Dreaming to Catch Wishes

Weird. I spent most of last night researching on the background of the Cold War just for the fuck of it (to many of you, that seems like a boring-ass waste of time, but I'm a fan of history), then later on I looked into some information about lucid dreaming and out of body experiences and how it gets processed during sleep. I've had several of those in the past, yet many of them are a trip. Some of them seem very real, which caused me to flinch on some occasions. I just had this dream that I'm going to share with y'all. It pretty much involved some occurrences and events that are happening in my life.

So I have a cousin who will become legal next week in real life. In the dream, I found myself in front of her house and it took place on her birthday. Both of us were looking at her new car that she got as a gift. I think its either a third generation Lexus GS 400 or a Mazda 6. The car inside was dressed up in all kinds of accessories: from seat covers to steering wheel covers to some kind of Hawaiian necklace hanging on the rear view mirror. Anyway, we went for a spin in it with me driving and her riding shotgun. I noticed that the car had very low gasoline. I asked her if anybody else was using it earlier and she said that she was given the car like that. I told her that the dealership usually fills up your car after its sold and I said that we have to go there so that they can put gasoline it. She then says that the dealership that the car came from is in Mission Viejo, which is too far to drive and it kinda made sense on why the car is low.

We stopped at a 76 gas station and I filled up with car. The gas station attended gave me two free Dodger tickets based off the promotion that 76 is doing in real life (you have to get 4 fillups to get the Dodger tickets). After that, she then starts driving it and I rode in the passenger seat. I told her if she could take me home to the Valley and she agreed. As we were going home, I then told her if she can drop me off at this small warehouse in Chatsworth since they have alot of warehouses in reality. After she dropped me off, I saw these two guys unloading boxes from a truck and cutting them up. I then realized that I was in front of a Zumiez outlet. I went inside to check it out and to my surprise, this outlet didn't look like any other Zumiez. Now originally, that store sells skateboarding apparel and streetwear and the store looks kinda darker, but this Zumiez outlet was a lot brighter like I was inside an old school Montgomery Ward department store. I asked one of the staff there if they have any Primitive apparel t-shirts and she told me that they don't carry it since Primitive Apparel is one of many Zumiez's brands that they carry. They outlet had a light selection of brands that I never heard of. I saw a small limited collection of Diamond Supply Co. t-shrits that they were selling cause that is one of Zumiez's biggest seller. Afterwards, I left and I still see the two blokes outside with the boxes and there was a third guy sweeping the floor.

I went to the other side of the store only to see an outdoor mall with other stores. Not really a big area and they didn't have that many stores with a few of them having liquidation sales and shit. I kept walking and then I saw a bunch of people who looked like filmmakers walking. I started to follow them to get their attention and then I went into this one building with them which is part of the outlet shopping area. Then I saw a security guard as I entered and I asked her what is this place. The security guard then told me that this is a school for post-production for filmmakers, graphic designers and photographers. I then asked her is this place part of the Art Institute of California campuses and she said that this is separate from it and that this school is one of their competitors. She then asked me what do I do for a living and then I told her that I'm a photographer. Then without hesitation, she then dragged me to one of the post production photography classes there. I thought that you had to sign a bunch of papers and pay tuition and all of that shit, but I didn't say anything.

I went inside the classroom and it had a lot of iMacs in each desk. The class was already going on and I  sat in front of a empty desk without an iMac in front of me. Then there were these two spoiled looking chicks on my right and they were gossiping softly and laughing, with their iPhones in hand. The instructor told them to go sit outside and then he goes to their iMacs, only to see that they were on Facebook and Tumblr instead of Adobe Photoshop like everybody else. Now I can see how I got into that class for free otherwise if I had to pay for it, then those girls wouldn't be wasting their time and money gossiping and being on social networking sites during class.

So that's were the dream ended. Just thought I'd share it since that type of stuff is always interesting. Also a birthday shoutout to my homegirl Emelly Hernandez today. I wish you the best in life and many more. Thanks for your time reading this.

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.