For some weird reason, I always tend to slack off from updating this site around March every year. Maybe it must be some hidden "senoritis" type birthday hangover that's preventing me from typing.( I just turned 25 ten days ago, if that matters)
But anyway, I've been very busy as of recent. You've been very busy as of recent as well. Its kinda been like that since Barack was sworn in to the White House back in 2009, when the economy just started to suck. Everyone is more focused on their own priorities, yet they sometimes find a way to go clubbing on a fuckin' Thursday night and post drunk photos of themselves all over Facebook. Hell, even the bars will be packed with non-Irish blokes this upcoming Sunday night as they raise their Blood Alcohol Content to the point where their too fucked up to not have to go to class or work the next day or two.
Shit, I don't even have time to go out nowadays. I even missed Primitive's Pain of Beauty premiere at the Arclight in Hollywood on Wednesday night cause I had to be at a mandatory last-minute hearing that night in Downtown Los Angeles.
What was the hearing for? Well, right now I'm currently and just recently employed as a driver in the Los Angeles Department of Transportation in their Taxicab division. I didn't really ask for it, but it was given to me. I been driving their cabs every day for a month so far, with only one day off on my 25th birthday so far. The hearing was for 2 complaints that some of the customers I picked up had snitch on me to the company that I drive for (United Independent San Fernando Valley). But I told them I just got started, and it was settled by having to pay them a $2.00 fine in Money Order.
Surprised that I'm now driving cabs around the Valley? Well, you're supposed to be. Surprises are part of life, from finding out that your first crush in elementary school is getting married for the third time on Facebook, or learning that one of your parents is dating somebody 15 years younger than them. My moms just called me this past week and we had our usual arguments. At the end of the conversation, she told me that I'll be 30 in 5 years, which surprised me as I though of it. Honestly, I really wish that I had one single legit job aside from my photography for the past six years instead of having several different ones. Since 2007, I was a cashier, a sale associate, a stock keeper, a security guard, a paparazzi photographer, a family portrait studio photographer, a paid volunteer at Providence Tarzana Medical Center, a car washer at Galpin Ford, and a warehouse supplier last year which I didn't mention that much on this blog. Hell, I even sold junk food and snacks at a small commissary there for the employees there with a deaf person in his 50s that was my supervisor there. I didn't know sign language, but despite the challenge, we somehow manage to communicate and get along very well while selling Coke Zeros and Frito-Lay products.
I'm only in this taxicab business just so that I can pay bills and shit like that and then later on in a few years I can start focusing on what I really want to do. I had to spend about $500 that I don't have to start and get all the permits and pay the exam fees and drug testing to drive cabs around the Valley, and its paying off well so far. If I never drove my drunk friends to their house in the past or if I never grew up in the 818 and knew every street by heart, then I wouldn't have interest in this job. To me, its just a regular job. Nothing to get excited about since most other better places to work at is very hard to get nowadays. I'm at the banks all the time and I work almost everyday for an average of 12 hours, so you'll rarely see any updates on here or on Facebook. But if you're on instagram, feel free to bother me at @justforsneaks07 so that you can see some photos that you won't see on Facebook.
Even though I missed the Pain Is Beauty invite only premiere on Wednesday night, you can check out the film right here on The Berrics, which is a website that post videos of all things skateboarding. The Berrics also have several other videos of Skateboarder/Primitive co-founder Paul Rodriguez from his web-reality series Life: Paul Rodriguez and a excellent feature on his partner Andy Netkin with his sneaker collection. Check it out. Pain is Beauty link
Anyway, I end this post right here. I'll have some photography and other stuff that I've been working on and will be working on that I'll share with y'all in the coming months, so keep a lookout for that. Anyway, thanks for your time reading this.
Showing posts with label Primitive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Primitive. Show all posts
Friday, March 15, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Super Bowl Son-Day
That game was fucking weird. If not, the whole entire Sunday.
I was watching it at the De La Torre's place as I always do whenever a championship sporting event is taking place. For the past two years, I witnessed Green Bay Packers winning over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Superbowl XLV, the Dallas Mavericks getting their revenge against the Miami Heat in that Game 6 of the Finals, that crazy ass walk-off home run by David Freese of the St. Louis Cardinals that forced a Game 7 in the World Series that year, and obviously that Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals when the LA Kings shocked the universe by bringing the Stanley Cup all over the town. But this past Sunday was my second time watching a Super Bowl there, and after a long stressful month of January, just being with some homies and their families and their kids made me feel more comfortable.
As for the game, man, fuck it. That shit looked like it was commissioned and produced by a fifteen-year-old who spent his whole life playing Madden '96 off his pop's Sega Saturn. I mean, it was great to see Ray Lewis getting his second ring at his final game (which is the same way that Jerome Bettis and John Elway finish their careers). The actual game itself felt like I was watching a regular season game and that fucking 35 minutes blackout had to be fixed (as in rigged not repairable) cause, shit, IT WAS THE SUPER BOWL. At a Saints game, yeah, but not during the big dance where a over 100 million people are watching it in their 90" Samsung (I'll get to those fools later) HDTVs that they just spent their tax refund money on. Happened right after that insane 108 yard kick off return that gave Baltimore another touchdown, which made the San Francisco 49ers way out of reach as the score was 28 Ravens- 6 Niners at that point. After the power was restored, San Francisco regained the upper hand by scoring several touchdown to get very close to Baltimore, scoring wise. But after some, literally, last minute chances to get the lead that didn't work out, the Ravens got the win, as well as the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the second time in 12 years for their first Super Bowl win. It would've been epic and much more interesting if San Francisco won, even though I don't like that city's sports teams, yet unfortunately, it didn't happen.
