Shoot Happens

Yesterday was something else, but I'll get to that shit later. Right now, I'm gonna recap the last two weeks so far.

About two Saturdays ago, I went with my uncle and his family to Fullerton to help him cover a wedding that was taking place at the Howard Johnson Hotel next to the 91 Freeway. At that point, I was just at a wedding for my homies Eric and Jessica's ceremony a few weeks prior to that. I went as a guest instead of a hired wedding photographer, even though I did take a few photos that day. Yet, its been a damn while since I helped out my uncle in his photography business. He was originally going to rent a mini van since his Xterra that we'd always roll in got crushed last year, but there wasn't any available at the car rental places in his area in the Antelope Valley, so we all managed in his wife's Toyota Yaris on the way there.

When we got there, I got kinda disappointed at the scene where the ceremony was taking place outside the hotel. They held it at a small ass patio right next to the swimming pool, which was occupied of kids swimming and some couples making out on the poolside. It was even hard to move around and to try to get some decent photos since it was a small space. Honestly, they could've held the event inside the banquet hall where the reception was about to take place. After the ceremony was the worst part. All the invited guests was getting in the way taking photos of the wedding party with their mobile devices and iPads. Also, we didn't even get to take personal photos of the bride and groom by themselves together. Same thing happened at the reception. Everyone was going nuts trying to get a snapshot of the Newlyweds and part that pissed me off the most was that they were CHARGING FOR DRINKS! What the fuck?! Even for a bottle of water was like 2 or 3 bucks.

I wouldn't call this the worst wedding I've worked at, cause I've seen worse managed ceremonies in the past. I got 80 bucks for it, but I didn't give a fuck. Wasn't really to amused of it even if I was a guest instead.

The next day I went to this place about 5 to 10 minutes from my house called The Vaping Section. Its a vendor shop where they sell vapors, which is tobacco-free Electronic cigarettes that's becoming popular so far this year. Inside, they have a lounge with a mounted flat screen TV where you can chill and "vape" as they say. They held a grand opening and I went there to not to vape and not only cover it, but to finally get to meet Filipina import model Christine Mendoza, who was gonna make an appearance there along with a another model. The Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce was also there to do a ribbon cutting ceremony for The Vaping Section so that it can be "official". I met another photographer there and most of the staff that works there and they'll all young twenty-somethings who look like very close siblings, but they're all chill nice as hell. However, when Christine showed up....

WOW, JUST..... FUCKING DAMN!

I met alot of models in the past few years, but Christine was on another level. Her looks in body in person is fantastic, but her personality and voice is even WAY MORE FANTASTIC. I admit, she's an Angel. The comments she writes on her instagram photos are legit and on point all the time. This was similar to when I met Justene Jaro at my first trip to Primitive three years back, but the only difference between the two events was that I didn't know that Justene was gonna be at Primitive since I only went to see Paul Rodriguez, but I knew that Christine was gonna be there. Damn, she was nice and sweet. I took as many photos as I can of her, which I think every photographer would want to do of course. That was a tight moment right there. Thanks again to Christine Mendoza, The Vaping Section staff, the Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce and photographer Ezekiel Choi for being cool on that day. Here's a photo of my and the sexy Christine Mendoza taken by Ezekiel Choi. I was wearing Primitive Apparel's "Exhale" t-shirt with her on it.

Later on that week, it was mostly working the night shifts, getting pulled over for the first time in 4 years for not making a complete stop and also watching the WorldWide Developers Conference that Apple actually livestreamed for once. Out of all the past WWDC conferences I've seen, this one was quite decent above average. The company is naming their next operating system of OS X after California landmarks instead of the "Big Cats" that they've been doing for the past 11 years, with its next release called "OS X Mavericks". They showed off some new features but I won't get into that until it drops. Then they showed a quick teaser of the new updated and upcoming Mac Pro. That shit is little, way shorter than the current Mac Pro tower. Finally, they got to the new iOS 7 update for the iPhones and iPad (as well as the iPod touch) and this motherfucker got some plastic surgery done. The interface looks COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, kinda like a preschooler's Samsung play tablet or something soft. Might as well have to get used to the new look on my phone once the updates comes in the fall. Hell, iOS 7 even features Siri has an option to speak in a dude's voice. Weird.

