Just Like The Movies

So Kate Middleton gives birth to a boy (overhyped without disrespect) and Dennis Farina dies at the same day (with all due respect).

Just wanted to get that out of the way. Again another busy ass month of July for myself. Today was one of the many rare day offs from work I had after a half-decent weekend which I'll explain later. I really wish that I didn't have to share my day off with my pops today, out of all the other days of the week. Here's a PSA message kids: stay in school, get your degree, land a job and move out of your parents' crib once you start receiving those paychexs.

Never thought that I would land myself in a heated dispute with the man of the house yesterday morning for some small unnecessary petty reason. That shit got me riled up, and I haven't event drank my Iced Coffee yet. In the 25 years I endured Sunday mornings without the NFL season, that one had to be the lowest of the lowest. Eventually, it took me a while to get over it through out the day thanks to some group of Russians that I picked up from Universal Citywalk and took them all the way to a hotel in Torrance. That long drive started to ease off the mood. The Del Amo Fashoin Center was right across from the hotel, and so I went there to check it out since I've never been there, as well as to get something to eat.

That place is large and it looks outdated, although they are doing some renovation near the Macy's wing. Hell, even the food court looks boring. Maybe is cause I'm already used to the nicer, remodeled ones at The Topanga Mall and the Fox Hills Mall. They had a lot of stores and an AMC movie theater. The only thing I did there was I just ate a late lunch at the Sbarro pizza. I almost copped a Kelly Kapowski T-shirt at this big ass Urban Outfitters there next to the AMC Theater before I left, but I'll keep that in mind next time.

I didn't really want to bring up about that dispute from that Sunday Morning on here. I remember talking about that type of shit four years ago when my pops got re-married and the constant arguments between us around late 2008 - early 2009. Remember, I was unemployed for a brief time until I got that security gig later that summer and the recession was at its peak with very high unemployment rates plus constant layoffs and hiring freezes. I lived away from home to a place in Sylmar from late 2010 until just last May, and I moved out because of the taxicab gig I was doing and also there were alot of shady politics between the housemates at my old place in Sylmar. Once I makeup some decent cash, I'll try to find a place of my home without any assistance and shit. Again, I really didn't want to express all of that stuff. Its normal in several families and it shows that while you're at your best in your life, you can expect the worse scenarios from out of nowhere.

Alright, now that I got that shit out of the way, let's get into some tight stuff. First off, I got me a new taxicab. Now, originally, I was driving a Ford Crown Victoria when I first started this job back in February. I liked it at first since it was the same whip that the LAPD drives (mines isn't the Police Interceptor version) but I got really bored and tired of it. That car had so many fucking problems while I was driving it: from getting one of the rear tires blown off in the 405 southbound freeway to the car stopping all of a sudden while in motion every so often and the endless trips to the mechanic's shop every week for it. It was alot of hell with the Crown Victoria, until I finally was able to get it exchanged last week for a Toyota Prius as my new taxicab.

This car right here... just fucking, damn. Its smooth, very chill and it REALLY does save on gas as everyone has been saying. Now before this, I was in a Toyota Prius twice (both the second and third generation) The last time I was in one was when I was test driving the third generation versions in Valencia back in 2010 (one of the worst test drive events that I've ever been to) and I got a fucking free movie ticket for driving that shit. I can't complain, it a really good car. So many people in Los Angeles is driving a Prius every now and then. Here's a photo of the Crown Victoria manual from my old cab.

and here a photo of the Toyota Prius manual for the new taxicab, along with the key.

Already a week since I first got it and I'm used to it so far. I had to take it to Keyes Toyota in Van Nuys Boulevard last Wednesday for them to change the water pumps in the Prius. While they were doing that, they asked if I can stay in the waiting room for three hours or that I can have a shuttle take me somewhere and bring me back. I didn't want to wait with a bunch of strangers for three hours and the farthest I can go with a shuttle express is at the most 7 miles and I don't like riding in shuttles anymore. So I asked if its possible if they have a loaner car I could use for a while and they told me that only Keyes Lexus does that next door, but I have an option to rent from Enterprise. The sales manager then called a representative from Enterprise to come pick me up and take them to their offices not to far from the Toyota dealership.

I thought that I was gonna be declined or rejected or unqualified to rent a car since I've never rented one before, but fortunately, after they ran my credit card, I was approved. Then the rep and I went to the lot to see which car I would like to choose. I then saw a 2012 Nissan Altima Coupe in front of the office and I asked if it was available to rent or if it belongs to one of their employers. She then told me that the Altima Coupe is available to rent and without hesitation, I WENT FOR IT. That was the only good car that was in their inventory since the rest were all Fords, Kias, and Chryslers. After they gave me the keys, I went nuts with it for the next three hours. 

