would witness a party where they had a surprise proposal, a bachelorette party, and a drunk 40 something woman who would hit on me in front of her husband, who WAS COOL ABOUT THE WHOLE THING from his own words. Like I said, those events were too indescribable to put into sentences.

One of my favorite things I did this month was test driving the all new Nissan Leaf, which is the first all electric car to have absolutely no emissions whatsoever, meaning no smog checks, no gasoline, no CO2's being emitted into the air, none of that shit. It was in invite event which took place at Westfield Century City mall in Century City that was operated by Nissan of North America. We had to be schooled on the origins and the dissection of the vehicle, and it was worth capturing my attention. We even got to drive it around Century City, which made me and those who also attended the first ever people in Los Angeles to drive this car. Keep in mind that this car is not gonna be out in a year and its still going thorough some approval process from the government. To me, when I was driving it, it felt like you're driving a golf cart with options and a body around it, cause like I said earlier, this car is, as Nissan simply stated it, 100% electric with no gasoline whatsoever. Nowadays, people can care less on what kind of car you drive, whereas five years ago, you were doing it if you pushed a Chrysler 300c or a Infiniti G35 or a Cadillac Escalade. But the recent economic recession has changed a lot of people views on many financial aspects, which is why I wrote earlier that the holiday shopping hasn't changed its traditional habits. Speaking of finances, they didn't say what the price for the vehicle is, but I'm guessing its gonna be between 17 grand to $30,000 at the most. I could go on all day with this car.

Yep, its been a stressful, exciting, interesting, useful, decent, and challenging month this year. I did my best to make it full of positive energy. That's how every month should be, minus all the family drama, negative politics and bullshit. I really need to rest and catch up on the NFL. I've been missing watching some games from editing and scanning all the photos I took this month, but hey, I'm a photographer, so I have to maintain my "Ryan-Seacrest-busy-all-over-the-place" grind.

Oh yeah, major shoutout to Cadillac for letting me drive your whips as many times as you let me this month. Even though I'm a Japanese automobile person, y'all are and always will be underrated and I respect your heritage in the American culture. And shoutout to Tianna Edmonson, the drummer for Aftergloam, for hosting all those kickbacks at your place this month. Its always an experience every time I go there. Also, shoutout to Universal and AMC for re-showing Back To The Future in theaters again for two nights. I FUCKIN' ENJOYED IT! I should've brought someone with me, but it selling like crazy and I spent 15 dollars on a Large popcorn and a Large Cherry Coke (they didn't have Pepsi). Yes, 2 of those for 15 dead Washington's. I've never though I'd see this movie in a large screen, but they remastered it and made it look sharper and clearer. Plus I went home with 5 limited edition posters of the movie they gave away. I don't even know what I'm gonna do with them, seriously. Finally, big shoutout to Amber Marshall for letting go berserk in your Mercedes-Benz CLK convertible last week. Damn, I drove a lot of cars this month.