Then on the following Sunday, I had to go to my ex-boss's studio in the Burbank Town Center to help take some Father's day family portraits. The last time I was there was back in October of last year. It was steady throughout the day. We had about 10 families that came in to get their photos taken. Got 100 bucks for that day, so it was no big deal. Its fucking crazy how just exactly a year ago I got hired and started to work at my ex-boss's former kiosk at the Topanga mall, which only lasted until Labor day that fall. After that, he calls me occasionally as a back up, but not all the time. I went to the Hooters across the street after work for dinner, but the place was full and the waitresses and servers are fine, unlike the staff at the one in Hollywood that I wet to in the past. But what fucked up the mood of Hooters nowadays, especially when I went to that Burbank location on that day, was that there were several families there. I know its because of Fathers Day, but not to be offensive, people taking their grandmothers and kids there doesn't  make sense. That's just me. After a 2 minutes waiting, I dipped and went to the In-N-Out across the street, and that place was also full. Then I looked at the Baja Fresh right behind there. Its been forever since I ate there, so I walked over there and that place was empty with a few people. There was a family there feasting and one of their kids was shouting offensive comments to a group of foreign women that walked in and the family got the fuck out of Baja Fresh with embarrassment after the women looked at them. That was fucked up, especially on Father's Day.

I'm not a fan of holidays. I mean, I'm cool with my pops and all, but I don't know. Whenever I think of Father's Day, immediately, I start imaging people who never had a father in their lives, or those who've had fathers that walk out later in their lives, or those who's pops have that deadbeat asshole stereotype personality. I guess that's why they let school out before Father's day so that they wouldn't recognize it in the classrooms like they do with Mother's Day in May, cause at least there's 1 or 2 kids in a classroom who don't always see their pops. Or maybe I'm wrong on that estimate. I think everyday should be Mothers Day and Fathers Day, without the Hallmark business bullshit. When I got home that Sunday night, my pops and I had some little dispute, but it wasn't heated or serious. I didn't even get a chance to say Happy Father's Day to him on that day. Its just another day. Again, that's just me. However, I appreciate the real Fathers out there working and grinding their asses off everyday for their families, for reals. I care about my parents and all, and I thank them for everything and I keep them in my mind every second, but I just fucking hate holidays.

Now on to yesterday.

I started out by driving around the West San Fernando Valley. I picked up my first customers from the Macy's at the Topanga Mall and as I got there, Volkswagen was holding a test drive event at the parking lot there. Its been a year since I last did one of those, with the Cadillac XTS at The Grove back last June. After I took care of my customers, I came back at check out the VDubs that they had to try out. I haven't driven a Volkswagen in a while, so it never hurts to experience something different. I first drove the 2013 Volkswagen GTI. I wanted to record the startup of the GTI through Instagram's new video capturing feature that was just released on that day, but that shit confused me for a bit, so I just recorded the startup on my iPhone's  regular video camera. The car is very sporty and quick. Makes me feel like I wasn't driving a Volkswagen at all. They made me go around the Topanga mall,, so it pretty much lasted about less than 4 minutes. I also tried out the new Volkswagen Passat mid-size and went the same route. At the end, they gave me a American Express gift card as a small reward and I went inside the mall to cop some stuff for a while. I even checked out the new American Apparel they had inside, and that place is smaller than the other ones I've been to. I used to wear a grip of American Apparel t-shirts back in 2008 when it was cool at the time. I wanna check out their factory in downtown Los Angeles one of these days since I go past it every now and then.