The last time I drove a Nissan Altima Coupe was back in 2009 when I was doing security at a Walgreens in Newbury Park. On my way home I stopped by the Nissan dealership in Thousand Oaks just for the hell of it and they let me test drive a top of the line, full package Nissan Altima Coupe, with the Navigation, BOSE speakers, leather seats and a V6 engine among other things (the one I was renting had an inline-4 cylinder engine). Since that day, I always wanted to experience that car without a dealer in the passenger seat trying to sell this to me, and I was 21 at the time with no fucking credit and shit. I had a lot of fun with the Altima Coupe that I rented. I drove it to the bank first near Universal City, then I dipped all the way to Amoeba Music in Hollywood to buy some CDs to play in this whip and then the climax of being in this ride was cruising it on Mulholland Drive, which was just awesome. Finally, with more time remaining, I went to this Starbucks in Beverly Glen and Mulholland and that my first time going there. This hidden lowkey Starbucks was the same place where Britney Spears used to go to every morning during her bi-polar conceited days in 2007 and the paparazzi would be on her ass constantly from there all the way to her then residence at The Summit gated community just east on Muholland Drive. Probably one of the quieter Starbucks that I've gone to so far. A few minutes later, the dealership called me and told me that the taxicab is ready to be picked up. So I went back to Enterprise to return the Altima Coupe and then the Enterprise representative who helped me earlier took me back to Keyes Toyota with her driving the Altima Coupe. Here's a quick startup video of the Altima coupe I took at Mulholland Drive, with some Ultraista playing in the background.  

 

As for the rest of the week, I managed to the best use of it aside from working. I'm still enjoying the photography off the iPhone 5. There are some recent photos I took using that camera. 

Some roses in the Knollwood Country Club

Patiently waiting for some pizza at Pizza Antica in the Santa Monica Place

The 2012 Nissan Altima Coupe that I rented with Universal CIty and the east San Fernando Valley in the background.

Full moon over the Pacific Ocean on midnight at Hermosa Beach 

A little makeshift memorial for journalist Michael Hastings.

A 100 Miles and still a lot of gasoline running (that was an NWA reference)

My friends from Aftergloam putting on a hell of a performance in North Hollywood on Saturday Night. 

I even got some video of their performance. Super great, especially that instrumental piece that they did. I'm glad that I went that night. 

There's alot more stuff that I wanted to blog on here, but I'll save it for the next post. Thanks for your time reading this. 

Shit, let's try this again

Back when I got a Macbook when it came out in 2006 I started taking advanage of the free trial of it's then .mac service. That feature included a program where you can create your own website. So I started doing that. And this was in September of that year mind you. I was fresh out of high school and, this a was a time before anyone had an iPhone, before anyone knew that a black guy would NEVER have a shot at the whitehouse and before Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals legally, yes legally, changed his name among other things. Unfortunately, after I moved back to the valley from staying in Oxnard for the summer, my parents confiscated my laptop for a month, thus letting the trial run out. After I got it back a month later, I completely forgot about my website.

That was my first attempt, my second attempt was last year back when I turned 20 last march. I got the .mac service again, except this time it was for one full year cause I worked at the Apple store during that time. I started the website again, which looked really great. Had picutres I took and a section of my thoughts. What happened to it? A couple months later, about a few weeks after I stopped working there, I kinda lost interest on working on the site. Plus the economy was worsening at that time. So I had to let that go.

Then I relyed on Twitter In January of 2009, the day the Barack got inagurated, to express my thoughts on certain things that are happening. I created it because my original Facebook got deleted thanks to some jailbait who snitched on me to the site's security department. I had a Twitter before news anchors and substitute teachers got one. Now that site is being overdone everywhere. The other disadvantage to it is that you had to say what you want in less than 140 characters. That's like writing in essay contest for "why do you want to go to a sleep over with Demi and Selena" (I could go to hell for writing that). So therefore I took some time to think about my next motive to express my thoughts and concers cause thats the thing everybody is doing now other than sociology class.     

July 1st means a lot to me. We're halfway through the year, a lot of new laws are being put to place in various states, my friend Jade is now legal, I joined Facebook back in July 2007 (that was my original profile. I created a new one which I rarely go on) , I created a Flickr last year on July 1, 2008 ( it better not be deleted just because I don't have a Flickr Pro account), and now I have this site. Let's see how long this lasts.