San Diego On The Side

Got back from spending 8 hours in the Six-One-Nine last night. I'm driving next time.

Getting there on the Greyhound bus was alright, but getting back had some flaws. Some skinny-ass Ricky Williams looking fool randomly sat next to me out of all the other empty seats on board, including this one empty seat next to an attractive pregnant chick. But when we stopped at Oceanside real quick, he switched seats to sit with another dude. Homeboy just broke "the man code". No dude should ever sit next to another dude, unless there are no seats available. Just wanted to bring that up.

As far as being back at San Diego for the day, man that shit was awful. Haven't dropped by there since last summer. Had to wait two hours for the moms to pick me up, so I used most of that time to walk around Petco Park, which was VERY close by to the station and strolled around the GasLamp district in downtown San Diego. There's literally a different restaurant/bar next to each other as I walk up 5th Avenue just like how there's a different Quincenera boutique store in the San Fernando Mall strip, and each one has a sexy early to mid twenties female greeter/server. Also, you really don't need a car for this area. I mean, you got Petco Park and the San Diego Convention Center (where Comic-Con is hosted every damn summer) like right next to each other which is good enough walking distance. There's also a Westfield Horton mall there, which I didn't go inside yesterday but it is worth checking out for it's Alice in Wonderland-type interior as an outdoor mall. I checked out this place called The Attic, which is San Diego's version of Primitive and Active Ride Shop, but it wasn't as boosted as I thought it was. Place had alot of streetwear brands but they don't carry Nike SB out of all the other Nike shoes they have, so I just took their business card as a little souvenir.  I wanted to look for another local San Diego boutique called 5&A Dime, but I had to get back to the Greyhound station to meet up with the moms.

After she picked me up, we chilled at her place for a bit before we left for the game. I ate some pizza and watched some Pac-12 action featuring the overhyped-ass Josh Nunes and the Stanford Cardinals go against the Washington Huskies. As I was watching that game, I realized that tonight was Thursday and that there was an NFL game going on. So I switched to that only to see an injury timeout that had both players of the Ravens and the Browns gather a Cleveland Browns teammate being knocked out to the ground or something. After 30 seconds, I was like "Fuck this" and then switched back to the Cardinal/Huskies game.

We were supposed to be inside Petco Park at 7PM, but because the moms was behind on certain things, we got there an hour later, which I didn't really mind cause we got the tickets for free and it wasn't at Dodger Stadium, otherwise I'd start trippin'. It was already the top of the 5th inning when we got to our seats that were located at Top Deck. It was my first time stepping inside Petco Park and it felt like going to an Angels game. The whole place looked brand new and the vibe there look like a tourist attraction venue than an actual Baseball Stadium. Plus their Top Deck wasn't as high as Dodger Stadium's top deck view. They also have a big ass park behind the pavilions where families who don't know anything about the sport can just have their kids run around and chill. Its one of those places where you have to check out (not experience) for once if you live in LA. I kept the shit talking to the Padres fans on a minimum cause the moms was there since many of them were going off on the Dodgers whenever they were on the infield. We left at the 7th inning stretch cause the moms wanted to get back to Los Angeles with me before midnight, which I didn't mind skipping since I wanted to go back home also, but it was great to see the Dodgers in their away jerseys for the first time and to check out Petco Park. Oh and I still hate the Padres, who got fucked in the Whale's Vagina thanks to the Dodgers defeating them after I checked the results when I got home.

Anyway, that's just a recap from my quick time down there. Oh and instead of driving on the freeways and trying attempt the "Gangnam Style" with a Flash Mob crew on the empty 405 freeway (saw people doing that shit at the game last night. What the fuck?) this weekend, stop by Primitive on 17060 Ventura Boulevard in Encino for their big sale going on this weekend. They got shirts there starting at 10 bucks so if you've lived in the Valley whole life, its a must to cop something from there. Thanks for your time reading this and have a safe, drunk weekend.

Lost-N-Jealous

Three fucking months since I last spilled my guts on here.