Unlike the previous Super Bowls that I've been watching for almost 10 years, I didn't seen to have that hyped up style feeling. Maybe it cause I'm getting older or is because the players are getting younger. I still find it coincidental that the head coaches for San Francisco and Baltimore were are siblings, which its probably another reason that garners interest for the game just like John Gruden's old team versus his new team back in 2003. The advertisements they aired this year was bullshit and predictable. All of them. There wasn't one I really saw amusement and entertainment in. Also, that Samsung Galaxy commercial they aired that day? Shit, I honestly thought that it was never going to end. No disrespect to Seth Rogen and Judd Apathow, but it was long as fuck. I thought that Samsung had to give up a shit load of money to Apple from that settlement shit last year, but it looked like they wounded up spending about 100 Million bucks for that ad now that this year's commercials are 40 Million dollars just for 30 seconds of air time. The only best part of the whole entire Super Bowl broadcast was not the halftime show (I wish I was kidding), but Kat Dennings cleavage during the promos for her show 2 Broke Girls on CBS, who also happened to telecast this years Super Bowl (Fox has it for next year).
What sucked the most about this years game was that this was the very first Super Bowl without the late Steve Sabol of NFL Films being present at the game. Like I said during his tribute that I typed up after his passing last year, he's one the only few people in the world that has gone to every Super Bowl since the inaugural game at the LA Coliseum back in 1967, and I've seem to imagine how the film crew is capturing the game without Steve Sabol giving the commands and directions for that day as he's done in the past. I don't even know if his name will be in the credits of the Ravens Super Bowl XLVII highlight video. but I'm sure they'll do a "In Memory of" type tribute. Probably another reason why my excitement for that championship game on Sunday felt out of place.
Anyway, that's it for the recap. Yeah, I know its kinda somewhat biased but that's how I really thought about the game that Sunday. It really felt like a regular game. Thanks again to the De La Torre's as always for hosting this Super Bowl gathering. Probably the only decent thing that I did so far, while the rest of the past few weeks have been personal stuff with the family and shit. I'm just glad I went there yesterday so that I can feel relaxed and stress free for once instead of driving around from The Valley to LA and answering phone calls that you don't want to answer. The only thing now I'm looking forward to is Primitive's Spring '13 line this month and any other surprises that they have. I know I talk about Primitive alot, but its one of the only decent independent sneaker/skateboarding/apparel boutiques that I really like and I support it alot on instagram and Facebook since the store is based in the Valley, as well as their clothing. Plus, its also owned by Paul Rodriguez, a well known professional skateboarder and a son of a famous latin comedian with the same name. Click on the link on the top right to check out their goods and apparel they offer.
Speaking of Primitive, thanks again to the gorgeous Shay Maria for uploading a photo on her Tumbr page that I took of her rockin' the Air Jordan VII "Playoffs" (not Raptors) during the store's four year anniversary Barbecue last summer. That photo got reblogged and favorited over 400 times. Does this mean that I finally consider myself "Tumblr famous"?
I was watching it at the De La Torre's place as I always do whenever a championship sporting event is taking place. For the past two years, I witnessed Green Bay Packers winning over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Superbowl XLV, the Dallas Mavericks getting their revenge against the Miami Heat in that Game 6 of the Finals, that crazy ass walk-off home run by David Freese of the St. Louis Cardinals that forced a Game 7 in the World Series that year, and obviously that Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals when the LA Kings shocked the universe by bringing the Stanley Cup all over the town. But this past Sunday was my second time watching a Super Bowl there, and after a long stressful month of January, just being with some homies and their families and their kids made me feel more comfortable.
As for the game, man, fuck it. That shit looked like it was commissioned and produced by a fifteen-year-old who spent his whole life playing Madden '96 off his pop's Sega Saturn. I mean, it was great to see Ray Lewis getting his second ring at his final game (which is the same way that Jerome Bettis and John Elway finish their careers). The actual game itself felt like I was watching a regular season game and that fucking 35 minutes blackout had to be fixed (as in rigged not repairable) cause, shit, IT WAS THE SUPER BOWL. At a Saints game, yeah, but not during the big dance where a over 100 million people are watching it in their 90" Samsung (I'll get to those fools later) HDTVs that they just spent their tax refund money on. Happened right after that insane 108 yard kick off return that gave Baltimore another touchdown, which made the San Francisco 49ers way out of reach as the score was 28 Ravens- 6 Niners at that point. After the power was restored, San Francisco regained the upper hand by scoring several touchdown to get very close to Baltimore, scoring wise. But after some, literally, last minute chances to get the lead that didn't work out, the Ravens got the win, as well as the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the second time in 12 years for their first Super Bowl win. It would've been epic and much more interesting if San Francisco won, even though I don't like that city's sports teams, yet unfortunately, it didn't happen.
Unlike the previous Super Bowls that I've been watching for almost 10 years, I didn't seen to have that hyped up style feeling. Maybe it cause I'm getting older or is because the players are getting younger. I still find it coincidental that the head coaches for San Francisco and Baltimore were are siblings, which its probably another reason that garners interest for the game just like John Gruden's old team versus his new team back in 2003. The advertisements they aired this year was bullshit and predictable. All of them. There wasn't one I really saw amusement and entertainment in. Also, that Samsung Galaxy commercial they aired that day? Shit, I honestly thought that it was never going to end. No disrespect to Seth Rogen and Judd Apathow, but it was long as fuck. I thought that Samsung had to give up a shit load of money to Apple from that settlement shit last year, but it looked like they wounded up spending about 100 Million bucks for that ad now that this year's commercials are 40 Million dollars just for 30 seconds of air time. The only best part of the whole entire Super Bowl broadcast was not the halftime show (I wish I was kidding), but Kat Dennings cleavage during the promos for her show 2 Broke Girls on CBS, who also happened to telecast this years Super Bowl (Fox has it for next year).