Later that night, I went to the DLT's to watch game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. There were a lot of close games through out the series, but in this particular game, the scoring difference was tighter than some bloke's ex-girlfriend in Apple Bottom jeans. It was really addicting. Got me hooked and focus throughout the whole time. I knew Miami was gonna win the finals, but that game looked like they weren't since the Spurs were balling out of control in the American Airlines Arena that night.
At the end the Heat won their second straight title and alot of pissed off fools on Twitter were going angry and upset over Miami's win. Again, I wasn't surprised of the Heat's win and now that 30 something win streak will make the season much more relevant, but regardless, out of all the finals I've seen, including the Lakers finals, this series was what world championship games are supposed to be displayed. I actually enjoyed it for once. Hell, there's even a film coming out next week called The Heat starring Sandra Bullock ad Melissa McCarthy, which has nothing to do with the team. Even those who don't give a fuck about both teams seemed to enjoyed the basketball athleticism throughout the finals. Thanks again to the De La Torre family for inviting me again and thanks to Marlene for the Barbecued Ribs that night.

Finally, as I was watching the NBA Finals post-press conferences, I learned while browsing through my phone that Kim's newborn is named North West. FOR REALS?! NORTH WEST?! No offense, but what kind of hipster-ass Illuminati type name is North West? Seriously, North West? I don't even.... North West though? At least the media is having a good time with this just like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and the rest of their teammates celebrating and clubbing the previous night after the game. That family is gonna be relevant for the next 18 to 21 years.

Instagram For Video shitting on Vine, Miami Heat's repeat, spending 50 bucks on two pairs of shorts at American Eagle Outfitters, getting paid to drive German vehicles, and North West. One of the strangest and unusual Thursdays I've experienced, all on the official first day of Summer. Thanks for your time reading this. Stay cool this summer.

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. 

You can't Judge the Present by the Design of its Wrapping Paper: A Christmas Weekend recap

If you read the last post, which I'm sure many of you have, then you've noticed that I was saying a some short harsh things about the overhype marketing on Christmas Day and how the holiday shopping season overshadows the true meaning of December 25. Understand that this was what I thought of it. Half of it is facts while its mostly opinion in its entirety.

But after surviving the Christmas weekend, I had second thoughts about what I wrote on that day. To me, what I wrote on the last post was just an outside view of that day. I'm gonna write the inside view of it, which was as better as I thought is was. Shit, it was way better, despite all the bullshit situations that I dealt with throughout last week. From the transmission on my compact sedan giving up to my T-Mobile contract expiring, which means I'm without a cell phone for the time being, and somehow last Saturday made me set those (no pun intended) uncalled for problems aside, or pretty much away from my distance.

First, I just wanna let out that I didn't get any presents, gifts or anything under the tree with my name on it. I could care MUCH LESS about getting "free stuff" from people on that day. As a matter a fact, I looked back this past year, and I've noticed I've BEEN getting free stuff every month at the least, and I'm very thankful and privileged for that. I'd be more delighted to get a card with some girl's handwriting on it over a nice wristwatch or a Xbox 360 (by the way, shoutout to the lucky fuckers (pun intended) who's girls spoiled them with that Microsoft console and then some. SHIT!) Bottom line, its all about being with family and close ones, which I've said many times because that shit is true.

Now onto the recap.

I was given orders by my moms to take her and my sister to LAX on Christmas morning at around 4AM. They came at 5AM instead so when I asked them what time their flight is, they told me that its at 6AM. I told them that they should've left their house at 3AM instead but my sister told me that they over slept. We managed to get to the Los Angeles International Airport on time. I helped them unload their luggage at the terminal and then my moms told me to take good care of her Ford Explorer for a week since they're traveling to the midwest of the United States until New Years Day. I think they picked the wrong time to go over there, and I told my sisters to wear a shitload of jackets. After that, I bounced out of LAX in my mom's SUV and headed back to my pop's house by driving on the Pacific Coast Highway and through the mountains on the Topanga Canyon Boulevard pass.