I haven't forgotten about this site during that time period, but there was so much shit that I had to work out in ways that I couldn't imagine. I would like to discuss it on here, yet many of them were not fun to deal with, so I'll set that away from this post. Typical life learning bullshit that some (or most) twenty-somethings always deal with. Had some tensions with the family for a bit, but thankfully its already been resolved.

My two younger sisters had their commencement graduation ceremonies last month. The youngest one graduated from Kennedy High school in Granada Hills, which is where my other siblings and I attended. I really hate the way they run their admissions to get into the ceremony by having tickets and a bunch of other shit. An example was trying whatever I can to get into my brother's commencement back in 2010. One of the graduation ceremonies that took place there in 2009 made it to the news. I wasn't able to make it there on that day. My other sister got her Masters in Health Care Management from West Coast University. The ceremony took place at the campus of University of California, Irvine in Orange County and damn, the area is well decent. Not to my surprise since I'm familiar with Newport Beach and that part of the OC, but this was my first time at UCIrvine. Campus is just TOO CLEAN, about slightly similar to the other notable UC school at Los Angeles in Westwood.

Now in regards to the ceremony, it was fine. The chairman of West Coast University mostly promoted and talked about the institution by featuring in detail the programs they offered and the student life there. There were a good amount of people there and about 500 graduates were rockin' the cap and gowns, with more than a third in the institutions Nursing program. After the show, we went out and took a grip of family portraits and then headed out to an El Cholo restaurant about less than 10 minutes away from UCIrvine. I didn't even know there were more than two El Cholo resturants (the ones I know are the ones in Western Avenue and downtown LA) That El Cholo we went had more light than the OG one in Western which had a darker ambiance, but the environment and the experience is still the same, as well as the food. Feasted on some Quesadillas while the moms, siblings, one of my sister's long time "besties" from back in the day, and this Filipino couple that I never met before. The guy from the couple was the "photographer" for my sister's event and he was shooting with a Canon EOS 60D and the 18-135mm lens.

Now all of that happened right before Memorial Day Weekend. Colleges and Universities I can understand, but this was the first time that a public high school had their graduation set before Memorial Day weekend. It kind of makes sense since that holiday, which not everyone takes seriously, is the unofficial start of Summer. But then again, the public school systems here in LA are already fucked up with numerous cuts in money and staff, and that caused it to shorten some of the pupil's summer vacation and fragment the traditional school calendar. The year starts in early August instead of September that I'm completely familiar with and ends in May instead of June which I'm also familiar with. Well, not everything stays the same in life and we all have to adapt with the changes that come across us. I myself had to get used to supporting the smart decisions that my younger siblings make as they keep maturing, especially the youngest sister since she's now out of high school. There was a time when all of us would live in the same house and see each other every day. Now, I can't remember the last time when when that happened cause we all moved on and live separately and already we're used to it. Major part of being an adult is just accepting changes in family life, technology, and society as well. We make not like most of it, but we can't do anything about it that much except taking it or leaving it.

As for me, I spent the last six months at a warehouse in Sylmar helping out underprivileged middle-functioning adults at this place called Build Rehabilitation Industries. I was about to work as a washer/porter at Galpin Ford that my friend told me about last year but the last position was already taken at the time. My friend then said that he can get me in as another alternative by just helping out with the clients there at the warehouse for half a year as a quick reference so that I can get that job at Galpin Ford without having to be interviewed there. It was quite an interesting experience at Build for the first half of the year. Dealt with all different types of people that you don't normally see out in the public. Most of them can't read, write, spell or speak clearly and they're all twice as old as me. I did get paid for being there, but the check varies every two weeks since I wasn't getting paid hourly. Sometimes it low (my lowest was 18 bucks) and sometimes on a day that is jumping, the check get high (my highest was $350). But in most cases, I'm wasn't too concerned about the pay there that much. I was supposed to finished at the end of the month, but since the staff there really liked me, they decided to put me in at Galpin Ford for that position, a month before my six month stint ended. The job is alright. I just wipe Mustangs and other vehicles inported from Detroit and I leave work with that new car smell every day. The pay is alot better cause unlike Build Rehabilitation Industries, this one was hourly. I'm working there so that I can get better photography lenses and equipment for the summer among other important things. I wanna improve my skills and enhance my photography business alot more, so therefore, the gig at Galpin Ford is just on the side to make some cash, even though I'm there full time 5 days a week for 8 hours. There'll be some times when I may not like it, but then again its part of every job and I have to just plow through it.