What sucked the most about this years game was that this was the very first Super Bowl without the late Steve Sabol of NFL Films being present at the game. Like I said during his tribute that I typed up after his passing last year, he's one the only few people in the world that has gone to every Super Bowl since the inaugural game at the LA Coliseum back in 1967, and I've seem to imagine how the film crew is capturing the game without Steve Sabol giving the commands and directions for that day as he's done in the past. I don't even know if his name will be in the credits of the Ravens Super Bowl XLVII highlight video. but I'm sure they'll do a "In Memory of" type tribute. Probably another reason why my excitement for that championship game on Sunday felt out of place.
Anyway, that's it for the recap. Yeah, I know its kinda somewhat biased but that's how I really thought about the game that Sunday. It really felt like a regular game. Thanks again to the De La Torre's as always for hosting this Super Bowl gathering. Probably the only decent thing that I did so far, while the rest of the past few weeks have been personal stuff with the family and shit. I'm just glad I went there yesterday so that I can feel relaxed and stress free for once instead of driving around from The Valley to LA and answering phone calls that you don't want to answer. The only thing now I'm looking forward to is Primitive's Spring '13 line this month and any other surprises that they have. I know I talk about Primitive alot, but its one of the only decent independent sneaker/skateboarding/apparel boutiques that I really like and I support it alot on instagram and Facebook since the store is based in the Valley, as well as their clothing. Plus, its also owned by Paul Rodriguez, a well known professional skateboarder and a son of a famous latin comedian with the same name. Click on the link on the top right to check out their goods and apparel they offer.
Speaking of Primitive, thanks again to the gorgeous Shay Maria for uploading a photo on her Tumbr page that I took of her rockin' the Air Jordan VII "Playoffs" (not Raptors) during the store's four year anniversary Barbecue last summer. That photo got reblogged and favorited over 400 times. Does this mean that I finally consider myself "Tumblr famous"?
Thanks for your time reading this. Stay blessed.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Back in Motion
Until there's a BlackBerry version of Instagram provided for the Z10, people are still going to be fucking with the iPhone 5.
Other than that, I can't wait for this Sunday's Superbowl and Primitive's Spring 2013 apparel line that might feature Filipina model Christine Mendoza. Until then, nothing else matters.
Friday, September 28, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, September 17, 2012
You're Only Live Once
First off, birthday shoutout to the homeboy Eric Jackson today. Very great person to get to known over the past two years. Here's a Christmas portrait I took of him and his family back in December 2009.
Thanks again to Eric, his brother Steven and his mother Teresa for letting photograph them during that holiday season.
As for me, last week sucked. Alot of fucking high speed pursuit chases in Los Angeles made the Grand Theft Auto video game series look like a sequel to Gone in Sixty Seconds taking place in the early 90's. There was one in The Valley in which the driver of a purple Chevy Avalance rollin' on dubs (not joking) disappered into someone's random backyard in the Pacoima/Arleta border, like he vanished or some shit cause the California Highway Patrol (not the LAPD since the chase started on the freeway) and the K-9 unit spent the rest of the evening looking for him and they still haven't found the next day, which was the 11th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Also on that day, there was another high speed chase. It had this fool parading the cops all over Los Angeles through Hollywood, the Westlake District and on Figueroa passing the Staples Center and LA Live. The pursuit finally ended when the suspect got out of his white mid 90's Honda Civic and got shot (still alive) by the Police.
The next high speed chase was by far WAY UNEXPECTED that the other two. A couple of blokes busted into a Bank Of America up in Canyon Country just north of Newhall in the Santa Clarita Valley. Then, like old school stereotypical Bonnie and Clyde shit from back in the day, the took the banks money (which is really other people's money from their savings accounts) and ran off with it. They then sped all the way in their Volvo XC 90 crossover SUV to South Central Los Angeles and did something that nobody in the history of the world would ever do and would never do again...
THEY MOTHERFUCKING MADE IT RAIN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD BY TOSSING OUT HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS OF THE BANK'S MONEY OUT TO THE STREETS AND THAT SHIT GOT THE ENTIRE BLOCK OUTSIDE GOING CRAZY!!!!
Now this would be legal if it was their OWN money being thrown away, but since it was the banks and being in other people's accounts, it wasn't legal, which is why the cops were telling everyone in the hood to return the money back to them. It makes sense, but that would be impossible because I assume that most people were already getting set to purchase the new iPhone 5 that was just announced by Apple on that same day. Switching gears to the iPhone 5, that device looks cool. A bigger 4 inch screen and the back is no longer made of glass but with a aluminum finish instead, along with its new A6 processor and the option to use 4G LTE next generation cellular networking which they claim its downloads faster data while using the internet on it. I'm gonna wait till I play with this device so that I can express my full thoughts on it. Right now there are people in New York City who are actually giving up a week of their lives by camping out in front of the 5th Avenue Apple store (the one with the big-ass glass cube that never closes) so that they can be the first ones to cop the iPhone 5. I don't blame them since the pre-order sale last Friday sold out faster than this years Coachella tickets. Very high demand for this device, and Samsung is even playing along, I guess.