After I got home, my pops talked to my little brother and I about what this day is all about from his point of view in the living room. I'm not gonna front but that got me really touched up for a moment. I sat in my room for about an hour just sitting there, not doing anything. I was thinking and pondering about how we went from my entire family, before the parents split, singing some songs from the Church hymnal and opening our multitude of presents that we got to just my brother taking his new cellular phone and a drum machine from under the tree and going about his business in his room, like it just a regular day. It was a frequent thing that happens every year and I thought that shit wasn't gonna end, but apparently it didn't happen.

After I collected my thoughts, I went to make a surprise visit to my friend Nicole Stetter's place, which is about 5 minutes from my pop's house. Her entire family was there, which is what I liked to see. I gave her a children's book I got back in September that Tori Spelling published, and inside of it was her autograph with Nicole and her kids names written in her handwriting. I held it for three months so that I can give it to her at the right time. I spent some time there eating peppermint brownies that Nicole made, which were very delicious, and started talking about how I didn't like and approve Nick Cannon dating Mariah Carey with Nicole's family since they were watching the Disneyland Christmas Parade on TV hosted by him. Later on, I then drove to my church in Sylmar (I'm an Adventist by the way, not Jewish) to see the annual Christmas program, which to my dismay, they did a regular church service instead. I was only there for a portion of the service, and then I left to go to Downtown Los Angeles to catch the vibe and action of the self-called "Lakers/Heat Christmas Day ratings game". Yeah, I admit, I wasn't supposed to do that on Christmas Day, but sometime, you have to take the necessary risks, and plus, I'm already a legal adult.

I wanted to drive down to park at LA Live but I too the Metro Subway there instead. I wasn't going to the actual game inside Staples Center, but I hung around the VIP entrance to take photos of the celebrities go inside the arena. Hey, if you don't approve what I did, then deal with it, cause that's what I'm really great at in terms of photography. Speaking of which, I ran into some paparazzi that I used to see alot on Robertson Blvd and Beverly Hills everyday back in late 2008, and I knew that they wouldn't rest on Christmas Day cause from having experience in this business, it never shuts down. The reason why I say that cause they're always a "money shot" opportunity waiting to happen within the 24 hours of the day, regardless if there's a serious tropical storm or God forbid, a national tragedy or anything that gets in the way to civilians.

This will probably be the last time I might be taking photos of famous people in general. I'm not too sure yet cause I might be there when the Boston Celtics come to town again on January 30th since that is the other big marquee game on the Lakers 2010-11 season schedule, which draws the majority of A-list stars and plus the game will be nationally televised. You know what, fuck it, I'm done doing that shit. I'll probably go over there, but I'll take someone with me who has a greater interest of taking photos of someone famous, probably someone who's out of state for that matter. If I was 15 years old doing this, I'd be the top of the student body in my class in terms of publicity and recognition throughout the whole school. Hell, even the hot girls would show much interest. But I will never get that experience again, cause as an adult, some people around my age have better things to do instead of hearing what actor you saw the other day.

There weren't that many female stars that showed up to the Staples Center than the males stars to my surprise. Despite the cops and the weak security making sure that shit doesn't go off, it was great seeing Sinbad and Kevin Hart (dude was short as fuck) in person and to see Dr. Dre actually ripped up. I wanted to ask him about the Detox album, I didn't for two reasons.

1. I wanted to respect him since he was a legend in the hip hop industry and one of the founders of Gangsta Rap

2. I was at a far distance and there was a shit load of people surrounding him, yet I can scope him out from a good view.

A few minutes after the game started, I went inside the Nike Vault next to the Staples Center and the AEG offices. They had the whole placed decorated and dedicated to Kobe Bryant's new signature basketball show, the Zoom Kobe VI. To me honestly, that sneaker is ugly and weird looking. It very similar to the Zoom Kobe IVs that came out two years ago, which I regret not buying. They had the live feed of the game showing inside the Nike Vault, but I went to the ESPN Zone to watch some portions of it. It was full inside there, and unfortunately, the Lakers were way behind Miami. by the end of the first half, I left and took the subway back to Universal City, where I parked my moms Ford Explorer at.