Since the last time I typed on here in the middle of March, even though I dealt with a lot of bullshit, the only thing that was impressive was the sports world here in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Dodgers currently have the best record in Major League Baseball right now. Shoutout to Ervin "Magic" Johnson and the Guggenheim Baseball Management for turning over a new leaf at the Chavez Ravine. Went to a game against the San Francisco Giants and thankfully there were no "monkey business" from the intoxicated fans just like opening day last year. Plus there were several Giants fans in the Left Field Pavillion where me and my homies were sitting at, but again, nothing wild didn't happened. Also, it was the first time in forever that the Staples Center had a different playoff game everyday from the Lakers, Clippers and surprisingly, the Los Angeles Kings. When I mean everyday, I mean EVERY DAMN DAY. Hell, there were days when there would be two different games at Staples in the same day, which is rare. We're used to the Lakers making it all the way to the big dance, but they didn't get past the second round courtesy of the confident Kevin Durant and his Western Conference champions Oklahoma City Thunder. We're used to the Clippers making a fools of themselves during the NBA season, yet the shortened season made them alot opportunistic with the talent of Blake Griffin and his teammate Chris Paul who was supposed to be with the other LA basketball team, and like the Lakers, they didn't get that far in the playoffs as the San Antonio Spurs stopped them by showing that they still have some life left in this aging team. Finally, we're used to Kings not even touching the Stanley Cup Finals, or the playoffs for it, every year. Apparently they surprised everyone by winning alot in the playoffs and that sucked in interest to alot of non-ice hockey fans for the past several weeks, including myself. I'm not a fan of ice-hockey at all, but watching them at the Stanley Cup Finals against the New Jersey Devils (who also played against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim back in 2003 at the Finals) suddenly just became too addicting.

To be 1000% real, this year Stanley Cup Finals was the first time I EVER watched an NHL game in its entirety, not just five minutes of it. Plus this was history being made which was another reason why I was tuned in. Viewed most of the games at the De La Torre's place. I felt high and fell to the ground laughing with some weird excitement after the clinched the Stanley Cup at Game Six, and the best part was that they won it at home. It felt like when the Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics at home in Game Seven two years ago, only this time it felt slightly different. Reason being is that this win is mostly for the REAL down-ass LA Kings fans who have been season ticket holders since "The Great One" Wanye Gretzky took them to the Stanley Cup Finals back when they played at the Forum in 1993 and the fans before that when they had the same colors as the Lakers in their uniforms (that DID happen cause the Kings and Lakers were owned by Jack Kent Cooke then, now its fucking AEG). I almost went to the victory parade, but I didn't cause one of my friends I was about to go with couldn't make it and also, I wanted to let the real fans enjoy it for once. They really earned it.