The only good thing I did this weekend was driving through Mulholland Drive for some inspiration and clear thinking and I copped myself a couple of vinyls from the 1980's that are out-of-print and extremely hard to find in CD format, as well as a new Primitive t-shirt for the little sister that I'd promised her before her trip to Nigeria over the summer and a lot of stickers. (thanks Ashley and the blokes at Amoeba Records)
The vinyls are Secret Rendezvous by Cindy Valentine, Strange Language from Romeo Void's lead vocalist Debora Iyall, and a recorded interview of Filipino-American artist Eleanor Academia with some of her songs. I got that record because I couldn't find her Jungle Wave album that I was actually looking for, but this record was good with the interviews. I tired to find Wall Of VooDoo's Call Of The West album, but I was surprised that Amoeba Records didn't have it, since it was as common as the other 3 records I bought. So I went to Freak Beat Records, which is my backup spot in Sherman Oaks, and they actually had it, but it was the very last one and I bought it anyways. Thanks again to Freak Beat for reserving that album.
By the way, I finally sold the T-Mobile G2 to the little brother over the week, so for those who stay in touch with me on instagram (@justforsneaks07), I won't be uploading that much photos on there that much for the time being, but I'll still be checking and lurking on it thanks to Statigram.com, where you can view a stream of your instagram feed on your computer. What more worse was that they money I got from my phone ($75) was all blown on fuel for the brother's whip and a bunch of magazines for my pops new coffee table, several handsoaps from Bath And Body Works in Porter Ranch (thank you Jackie for the customer service) and other expensive high performance cleaning shit for the two parties he threw at his house. Hey, it happens and I'm already used to it.
Finally, I checked out the replay of the Season premiere of Saturday Night Live with Seth MacFarlane as the host and Frank Ocean as the musical guest this morning (I didn't see his performance cause I was upset from USC's loss to Stanford and I went to bed early, and the replay cut off the performances). That episode was funny. It had me laughing and MacFarlane was doing a number of voices throughout the show. It would've more interesting and a lot funnier if he hosted around 2005, when Family Guy was back in production and the debut of his other show American Dad. By the way, I once spoke to him on the phone before. I was working at the Apple Store 4 years ago when I was ringing up this lady and she told me to give her a discount since she was Seth MacFarlane's sister. I didn't believe her at first until she whipped out her cell phone and made me speak to her brother, which was really him. Dude did some voices from his show and told me about The Cleveland Show he was working on just a year before everyone else knew about it. After that, I gave the lady her discount.
Alright, time to survive through another hot-ass week in the Valley and to start looking into my homegirl Vanessa Cuenca's birthday party gathering in Downtown LA this Friday. Haven't seen her in over a year and she's one of the realest persons around my age to talk to about current events and other real stuff. Thanks for your time reading this.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Happy Re-Birth Day
I don't event know how to start off this post. I mean, I know what I'm about to write, but after days of planning this, I still can't seem to write this entry like I successfully did in my previous posts.
Its wild and confusing how we receive or earn something, be it a person, place or thing (money obviously). Then unexpectedly out of no where, we no longer have possession of it, which leaves us confused as to why it was taken from us in this wild reality.
Two weeks ago was Bezold Photography's final weekend working at the Westfield Topanga. Prior to that, I've been hearing rumors from my co-workers that we might close down or move someplace else. I thought that was fabricated bullshit, until my boss sent me an email saying that the last weekend of August was gonna be the final weekend at the Topanga mall. All right, maybe we might go to Northridge mall the following week after that once I assumed after reading the message. Well, that idea was dropped when I met up with my boss that last Friday of the month for the first time since the start of the month. He said that the Northridge mall didn't want us there cause they already have a studio portrait, so for now, Bezold Photography is on hiatus, which doesn't look good. He also told me that he has another location in Burbank Town Center, yet they already have a full time photographer there. Before I met up with him, I was hitting on this cute girl in front of entrance after I parked my brother's car in the garage. He was in St. Louis that Labor Day weekend, so I had to watch over his whip. It was going well so far and I was about to score on her, but I needed to get my paycheck from my boss so that I can try to achieve a "double play" on her over a plate of sushi for lunch at a high end Japaneses restaurant inside the mall. Well, that didn't happen cause my boss showed up 30 fucking minutes late. I got here on time as I was told, expected him to be at the kiosk already, and the girl said she had another class at Pierce College just not too far from here in 45 minutes. I really didn't want to keep her waiting, so just out of respect, I told her she can take off for her next class so that she won't be late. I would've been fucking upset if I was 5 years younger, but I've dined with unknown females many times before, so this is nothing new.
But back to my boss and the situation with my work. He was there to sell the prints for the customers who came to pick up and had their kids' photos taken the week before. One of the customers raised serious hell on us and said that one of the photos, without going into details, was pure shit. She went as far to get the Westfield mall management and two security guards, and that's what made it much worse. The manager was a female who's around my age, but acts like she came straight from a boot camp in jail with a masters degree. Damn, she went IN on my boss, who twice my age with limited English (he's from Peru but I can still understand his English) and that gave the manager more advantage over him. It was a nightmare to witness this argument, which I was thrown in as well to defend my boss. Finally, we had no choice but to give the customer the rest of her photos for free. It was just me and my boss there that day. He gave me my pay and told me that I could take off right after that shit happened. I wanted to say till 9PM to help him sell the photos to prevent another chaos taking place from the customers, but he said that he'll get through it by himeself. As I walked away leaving him there by himself, I felt emotionally fucked up inside. I'm now back to where I was since the beginning of the year, without a legit job for now again.