I drove down to my cousin's house, who lives not too far from the Staples Center, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to park at LA Live. There wasn't a lot of people there, just mostly family there talking and eating some Christmas dinner. I watched the rest of the game in my cousin's room, where it turned out that the Lakers lost for the second Christmas Day game in a row. Phil Jackson said before the game that he doesn't approve the idea of the NBA playing basketball on Christmas Day and that the players should spend time with their families instead. I won't be surprised if he gets fined for that statement, but yet, I totally support the coach's statement. I think its Kobe's new sneakers since the whole team was wearing them during the game throughout. After that, I went and played some UNO with my cousins to forget about the loss which sucked. I haven't played UNO in at least 7 years and that is the ONLY card game I'll ever fuck with. Forget Poker, Blackjack, 21 (which I used to play against my sister back in the day), Texas Hold 'em and any other card game that I don't know the rules to. They are not as entertaining as UNO is and I had a fun time playing that card game with the family.

I then bounced out early because I had to go deliever another gift to one of my friends' buddies, which is a DVD containing a photoshoot I did for her back in September. As I was driving on the 10 freeway west merging onto the 405 north, it started to pour rain like fucking crazy! I was being very cautious while I was driving in that unpredictable weather condition.

So when I got to to her house, the lights were out. I figured nobody is home so I went to go ring the doorbell to double check. I was about to go to my car until I saw my buddy Arlene and her family opening the door. I thought that Arlene's friend lived there cause I would always see her friend everytime I drove to that house, but then Arlene told me that she also stayed there. I went inside and ate some Carne Asada that Arlene's mother made, which I really liked and enjoyed, and then chilled with them by watching some television and having some discussions about photoshoots. Then I took off home since it started getting late.

I didn't really do much on Sunday, which happened to be my mom's 46th birthday and my little sister's 16th birthday on that day. Yep, they're 30 years apart. They were probably celebrating it in the mid-west over there. I spent the day just working on photos, my website, driving to the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch to print out an 8 X 10 enlargement for a friend of mine and watched a double feature at my friend Natasha's house. The movies were the original Wall Street and Defending Your Life through her Netflix. I thought that they had the second Wall Street uploaded on there cause I saw the Blu-Ray on sale at Wal-Mart, which had a lot of people there returning gifts that they got under the tree, but the site didn't have it so we watched the first one instead.

Like I said, the weekend turned out as well as a thought it would be, with the exception of 80's singer Teena Marie passing away on Sunday. I'm not gonna front, but I first found out about the news from Birdman's Twitter account before CNN and all the other news media outlets confirmed it a few hours later. Looks like Twitter is going to replace The Huffington Post as the main source for internet journalism sometime in the future. I wanted to mention about my upcoming website and the important information about it, which also involves this Blogspot page, but I'll bring it up tomorrow since I threw in too much on the Christmas weekend recap. Major thanks to the Stetter family and the Arias family for letting me spend time inside their homes. I take back what I said on how everything is off limits on Christmas day. What I meant to say that everything that is not close to you and that's a distraction to your everyday lives should be off limits on Christmas Day.

One last thing, y'all should watch the Top Gear Holiday Special, the UK version. That shit is a MUST SEE, whether you like automobiles or not. It more like a movie as you watch it, so make sure you got you computer connected to a screen that is at least 46 inches, which some of you must've got with your Holiday bonus.

Midnight Love

I'm sure the President and the First lady must've watched the late night Slow Jams-genre music video block on BET back when they were going steady (or dating) in the 1990's.

By the way, Christmas Day is next Saturday, one week from now. Shit, I remember when it would take forever for that day to come. Plus, December 25, from what I know, is gonna be the only time the Lakers will play a home game on a Saturday, against the overhyped Miami Heat, which is usually reserved for the Clippers.

(Photo credited to Pete Souza, Official White House Photographer)

In the White Heat (jersey) of that Night

Lebron James was just minding his own business by making business signing with Pat Riley's Miami Heat ball club on Friday.