Lastly before this post goes on for another 5 years, I'll just recap the weekend since it was one of the best ones I had in a long time. My pops is out of the state, meaning he wasn't available for Father's day yesterday, so I had to watch over his full size Lexus till he comes back. I went over to my homegirl Nicole Stetter's place last Friday evening to give her a belated birthday gift cause it already passed three weeks ago and I haven't her and her partner Jorge Herrea in months. The gift I got her were two rolls of 35mm film: a Kodak 400 speed T-Max Black and White film and a Kodak 400 speed Portra color negative film. Ate homemade dinner that she prepared and also blew some balloons for her twins kids that got them very excited. After that I drove to my buddy Richard's crib and had some laughs there while I listened to his stories as we watched Next Friday on his TV. Then on Saturday, I met up with my old classmate from my filmmaking class back in high school at Starbucks in Mission Hills just to catch up on life and she how she's been doing since we left Kennedy high six years ago. Later on, I drove to Burbank for a pool party that my buddy's girl was hosting. To my amusement, only  about 10 people attended. It was on a very nice day and I kept wondering why they haven't showed up during the afternoon. But it was great meeting some new friends and taking a couple of photos there. Special thanks to Liz and Jeff for inviting me. I left at around 8PM and stopped by In-N-Out to get a Double-Double meal there. That shit is now close to 7 bucks, but then again, money is tight nowadays.

When I got home, my little brother then told me he wanted me to drive him to a Nigerian Youth "Function" party in Gardena with his car. I wanted to decline since I was out all day but because I still had some energy in me, I went to escort him and also to make sure that he's safe. The club was at a lowkey spot in Gardena just a walking distance from my photography buddy Joseph Harris' crib (his website: http://www.cherishedmomentsbyjoeharris.com/). Damn, I still need to drop by there like I used to back in 2009. Dude helped me out alot and saved my ass that time. But anyways, we got there and the interior looks like a scene from Tron mixed with some Electric Daisy Carnival from two weeks ago. Alot of laser lights and shit. About 100 young people around my brother's age (he'll be 20 in August) packed the club, with several attractive Nigerian females, but it kinda hard to see since it was dark. The DJ there fucking sucked. He didn't know when to transition at the right moment but then again, the young bloke is just doing his best. We were there till 3AM and then afterwards we had to drop off one of my brother's female friends nearby and then went back to the Valley by bumping Power Tools on Power 106.

I didn't plan on doing anything on Sunday so that I can get rested up for another long week of work. But after seeing a photo that Nicole posted of herself in her store on instagram (which I'll write about in the next blogpost) I decided to drive down there to check it out. The place is called Twin Lemons Collective and its a thrift store located in the border between West Hills and Woodland Hills, just next to the 101 freeway bridge crossing Ventura Boulevard. I missed out on their opening party back in March and other events that they held there, so I made it a day on Sunday to finally check it out. The place is awesome, like REALLY awesome. Every thing inside the store is authentic and natural, makes it Toys-R-Us for Gen-Xer's again. So many vintage items there that you won't see anymore or can't even find on the internet. Plus the atmosphere and the vibe there just makes it fit at home and fits the mood into its nostalgic theme. I'm very proud of the homies Nicole and Jorge to take so much of their time dedication and pride to put this store together. Wish them the best in everything they accomplish. By the Way, Twin Lemons Collective is on 22311 Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills/West Hills. I recommend y'all should check it out.

I end this post here since I threw down alot so far. I'll try to type some more on this blogsite since things are looking good so far. I say this every New Years Eve, you don't just expect a great year, you make it a great year. Thanks for your time reading this, even though its a lot.

BIG at LA: Business In Games at Los Angeles

So the Los Angeles Dodgers have been granted $150 Million in loans from the Bankruptcy judge on Tuesday so that Frank McCourt can meet the teams payroll by the end of this week. Which means that the players, Dodgers broadcast announcer Vin Scully, as well as everyone and everything that has to do with the ballclub will receive money that's not even from the team.

And now there's another notion that Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig wants to object this ruling. I think with Seling and the league taking over the team is much better and more efficient than the FOX broadcasting company's $3 Billion Television deal that would've lasted 17 years in which he also intercepted that ideal. The suits have already embarrassed the Dodgers long enough the past two years.