I had issues with Westfield's management in the past from when I worked at Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks. Because of them, I vowed never to step inside the Topanga mall and any other Westfield owned mall ever again. I had many great memories going to Westfield Topanga for the past 13 years. I even remember when that mall was just a small strip from the Sears at the south end, all the way to the Macy's at the North end (before it was a Robinsons-May). The Neiman Marcus that's there right now used to be where the old Nordstrom was placed before being currently moved to the corner of Owensmouth and Victory Blvd. I was also there on October 2006 when they debuted the new expansion stores east of the mall along with a upgraded food court (that was the first mall I ever seen where they had REAL utensils instead of plastics and glass plates in a food court) and the Apple Store there was opened that day too. I used to bring majority of my classmates from Pierce College all the time to Topanga in 2007 and 2008 just to chill and act a fool there. Working there did save my summer as opposed to washing cars everyday in triple digit heat in North Hills before I came to Bezold Photography. That was one of the many blessings I was greatful to take use of.
I could've made those last paragraphs a separate blog post, but like I said, I was emotionally drained since I stopped working there and didn't have the energy to type. Some of the things that made me feel up to my feet were going to two Dodgers games and attending Primitive's four year anniversary barbecue event since September started. Thanks again as always to the staff at Primitive, Dawn and Justene Jaro, Shay Maria, Talisa Monet, Alexis Lopez, my homeboys Frank and Zishan for making my Labor Day weekend excellent. Oh and major shoutout to the Los Angeles Dodgers organization for upgrading me and Zishan's seats from Right Field Pavilion to Field Level closer to the action and still have us keep the All You Can Eat privileges, which is something that I'll probably never see again.
To me, its still hard to believe that 11 years ago on this Tuesday that many innocent lives were taken away unexpectedly in New York City as well as the Pentagon and United Flight 93. I already wrote where I was on that day on a previous September 11th post I typed to save the time. I'm glad that everyone got through the hardship and now September 11th is a regular day again. I was expecting it to be a national holiday or something cause that shit was intense. Was very fortunate to see the Twin Towers in person on my first trip to new York City back in Labor Day weekend 2000, just a year before they were no longer in existence. Still tripping out about it right now. I remember people discussing and recognizing it up every year just like how elderly pre-baby boomers are still mentioning the attacks on Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941, cause that shit was intense to them at their time. Even thought I'm not affected by the tragic events from that day since it took place in the east coast, I just don't feel like doing anything or going anywhere today just out of respect for those who didn't ask or request for their lives to be taken away. That's how crazy that day was, and ever since then, people's views started to change differently, as if we all got re-baptized or something.
Not only is today the day we remember people lives being gone, but on a positive mote, today is also a day for a special person that I know through a good friend of mine in Nicole Stetter who's been given and received another year in life. I first met her at Nicole's house two years ago, and she (along with my other homegirl Chirstina Campa who's birthday is in two days) was the reason why I was there for their birthday party that day. If it wasn't for that night, I can't even think where I would see myself right now. Because of her birthday party that night, I was able to establish a wide spectrum of mutual relationships with others and expand my photography with them. It was there at that night where I saw Aftergloam performing for the first time ever, and if it wasn't for that night, I would've never met Elvis Galvez and his incredible family, and I would've never met Tianna Edmonson and have attend her unforgettable last minute kickbacks in her old garage every month. Just standing next to her and having a conversation with her at a soiree is like that emotion of a pitcher after accomplishing a no-hitter during a perfect game twice in the same season (which is super rare in Major League Baseball). I don't like to see her birthday being overshadowed by a national tragedy, but the bottom line is that she's just too awesome to get to know, and she has a nice smile. By the way, I first heard about instagram from her back in early 2011. Anyways, happy 24 birthday to Annamarie Rhyne today. Here's a photo I took of her in Nicole's room earlier this year. Thank you, Annamarie.
Thanks for your time reading this, and enjoy as much as you can in life before it gets taken away without warning.
Its wild and confusing how we receive or earn something, be it a person, place or thing (money obviously). Then unexpectedly out of no where, we no longer have possession of it, which leaves us confused as to why it was taken from us in this wild reality.
Two weeks ago was Bezold Photography's final weekend working at the Westfield Topanga. Prior to that, I've been hearing rumors from my co-workers that we might close down or move someplace else. I thought that was fabricated bullshit, until my boss sent me an email saying that the last weekend of August was gonna be the final weekend at the Topanga mall. All right, maybe we might go to Northridge mall the following week after that once I assumed after reading the message. Well, that idea was dropped when I met up with my boss that last Friday of the month for the first time since the start of the month. He said that the Northridge mall didn't want us there cause they already have a studio portrait, so for now, Bezold Photography is on hiatus, which doesn't look good. He also told me that he has another location in Burbank Town Center, yet they already have a full time photographer there. Before I met up with him, I was hitting on this cute girl in front of entrance after I parked my brother's car in the garage. He was in St. Louis that Labor Day weekend, so I had to watch over his whip. It was going well so far and I was about to score on her, but I needed to get my paycheck from my boss so that I can try to achieve a "double play" on her over a plate of sushi for lunch at a high end Japaneses restaurant inside the mall. Well, that didn't happen cause my boss showed up 30 fucking minutes late. I got here on time as I was told, expected him to be at the kiosk already, and the girl said she had another class at Pierce College just not too far from here in 45 minutes. I really didn't want to keep her waiting, so just out of respect, I told her she can take off for her next class so that she won't be late. I would've been fucking upset if I was 5 years younger, but I've dined with unknown females many times before, so this is nothing new.
