February Month in Review

These past two weeks had alot of great moments. That's the main reason why I haven't been updating this blog in a long time.

Right now, I'm typing this entry from my new cell phone. Yes, I finally got a cell phone courtesy of my ridiculous tax refund, which was the LARGEST I ever got in the past 7 years that I've been working. Last year I did a brief gig as a graduation photographer at USC and Cal State Northridge. I enjoyed it, and I also ran into some old friends, and a teacher I had from middle school, wearing caps and gowns as I placed them behind the school banner on stage for the photographer to get their portrait. That literally could've been me up there if I took the ACT or the SAT in High School, despite that I maintained a perfect 3.6 GPA at Kennedy High.

The cell phone I got is the T-Mobile G2. AND I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS, THIS MOBILE DEVICE IS THE SHIT!

Now on one of my earlier entrires, I stated that I didn't want to get any smartphone that has Android running on it. Well, I lied... but not really. I originally wanted to get the Blackberry Torch after spending the first three weeks of the year deciding on either that or the iPhone 3GS which was being sold for $49, but the AT&T store that I went to in Encino said that I needed to put down a $500 deposit in order to start the service plan. After he said that, I just bounced out of there. I then checked out Verizon to see what they had, but all the good phones were hella pricey. Then later this past week after I cashed in my tax refund check at Bank of America in Warner Center (I'm surprised my savings account is still open since I haven't been doing transactions with them in a year), I dropped by the Westfield Promenade which is a walking distance from the bank and dropped $100 even on two books, two photography magazines, and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

I then walked to the Topanga mall which is a block north, while wearing flip flops. I don't even know what the hell I was thinking when I decided to wear those, and they hurted my feet. I was about to head to the Verizon store to double check on their products, but first I had to buy this cool shirt I saw on Hollister's website. I know Hollister fell off since the beginning of the recession in mid 2008 and that not everyone buys thier products there like they used to 5 to 7 years ago. As I went inside the store, this girl that was working there greeted me like in every other Hollister store. I said hi and then decided to have a second look cause I thought that I saw her face somewhere before. So I went back to her and asked her if she went to the same high school that I went to and that girl turned out to be one of my old classmates. I won't mention her name on here just to respect her privacy, but it was great running into her. In fact, she was the one who got me into Hollister in the first place back when The O.C. was still on TV, since the characters on that show wear those type of clothes.

After I bought the shirt, I saw the T-Mobile store that is close by on the same floor next to the Macy's wing (for those of you who have been to Westfield Topanga before the expansion in 2006, that's where Robinson's May used to be at until Macy's bought them), so I decided to see what they have before I head to Verizon. I asked them about the T-Mobile G2 and they decided to give me a good deal on it. Five minutes later, I walked out of there with a brand new cell phone and a brand new number, which is on the CONTACT column on this website.

I spent the rest of the week playing with this phone like its a Christmas present I got back in the 90's. This device has EVERYTHING. From GPS to continous flash while taking video, which I never saw in any other phone, this thing is totally loaded. It reminds me of the time I got the Motorola V360 a week after my 18th birthday, which was one of top of the line phones for T-Mobile had back in 2006. In the past couple of months, I've said some intolerable shit about all the smartphones. And after abusing the G2 this week, I can see why. The reviews for this device were fairly and generally positive, about 9 out of 10. Yet, the only downfall is the battery life, which goes out very quickly, but hey, the specs are intense.

Other than that, everything else was fun. I met up with one of my old friends from elementary school in Burbank three weeks ago. We ate at California Pizza Kithchen and browsed around the Burbank mall and around Downtown Burbank while I was explaining to her why I didn't want to watch Chris Brown perform on Saturday Night Live that night with Russsell Brand hosting, which I did want to see. That day was great.

A week later, I went to the NBA All Star Jam fest with one of my friend's family at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It was like Fiesta Lakers that I went to in 2009, but only more larger than life. Dwayne Wade was the only "famous person" that I witnessed there, and I managed to get a terrific shot of him coming out to the crowd. They had a lot of basketball related activites there for the kids, which was generous from the NBA. one of the main reasons I went is that stuff like this only comes once in a lifetime, and I wanted to take great advantage of it.

One last major thing before I take off. Great Big shoutout to NBA/Lakers Photographer Andrew Berstein for getting to meet you and autographing my Journey To The Ring: 2009-10 Los Angeles Lakers book today at Barnes and Noble in the Westside Pavillion mall. I've been to many book signings, but not like the one today where Andrew Berstein, along with former Lakers coach Bill Sherman and his wife, took their time to explain about the book and why he chose to publish it. THAT'S HOW EVERY BOOK SIGNING EVENT SHOULD BE LIKE! And finally, major shoutout to my best friend Tina for escorting with me to the event. I had a really fantastic time.

SINCE THE LAST TIME I TYPED ON HERE

I went all the way to downtown Los Angeles to meet the Laker Girls again to sign their 2011 Calendar at the Team LA Store at Staples Center, ate that delicious foot long pizza at the ESPN Zone across the street, got denied a new account at AT&T in Encino, ran into Nick Hogan at Westfield Topanga, bummed a couple of rides to get to my Homegirl's practice session with her band in Reseda, met up with some friends of a friend at California Pizza Kitchen in Northridge, raked leaves at my pop's house for two hours, and rode my brother's bicycle to one of my other friend's house today with Panda Express.

All of that while I had a serious flu with a mild fever of 102 degrees.

But now I'm feeling more improved thanks to all the Vitamin D Orange Juice and all the countless medicines.

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.

This is why celebrities should not be in the 100s section at Staples Center

We're here to see a game, not Drew Barrymore getting head..... I mean proposing to REAL Laker Fans.