This season even got more worse from the opening day melee scuffle between San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow and the Dodger fans outside the parking lot. I thought the news outlets was gonna cover this for about a week, but that beating was so brutal that the media managed to keep dissecting into this story for the next few weeks, AND THAT SHIT'S STILL GOING ON NOW. Hell I won't be surprised if the keep covering his updates on his condition and those "unruly fans" that jumped on him during the postseason. Doesn't the media realize that the Los Angeles Dodgers have other problems to deal with, both off and on the field in terms of new management in Don Mattingly and the backlash for not making the playoffs for the first time in 3 years? Well... they don't, cause the media creates their own stories, or should I say they take real stories and make some tweaks on it, putting much more of a negative image on LA Sports fans like the reaction of the Lakers NBA Finals victory for example. There are several different ballgames like the Yankees vs Red sox regular season series, if not, the playoffs, and others outside of Major League Baseball that have fights MUCH worse than the one from the Dodgers opening day.

I lived in this city my whole entire life, well, the Valley to be more specific. I survived the Riots, the Earthquakes, the mountain wildfires from living in Granada Hills, and the brutal ass rush hour holiday traffic among other shit. I live in the same city where a different notable figure gets pulled over for a DUI late at night every week just to promote his or her self rather than knowing to face the consequences. Los Angeles was supposed to be known as a place where people want to come and start the rest of their lives there without leaving to another state. Well, that was 60 years ago after the World War II vets came home to start the unprecedented Baby Boom era, in which the influx of families have surpassed the population in Suburban neighborhoods around Los Angeles.

But now LA itself has gone through some other financial troubles, especially the school district. I mean shit, I can't picture starting high school in August and ending the year at the first week of June. That's private school shit. The city and the district had to get rid of the classes and programs in order to meet the budgets needs. Without cool stuff like the music programs and the Physical Education (there are some schools that no longer have that class), the students will feel bored and miserable. But thankfully, there are some after school programs that have these activities provided.

But back to the way the city of Los Angeles being viewed right now. If you drive around LA in its entirety, at first you'll feel like you're set in a movie or a TV crime-drama. Alot of films are shot here and majority of the stories are set here. Almost every movie that takes place in LA has to do with the Police chasing and some dude getting blown up. Unfortunately, its ACTUALLY like that here sometimes. To me, LA is much more than that in a positive way. I don't like how its being viewed like that just like how certain people view Miami as a place where Cocaine rules the night clubs on Ocean Drive. Regardless, I love living in this city just like the song says, and I wouldn't want to live any other place else. But just like another Hollywood couple here in Los Angeles, the divorce of the McCourts really did damage and overshadowed one of the most legendary ball clubs in sports. Believe me, I know about divorces.

My parents are probably the one of the only few Nigerians you'll know that had more than one divorce from each other (think Billy Martin and Geroge Steinbrenner see-saw at the Yankess front office back in the 1980's). Alright, two divorces then. Once back when I was in 9th grade which lasted 8 months and another one which was four years ago. Pops got remarried a year later and the moms is living the single life right now. Didn't care about the first one but the second one took me a while to get used to it. In December 2008, I was a bit upset when the stepmom costed me the relationship of a client of mine who happened to be a model. I said some shit about pop's new wife on Facebook with frustration that time, which seriously offended and ended my relationship with my client. Now if you see her portfolio, she's has several photos taken by 15 different other advanced photographers and also had traveled to different countries for her photoshoots. I can't imagine where I'd be right now if my parents didn't split. I'd still be living on my own, but probably at a nicer more affluent-ish type neighborhood instead of Sylmar. The only thing that matters is that both of them are happy with their lives, which I had to understand after getting into a few arguments with the pops and moving out from his place last year.

I think what the McCourts, both Frank and Jaime, should've done is hold a big-ass community group meeting with Dodgers fans instead of having meetings in the courtroom. It could've took place at Dodger Staduim, the Staples Center, or the biggest town hall in Los Angeles that can accommodate a decent number of those who take this ball club very seriously. Regardless if their divorcing or not, they both could've gone on stage sitting on stools with microphones in front of a thousand Dodger fans by honestly telling them the situation in regards to the teams business itself rather than just letting the fans have to rely on the media and some other source to figure out the problem. Then the McCourts could've spent the rest of the night hearing the opinions from every fan of all ages on what Frank and Jaime should do to fix and solve the problem with the team, so that the fans can feel more comfortable by watching their team play some baseball without the backstage business drama raining out the fans interest of one of the biggest, most recognized baseball teams in this country beside the Yankees. The McCourts could've pretended that there just two regular business owners instead of a married couple while they're at Dodger Stadium proceeding with day-to-day operations and then proceed as a married couple instead of business owners when they're in bed.