But back to my boss and the situation with my work. He was there to sell the prints for the customers who came to pick up and had their kids' photos taken the week before. One of the customers raised serious hell on us and said that one of the photos, without going into details, was pure shit. She went as far to get the Westfield mall management and two security guards, and that's what made it much worse. The manager was a female who's around my age, but acts like she came straight from a boot camp in jail with a masters degree. Damn, she went IN on my boss, who twice my age with limited English (he's from Peru but I can still understand his English) and that gave the manager more advantage over him. It was a nightmare to witness this argument, which I was thrown in as well to defend my boss. Finally, we had no choice but to give the customer the rest of her photos for free. It was just me and my boss there that day. He gave me my pay and told me that I could take off right after that shit happened. I wanted to say till 9PM to help him sell the photos to prevent another chaos taking place from the customers, but he said that he'll get through it by himeself. As I walked away leaving him there by himself, I felt emotionally fucked up inside. I'm now back to where I was since the beginning of the year, without a legit job for now again.
I had issues with Westfield's management in the past from when I worked at Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks. Because of them, I vowed never to step inside the Topanga mall and any other Westfield owned mall ever again. I had many great memories going to Westfield Topanga for the past 13 years. I even remember when that mall was just a small strip from the Sears at the south end, all the way to the Macy's at the North end (before it was a Robinsons-May). The Neiman Marcus that's there right now used to be where the old Nordstrom was placed before being currently moved to the corner of Owensmouth and Victory Blvd. I was also there on October 2006 when they debuted the new expansion stores east of the mall along with a upgraded food court (that was the first mall I ever seen where they had REAL utensils instead of plastics and glass plates in a food court) and the Apple Store there was opened that day too. I used to bring majority of my classmates from Pierce College all the time to Topanga in 2007 and 2008 just to chill and act a fool there. Working there did save my summer as opposed to washing cars everyday in triple digit heat in North Hills before I came to Bezold Photography. That was one of the many blessings I was greatful to take use of.
I could've made those last paragraphs a separate blog post, but like I said, I was emotionally drained since I stopped working there and didn't have the energy to type. Some of the things that made me feel up to my feet were going to two Dodgers games and attending Primitive's four year anniversary barbecue event since September started. Thanks again as always to the staff at Primitive, Dawn and Justene Jaro, Shay Maria, Talisa Monet, Alexis Lopez, my homeboys Frank and Zishan for making my Labor Day weekend excellent. Oh and major shoutout to the Los Angeles Dodgers organization for upgrading me and Zishan's seats from Right Field Pavilion to Field Level closer to the action and still have us keep the All You Can Eat privileges, which is something that I'll probably never see again.
To me, its still hard to believe that 11 years ago on this Tuesday that many innocent lives were taken away unexpectedly in New York City as well as the Pentagon and United Flight 93. I already wrote where I was on that day on a previous September 11th post I typed to save the time. I'm glad that everyone got through the hardship and now September 11th is a regular day again. I was expecting it to be a national holiday or something cause that shit was intense. Was very fortunate to see the Twin Towers in person on my first trip to new York City back in Labor Day weekend 2000, just a year before they were no longer in existence. Still tripping out about it right now. I remember people discussing and recognizing it up every year just like how elderly pre-baby boomers are still mentioning the attacks on Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941, cause that shit was intense to them at their time. Even thought I'm not affected by the tragic events from that day since it took place in the east coast, I just don't feel like doing anything or going anywhere today just out of respect for those who didn't ask or request for their lives to be taken away. That's how crazy that day was, and ever since then, people's views started to change differently, as if we all got re-baptized or something.
Not only is today the day we remember people lives being gone, but on a positive mote, today is also a day for a special person that I know through a good friend of mine in Nicole Stetter who's been given and received another year in life. I first met her at Nicole's house two years ago, and she (along with my other homegirl Chirstina Campa who's birthday is in two days) was the reason why I was there for their birthday party that day. If it wasn't for that night, I can't even think where I would see myself right now. Because of her birthday party that night, I was able to establish a wide spectrum of mutual relationships with others and expand my photography with them. It was there at that night where I saw Aftergloam performing for the first time ever, and if it wasn't for that night, I would've never met Elvis Galvez and his incredible family, and I would've never met Tianna Edmonson and have attend her unforgettable last minute kickbacks in her old garage every month. Just standing next to her and having a conversation with her at a soiree is like that emotion of a pitcher after accomplishing a no-hitter during a perfect game twice in the same season (which is super rare in Major League Baseball). I don't like to see her birthday being overshadowed by a national tragedy, but the bottom line is that she's just too awesome to get to know, and she has a nice smile. By the way, I first heard about instagram from her back in early 2011. Anyways, happy 24 birthday to Annamarie Rhyne today. Here's a photo I took of her in Nicole's room earlier this year. Thank you, Annamarie.
Thanks for your time reading this, and enjoy as much as you can in life before it gets taken away without warning.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Stayin' Primitive and The Olympic Hunger Games
Basically, the social networking world, which consumes about 58% of my time and is also part of my work, will be soft for the next several weeks until the Olympic games will be finished in London.
I have absolutely nothing against the Olympics. I'm just baffled that the last one in China felt like it happened last year instead of 2008, but like I said, as you get older, then time just swifts by very quickly. Shoutout to all the athletes from around the world, especially the one here in the United States of course, for representing their homelands as the compete in various athletic competitions. Just leave the racism bullshit and controversial prejudgment in the paper shredder and let these athletes play.