I'm not gonna say very much about all this, which I might by accident. Hell, it took me two days to come up with a title for this since I had 25 different references that go with the words Miami and Heat. I would've titled this "The Miami Rebound Machine", but Gloria Estefan is a season ticket holder for the team. I also would've titled this "Khloe and Kourtney Take Lebron and Bosh to Miami" but Khloe Kardashian-Odom is married and Kourtney Kardashian is a mother so they wouldn't have time to do that, or I could've used "Three C-Heat", but I might still have to have Pat Riley's permission to use that as a title, even though its his team.

I'm gonna wait until I see some performance in the American Airlines Arena that these three will produce on the hardwood court during the regular season. After that, then I'll say what I feel about the team. Plus, that hour long special with a 75 MINUTE COMMERCIAL FREE SPORTSCENTER FOLLOWING THAT wasn't really necessary, but then again, this is about a 25 year old celebrity athlete who signed a $93 million dollar Nike contract (which is more than Michael Jordan's rookie Nike contract) during his start in the pros, which he also gets thrown into major exposure and heated (no pun intended) debates in sports bars and videos on the internet that featured Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan.

Not many people liked his "decision", especially those who followed and looked up to him since day one back in 2003. The first time I heard of Lebron James was right after I came back from spending the first two weeks of June in Nigeria with my family that year. I went to Cleveland High School the month after, which was around the time Kobe got accused in that "incident" in Eagle, Colorado. Everywhere I went around the campus, I'd always see some dude or girl wearing a jersey that says Cleveland on the front and JAMES 23 in the back. I thought it was some student athlete that died during the regular school year, but it was an NBA jersey instead of the school jersey. Keep in mind, I wasn't into the NBA that much back then. I only focused on the Lakers since they were the most talked about team that time, despite being eliminated from the playoffs courtesy of the San Antonio Spurs.

As the months went on later that year during my Sophomore year at Kennedy High, I keep hearing about Lebron everywhere in the newspapers, Sports Illustrated magazines, Nike Commercials, the Laker games (when they had Malone and Payton) I'd be watching whenever Stu Lantz and Paul Sunderland (before he left and got replaced by Joel Meyers cause Paul subbed for the late Chick Hearn after he passed on in 2002) would always bring him up which made me get more interested in the NBA more. The jersey craze was poppin' that year, and people would be wearing different $300 throwback Lebron Cavaliers jerseys along with some Air Force Ones or some Air Zoom Generations, which is his first Nike shoe.

Now that's no longer a reality as people disowned those Lebron Cavaliers' jerseys with lighters and pyromania as well as sneakers being too unaffordable during this recession. Hell, even the owner of the Cavs went off on his ex-player by writing an emotional letter displaying his true colors towards Lebron's decision. Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cavs, wasn't supposed to do that cause Lebron is legally a free agent and not under contract, but that's how Cleveland sports fans have been displaying their emotions through out the years aside from pro Basketball. If they want to break this "losing curse streak", the town's sports franchises just need to make very smart decisions, which is what the offseason is for. I hope the addition of Bryon Scott as a head coach and his experience in the playoffs of both a head coach and a former player will head adapt to the team, as well as the front office moving on with trying to avoid the loss of attendance revenue for the 2010-11 season. Same goes with the Indians and the Browns front office staff and players. They just need to keep staying focused more than they have been and do what ever they can to erase the doubts and earned the respect they must've had sometime in the past.

Sure, Lebron left his hometown to jump ship all the way down to South Beach and yes, that he upset his fans that grew with him for the past 8 years. To him, its about what he feels its best to just win some games so that he'll probably end those hot topic debates and those "playground bully jokes" on how he doesn't have any rings and that type of shit. Call him whatever you want, but just remember that he was very fortunate enough to get in the pros and got all the perks with that as a underage kid which is no longer valid nowadays in the NBA.

One last thing before I retire for the night on this slow ass weekend. Dwayne Wade should tell Lebron the difference between the white powder he uses for his pre-game ritual at the arenas to the crowd and the "other white powder" South Beach citizens use for their "post-game rituals" at the clubs on Ocean Drive. Shit, I could go on all day with the Miami jokes.