Yikes, that's was a nasty image I just threw out in that last sentence. My bad.

But yeah, that's just my view on this whole "white collar" ordeal that has been overshadowing one of my only favorite baseball teams. I went to three games over there in the last 12 months, and despite them losing at all three, I really enjoyed being there regardless. If there's a new owner after this season, that's fuckin' great. I really don't give a shit who it is, just as long as he keeps the players happy, Bud Seling in a good damn mood, and attracts a sellout type crowd at the Ravine every game. I'm just stating opinions like I always do on this site.

Some of you may not like whats been typed on here since discussions on this type of stuff can get very funky. The bottom line is that everyone is different and see a certain perspective that is not similar to someone elses. I read this quote that the homie Johnny Depp (met the dude for four seconds at Penelope Cruz's Walk of fame ceremony two months ago otherwise I wouldn't refer to him as a homeboy) said which I saw on the internet. He said that everyone is weird and that to express it without being scared or worrying about it. In other words, everyone's different, which is why the purpose of alimony is to bring two different people together and collaborate as one for the rest of their lives. My parents tried and failed after 20 years. Same with the McCourts.

A Mid-Summer's Nightmare Dream

I just had the most weirdest, unbelievable dream Tuesday night. It became a nightmare after I woke up realizing it wasn't real.

I was at some high rise building overlooking either Malibu or Laguna Beach (I know there's no skyscrapers in those cities but like I said, its my dream), for a job interview for some private corporation. I forgot what the company was but I think it had to do with marketing research mixed with sales or some thing like that, but it was very big though. I was told to go straight to the Chairman's office which look really large and nice like it was a master bedroom and it has a large glass window behind his desk overlooking the coast of the beach. He looks like some rich business tycoon in his late 40's with a hair transplant that makes him look young, and that he's a white guy who is about the same height as me. In other words, picture him as the late Chuck Daly, only two inches shorter. He then asked me some questions and I only remember giving him long ass answers that lasted 5 minutes at the least. Then out of nowhere, the board of directors came in his office, which, in some weird situation, it involved Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg as one of the members. I would say that this is T-Mobile Headquarters, but unfortunately, I was in Southern California and T-Mobile is in Germany.

We then move to this board room next to his office where they had to discuss an urgent situation within the company. I could've waited in the lobby, but the Chairman wanted me to get a hands-on first glimpse of the company, even though I wasn't hired yet. It lasted 10 minutes and I again I forgot what the problem was that they have to resolve. All I remember was that I gave in some input during the meeting and they were kinda pleased and has some arguments on my thoughts. After the board meeting, the Chairman and I went to his office and he then leaned on my ear and told me I was hired, ON THE SPOT. I was surprised and had so much emotion all of the sudden and the Chairman wouldn't stop shaking my hand for three minutes. Being that its a corporation he gave me an agenda list of all the procedures that the new employees go though once they been hired. The first thing it said that I have to go to a celebration hiring dinner with the Board of Directors, including Snoop and Paris, that's at some five star restaurant, all the way at Bakersfield in a Limo. Yeah, I know, very unique and unusual. Then the rest of the list says that I'll get a custom tailored suits and a two day paid orientation and some other neat perks once I get started.