I got a chance to see some of the opening ceremonies at the bar inside Cheesecake Factory in Warner Center after work on Friday evening since it was close by. There were already showing Poland walking around the stadium representing themselves. I was trying to focus but I was being distracted by some recession-proof horny-ass couple in their early thirties next to me feeding each other with a lot of food AT THE BAR. Those fools could've got a table and left the bar to individuals consuming some liquids, and also, the woman was a seat over left of me and her crack kept showing every time she was about to make out. I really wanted to stay until the United States came out, but as Sweden was about to come out, I just closed out, paid my drink and left the Cheesecake Factory courtesy of the future divorcees next to me that look qualified to star in some failed Thursday night sitcom. They were annoying as hell.
Other than that, mostly worked during the weekend obviously. Started out slow with 4 clients on Friday cause everyone was watching their favorite country being introduced in London, then 2 on Saturday cause one of my other co-workers flaked out, otherwise we could've had more people. Then on Sunday it was back to normal with families letting their kids scream and run around as I try to get their attention to stay still for their photos being taken. No surprise there, but shoutout to Elisa at the Starbucks in Target for the Venti Iced Coffee that took care of my Sunday. And shoutout to the cooks and the Staff at the Cafe Bistro in the Nordstrom for those Sweet Potato Fries. Went there for the first time cause I wanted to try something different since I kept going to the food court in the Topanga Mall several times, and the place looks very look key like the old Playboy clubs from the 60's without the bunnies. Here's how the Fries came out.
I have absolutely nothing against the Olympics. I'm just baffled that the last one in China felt like it happened last year instead of 2008, but like I said, as you get older, then time just swifts by very quickly. Shoutout to all the athletes from around the world, especially the one here in the United States of course, for representing their homelands as the compete in various athletic competitions. Just leave the racism bullshit and controversial prejudgment in the paper shredder and let these athletes play.
I got a chance to see some of the opening ceremonies at the bar inside Cheesecake Factory in Warner Center after work on Friday evening since it was close by. There were already showing Poland walking around the stadium representing themselves. I was trying to focus but I was being distracted by some recession-proof horny-ass couple in their early thirties next to me feeding each other with a lot of food AT THE BAR. Those fools could've got a table and left the bar to individuals consuming some liquids, and also, the woman was a seat over left of me and her crack kept showing every time she was about to make out. I really wanted to stay until the United States came out, but as Sweden was about to come out, I just closed out, paid my drink and left the Cheesecake Factory courtesy of the future divorcees next to me that look qualified to star in some failed Thursday night sitcom. They were annoying as hell.
Other than that, mostly worked during the weekend obviously. Started out slow with 4 clients on Friday cause everyone was watching their favorite country being introduced in London, then 2 on Saturday cause one of my other co-workers flaked out, otherwise we could've had more people. Then on Sunday it was back to normal with families letting their kids scream and run around as I try to get their attention to stay still for their photos being taken. No surprise there, but shoutout to Elisa at the Starbucks in Target for the Venti Iced Coffee that took care of my Sunday. And shoutout to the cooks and the Staff at the Cafe Bistro in the Nordstrom for those Sweet Potato Fries. Went there for the first time cause I wanted to try something different since I kept going to the food court in the Topanga Mall several times, and the place looks very look key like the old Playboy clubs from the 60's without the bunnies. Here's how the Fries came out.
That's some creative shit. Totally going back there next time, but I still fuck with these fries as well.
In-N-Out is a mandatory staple here in the greater Los Angeles area, and yes, I had to toss in the Back to The Future 25th anniversary Blu-Ray set that I just got from the same Target where I got that Iced Coffee. I originally first went to the Best Buy across the street from my work thinking that they have it, but I wasn't able to find it there and that lead to a argument with most of the staff there for 5 minutes after they told me that they have the disc set, but only in their on-line inventory instead of the stores, out of all movies. After I cussed them out, I then went back inside the mall, went to the Target and saw that they had the set, but it was the last one. So I grabbed it and whipped out my Visa card to thankfully see that I was charged 45 bucks for the set when it usually went from 55 to 85 dollars. Been waning to get this for the past two years since they did the re-release back in October 2010 (which was fucking dope as hell), but now I finally managed to obtain it. It has ALOT of extra shit and features inside that set that could last for two days, but I'm cool with it.
Finally, just want to say happy 4 year anniversary to Primitive in Encino, which is professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez Jr's skating boutique. They opened back in late July 2008 and I wasn't aware of the store then cause I was driving around West Hollywood and Beverly Hills chasing celebrities as a paparazzi during that summer. I have nothing but respect for that store and all the staff there. Major thanks to Andy, Paul, Jubal, Harry, Ashley, Irene and the rest of the staff as always for doing their jobs and distributing apparel that represents the culture of the Valley. Also, their new fall 2012 line just dropped last Saturday and its very superb. Here's some of the t-shirts I got on Saturday.
The black t-shirt is taken from the opening lyrics of "Under the Bridge" from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers since they're based out of Fairfax High School, and the shirt on the right features the model Rachel Metz. Their shop is on 17060 Ventura Boulevard in Encino, right across from the Chase bank between Balboa and White Oak. You don't even have to skate to shop there. Stop by Primitive if you're not doing anything with a lot of money to blow.
Anyways, thanks for your time reading this and enjoy the rest of the week.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Now How That Mother-Fuckin' Best Was Won
Just another average weekend, with some occurrences that made it decent.