Then later before I start to get ready for the dinner, I went to the beach to go swimming. I swam all the way to the deep end and for some reason the Pacific Ocean started to light up, which I though that was really tight. All of the sudden I was in a different setting, where I was driving at a university, probably UC Santa Barbara, and that they were two college kids, a boy and a girl in their early 20s driving a Police Interceptor Ford Crown Victoria who were driving behind me. I noticed that they were a 21 Jump Street-Style undercover law enforcement officers. The guy was Thai and the girl was either Iranian or Native American and they were wearing casual street clothes. I then start to lose them in traffic and after I lost them, I parked my car at a safe location and I walked around the campus. I was going to go to the student union until I saw this one girl that I knew from high school. She looked way nicer and finer than the last time I saw her, which was two years ago. She was wearing a dark blue sweater and some red tight jeans. She was with three other Asian girls and she had a 8 X 10 frame that she couldn't unwrap. I then helped her open it and she thanked me for it. She then asked me that she saw my photos on Facebook and I was about to tell her about my photography business and the new job that I got hired at... until those two undercover kids came up to me and the girl said "Can we speak to you for a moment David? This is very important" I was like "Shit, I knew it". I'm surprised that they found me, so I had to end my conversation with the chick I went to high school with. The guy told me that I was driving over the speed limit around the university campus and that they are going to impound my car despite the fact that I parked it at a safe place where no parking permit is required. After that then I woke up and I was upset that the whole scenario wasn't real (I meant the part when I got hired, not the part where my car got taken away at UCSB)

Other than that, I've been catchin up on taking photos for the past few days, which obviously explains on why I haven't been on here in a long time. The last few days have been, without a single doubt, very very awesome. Many events and occurrences took place on those days, especially in Los Angeles. Today is no exception. You got a laundry list of things that are happening in this city, and it will benefit you if you are a tourist on Summer Vacation with your family.

Today some of these include:

Michael Jackson burial grave site visit in Forest Lawn Memorial in Glendale.

Of course today is the one year anniversary of his sudden passing. Exactly one year ago, this news came out of nowhere starting with him getting into a cardiac arrest at his rented house in Beverly Hills, which broke news everywhere. At first I thought that he was just going to be rushed into the hospital at the UCLA Medical Center, get admitted for a few days and then he'd be released afterwards under intensive caring supervision since his condition has been discussed a few months prior to that. But then the story got even more serious since they started reporting that he has trouble breathing among other things and then later TMZ reported that he died afterwards, before it was publicly confirmed by other media outlets. That's when everything started to freeze up and then go completely ape-shit at that moment. First, everyone was saying that TMZ was making this up and that they needed more sources to confirm that he's dead, which the Jackson family announced afterwards to the public that he passed away. So basically, TMZ should be credited for breaking the announcement first while everyone else (which includes the Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, CNN, MTV and other major journalism companies) waited an hour or two hours later after they got other credible sources and confirmations.

Secondly, this whole debacle caused the internet to crash, literally. Twitter was a huge victim to this action. Their were so many, and I mean SO MANY of it users responding to this news (I honestly don't like to use the word "tweet", it just sounds redundant) that its servers couldn't handle all the incoming traffic, which caused the site to break down for a few hours. The same thing happened with Facebook and other social networking site and forums off all genre, be it music, sports, technology forums or any kinds. That just shows how extreme and gynormus MJ was around the globe, and how he was a huge inspiration to all kinds of people, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, musical interests, and other reasons. They even had a public memorial at the Staples Center, which I STILL think it should've been held at the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl since it holds more people. The only benefit that I agree from that was that they made it free, despite that the Jackson family has some financial issues of their own. I'm sure his grave, as well as his childhood home, his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Neverland Ranch out in Santa Barbara County, will be flooded with flowers, MJ impersonators and tears which makes today look like the mid point of 2009 again.

New York Yankees vs Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine

There's a reason why this game is too hard to get into. Aside for ordering the extra games package to get the tickets to this game, or the series for that matter, there's a lot of storylines between these two teams.

1) Joe Torre used to be the Manager for the Yankees prior to coming to LA back in 2008.

2) Both New York and Los Angeles are the top two large market cities in the United States with the most population.