On Friday Night, I went over to my friend Nicole Stetter's boyfriend's sister's birthday party in Van Nuys to do some photography there, but I didn't have time to swing by Samy's Camera to pick up some Black and White 400 speed T-Max Film and my uncle has his D5000 that I always loaned, yet he was at his job all the way in Fresno. I almost bought an overpriced roll of 400 speed Color Negative consumer film at the CVS in Sherman Way and Sepulveda (Sidenote: that store was one of the VERY first places I applied for a job back when I was 16, which I didn't get) I also made a 5x7 print there for the birthday girl, and what's weird was that the clueless staff there charged me .32 for a 5X7 instead of $1.99 which is the original price, BUT WHATEVER, THAT'S COOL WITH ME.
When I got to the house where the birthday party was gonna be at, which was the birthday girl's boyfriend's crib, I was the first one there. She greeted me and I told her that I was going to take that much photos, but I had 3 exposures left on my Nikon N70 that I used for some serious portraits of the party. Later on, more people started to turn up, as well as her brother and Nicole, and it totaled the crowd to about 20 people on average. I enjoyed it. The mood was super chill, also there was a lot of food and the birthday cake was excellent. Thanks again to Illian Herrera for inviting me to your party.
Then on Saturday, I woke my ass up and headed straight to Primitive in Encino. For those who don't know, its a skateshop on Ventura Boulevard that's owned by professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez Jr., providing skate decks, accessories and apparel of the Primitive brand and other skate brands like Diamond Supply Co., The Hundreds, Nike SB, Vans and others. Imagine that its an Active Ride Shop on the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Melrose Avenue, next to Fairfax High. But that place is one of the kind, and it helps represents the San Fernando Valley culture which is what I like about Primitive cause I grew up in the 818 my entire life. Like myself, you don't even have to skate to shop there. All the staff there are totally chill and the customer service they deliver makes you want to stay there longer. I felt like that was first time visiting the store from reading and typing this paragraph, but I've been going there a few times and blogged about it for the past two years, and I've met Paul and most of the models there on a third of my trips to Primitive. Anyway, I went there to check out the new Spring apparel, said what's up to some of the staff there and I left with a T-shirt that I really liked. I recommend anyone who grew up in the Valley to check out Primitive.
When I got home, I popped on this movie called Heaven which is a VHS (yes I still play VHS tapes) from 1998 that I bought at some garage sale on my way back home. I never heard heard of it but from reading the description on the back of the video cassette, I thought the storyline was interesting. Well, the actual film itself wasn't interesting. I mean why the fuck have a transvestite play as a stripper in the film instead of Elizabeth Berkley (Gen X-ers should know what I meant) or some random Z-list porn star? And everything thing else was just shit. I even researched the film and it gave out little information which showed how terrible it did back then. When it got to the middle of the film, I just couldn't take it anymore. The main character played by Martin Donovan was pissing me off like a teenage virgin dude who can't defeat the boss on a Xbox 360 video game after 400 tries. So I pressed stop, ejected the videotape and just literally threw it in the trash. Not just a trash bin, but the black trash that you pull out to the curb. That how I felt about the movie. I would do the same to Tyler Perry's films if he were to give it to me for free cause I can't stand that asshole (I got into a fight with a recession-ass couple during a screening of The Family that Preys back in late 2008). Later on I had to go to a Nigerian friend of my pops wife's crib to take photos there. I was surprised that they live here at a affluent residential area in the Sylmar/San Fernando/Mission Hills border, but whatever, I didn't give a shit. Only stayed for 2 hours cause I felt very sleepy there and gave me a lift home and 40 dollars as compensation.
Didn't do a whole lot on Sunday except dipping over to one of my homeboy's crib not too far from my pops house and just chilled there for the rest of the day. Picked up some Baja Fresh and watched the 2012 NBA All Star Game instead of the overdone Academy Awards. That was honestly the best NBA All Star Game that I ever watched. Seriously, that shit was a slam dunk contest, and I didn't see the actual Slam Dunk contest on Saturday Night since I had a job that night, but I heard it wasn't entertaining. Nothing can shit on last years Slam Dunk contest in the Staples Center by Blake Griffin which looked like a fuckin' AND 1 streetball act. And I hope Dwayne Wade gets fined or suspended for that punk ass move he did on Kobe Bryant during the game which caused his nose to bleed that lead to a concussion, but I assume some penalty will be enforced on him after this Sunday's game with the Miami Heat at the Staples Center against the Lakers cause that shit will be nationally televised. NOW IF IT WEREN'T FOR TOMORROW'S LEAP YEAR DAY, THEN THAT FUCKING GAME WOULD'VE BEEN AIRED ON MY 24TH BIRTHDAY, AND I COULD'VE ATTENDED THERE FOR FREE SOMEHOW! Still can't believe that shit was one day off.
By the way before I finish, I normally don't give that much acknowledgments to notable figures aside from Kim Kardashian and I made sound like an N'Sync fan or whatever, but major props and salutations to celebrity Jeweler Ben Baller for breaking the ice and tying the knot to wed Nicollete Lacson, a gorgeous Filipina model with a degree in Fashion, over the weekend. I don't personally know Ben, but I first heard about him on NikeTalk back in 2006, then discovered his blog two years later and have been religiously reading it every week ever since. I only saw him for a little bit once at the Platinum Motorsport toy drive in late 2010 and the other great thing is that he's a straight up LA resident who's been around for a long time. Most of the format from my blog posts was inspired from his blogs and his"Weekend Wrap-Ups"pushed me to be a better writer and blogger which is why I have a shitload of paragraphs every week. Check out his blogpage and his thoughts from his recent wedding to Nicolette over the weekend http://ifandco.com/2012/02/28/till-death-do-us-apart/
Anyways, thanks for your time reading and don't forget (which most of you will) I'll be turning 24 in six days. Just saying.
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