3) Both of those teams WOULD'VE faced each other in the World Series last year since they were both in each other's League Championship Series, with the Yankees prevailing and the Dodgers losing to the Phillies, who also happened to lose to the Yankees in the big dance. Had LA and New York faced each other, the ratings would match the recent NBA Finals ratings between the Lakers and the Celtics.

4) Just like #3, they are the World Champs, and they have the most in Major League Baseball with 27 trophies.

iPhone 4 release at the Apple Store and AT&T store

I won't say anything about this device until I mess around with it first. (That doesn't sound right, but whatever) That piece of shit came out yesterday and I knew that there were gonna be long ass lines for it. But here's what makes it different from the previous iPhone releases. This time, they make customers pre-order the device first which means that on release day, you can just go into wherever you choose to purchase it after you put money down once your pre-ordered it prior to picking it up. It's more of a faster process instead of everyone just picking up the iPhone the day it comes out. But either way, that shit is still cause a line, cause its an Apple product.

I was at the Topanga Mall yesterday since I had to take my brother there cause he wanted to check out the H&M over there since he never shopped at that location before. He usually goes to the ones in Northridge and Hollywood, but never the Topanga location. Unfortunately, he didn't get anything there which I though he would get some clothes from that store after receiving a lot of graduation money from his church. Instead, he got Panda Express, which kinda threw me off cause there's three different Panda Expresses in Granada Hills that he could've gone to instead of driving all the way to the West Valley just for that.

While I was waiting for him, I checked out the Apple Store there, and to no surprise, there was a line. Not just one line but TWO lines. One for if you already pre-order the iPhone and the other line was for if you wanna buy something there, not browse but to actually purchase a computer of an MP3 player or any other Apple product. They had like three private security guards, two thirds of the Westfield mall security and the LAPD there at the store to make sure that no one sneaks inside the store or cut the line, which didn't move for two hours. When I saw the phone at the Keynote presentation, I thought it was a very decent product they made so far. The mobile version of iMovie and the zoom camera features got my attention. Plus its mad affordable starting at $200 as opposed to its $600 price tag three years ago.

Twilight: Eclipse premiere

It felt like two months ago that Twilight: New Moon came out in theaters, but it came out on DVD and Blu-Ray two months ago. I don't read the book, and I never watched the first two movies. They released this in the summer instead of the usual fall is because a lot of kids are out of school during that time and plus movies that are released during the summer make alot more money than any other release date season. When that movie premiered yesterday at the Regal Cinema theaters in Downtown LA, there was a shitload of people that camped out at LA Live just to be the first one to see this film. And when I say camp out at LA Live, I'm not talking 24 hours before it premiered, I mean they camped out WITH TENTS AND SLEEPING BAGS FOR DAYS SINCE AFTER THE LAKER PARADE ON MONDAY. Hell, there were parents who gave up work for a week to camp out with their kids, not just for safety reasons but to see the film as well. Its it really that serious to take up your time just to do that? Oh wait, its summer, school's out. I gonna try to do my best to avoid the whole "Team Jacob" V. "Team Edward" promotional bullshit for the next few weeks until the movie stops playing. I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight: Breaking Dawn (don't ask me how I know the names of the sequels) comes out at the end of the year

That's pretty much all the stuff that happening or been happening this week. Oh and finally, that Game 7 of the NBA Finals last week was epic. Super epic. I been saying in weeks past that the playoffs is fixed and everything, which I still think it is, but that night made me think that it was real, especially the performance LA pulled off at the end. I was at Busby's in Santa Monica watching this game. I was originally supposed to meet up with some of my old friends from my church there, but they called me during halftime and told me that they couldn't make it at the last minute. So I decided to stay and watch the second half of the game and at the end, the place went fucking electric. I was taking photos of and with random broads and Laker fans at the place. Its made last years victory against Orlando look like a regular season game. BIG MAJOR SHOUTOUT TO CANDACE AND ADAM FOR LETTING ME CRASH AT THEIR PLACE THAT NIGHT. You guys are terrific, seriously.