Playing House On Sunday

Alright, this week went by so fuckin' quick.

It felt like I was just at the House Of Blues in West Hollywood 2 days ago to support and photograph my homies William and Ginger Galvez's daughters and other elementary school kids performing there on behalf of the Rockstar Music Education program that was running the event there. Well, it actually took place this past Sunday morning. William and Ginger have been inviting me for the past two years to attend this annual event that being held every June, yet, I was never available during those times. But since they told me that it was their oldest daughter's final performance with the Rockstar Music Education since she's going to middle school in the fall, I had to cancel everything just so that I can finally check it out.

Prior to this, I have never stepped inside the House of Blues. I've passed by there all the time and have heard so much about the venue. So I carpooled with the Galvez family to the place and when we got there, I saw a grip of kids and their families waiting in line and paying admission fees to get inside. I even saw some kids getting their hair sprayed with different colors for that "rock star" appeal. When I got inside (there was a dude at the door rockin' the Google Glass eyewear piece. Looks futuristic) I though the House of Blues was gonna be a large-scale venue with seats, but without disrespect, the place looks like a club to me. It was also packed with parents screaming and cheering on the kids that were performing on House of Blues stage. Majority of them photographing and taking videos of the show with DSLR cameras and their iPads. The theme of the place reminded me of the old Wild Bills venue that used to be in Buena Park back in the 1990's, but without the western stuff.

Watching the little kids performing and covering rock songs that came out back in the day was very awesome to witness. There were no intermissions since there was a different group of kids going up on stage every four to five minutes per set. They had real instruments and several of them can actually play, including the drummers for each set. THESE KIDS CAN PLAY THE DRUMS. They can even sing too. I can assume these youngsters have been on every talent show since birth, or one of them must've been on TV or something. Speaking of which, one of the blokes from the Disney Channel show Shake It Up was one of the three or four guest judges of the event that day. I wouldn't picture this event from a competitive standpoint, it just a bunch of talented young kids having fun on stage and enjoying their parents. I wish I didn't have to miss out on this for the past two years, and as those kids got older, they look back in their lives and tell their kids that they performed at the House Of Blues stage in Hollywood.

After the show, we went to Cabo Cantina on Hollywood Boulevard for lunch and stayed there for a bit. I had their Quesadillas and it was unique cause I ate some Quesos earlier that day for breakfast at the Denny's next to the Burbank Airport. The Quesos at Cabo Cantina were much larger than the ones I had earlier. Then afterwards, we went back to their place and chilled for a few minutes. The homie Ginger even showed me this Hammock they had that came straight from Honduras. I tired it out since I've never been on a Hammock and damn, it was it was comfortable. I wanted to take an instagram photo of myself resting on it, but my phone was out of power by then. I can't wait till I get the Morphie Juice battery pack later on in future, which gives my iPhone more extra power like battery pack on DSLRs. Many thanks again to the Galvez family for making that Sunday like how every Sunday should be. Here's some of the pictures from that day taken from my mobile device.

The Quesos and pancakes I had for breakfast that Sunday at Denny's. 

First time ever at the House Of Blues. Alot of great acts were on that stage: past, present and future. 

One of the many young, talent kids putting on some shows. 

My friend's WIlliam and Ginger's daughter on center stage. Who else do you know that can be at that fortunate position?

Interior of Cabo Cantina in Hollywood. 

The most legit Beer Pong table I've ever seen. 

These Quesadillas are for reals. 

Here are some more random-ass iPhone 5 photos from this past week that you've might've seen on my instagram, but without the filters. (@justforsneaks07)

Brunch at The Habit in Glendale.

My latest purchase of Primitive Apparel's Summer '13 collection (thanks Ashley and Nicky)

One of my customers gave me this as a tip, but he paid the fare though. 

Just like In-N-Out, The Habit also has a truck for events as well. A potential future birthday party idea. 

This channel is meaningless until the Kobe Bryant returns to the court. 

Yesterday's traffic on the 405 freeway at 12PM since the President made an unnanounced visit to Santa Monica for three hours. 

THESE. ARE. EVERYWHERE. 

My life everyday for the past four months, including the Starbucks. 

Anyway, that's it for now. I have a wedding to cover today in Fullerton and Christine Mendoza is making a rare Valley appearance in my town tomorrow. I can't miss that. Thanks for your time reading this. 

Spoiled Beginnings

I've said this almost 4 years ago on MySpace as well as on here a few times and I'll say it again. Everyone is very busy nowadays.

I'm not tripping, but seriously, everyone I know is either doing stuff that take up so much of their time and their schedules are even booked up a few weeks in advance. Its not just everyone that's busy, but I'm even way more busier than before, which is why I haven't been updating this blogsite in the past month. Not that I haven't lost interest in typing, but its just I haven't found the time to work on this.

Its been already three months since I've been driving taxicabs around the San Fernando Valley. Everyday, I've been doing it for 12 hours a day, driving an average of 100 miles at least for seven days a week, and getting paid everyday. Then I get about 8 hours of sleep and two hours doing stuff with the family, so there for I have about two hours of free time, which is mostly spent on checking on Facebook, instagram and my Bank accounts. Typing on this site for me requires some energy and thought, but for losing 20 hours of your time day after day, you just don't feel like spilling out some words like I used to, cause I wasn't working as much then as I am now. My favorite blogger/celebrity jeweler Ben Baller has to put his blog on the brakes last week cause he has to focus on his wife Nicolette Lacson and his son as well as other personal business. At first I was upset cause I would always look forward to reading his blogs for inspiration and amusement for the past 5 years, but in all seriousness, I respect his decision to no longer updating on his personal life and wish him the best in his life.

Like I said in the past, May is one of the busiest months of the year. Alot has happened and it's not done yet. One of my cousins (the youngest in my immediate family) will be graduating from Loyola High School in Los Angeles next week and my homeboy Eric will be linking his life with his fiancee Jessica  in their wedding ceremony this Saturday. Also, my good friend Katie Galvez gave birth to a wonderful newborn girl a two and a half weeks ago. I was there to visit her 24 hours after her new daughter was born and that was a very unique, interesting moment on that Saturday. It was the first time since my youngest was born 19 years ago that I've ever seen a fresh young baby just straight out her mothers stomach. It made me think alot of life and how precious and fragile it is. I give my absolute best to Katie and Rudy for their new addition to their lives.

So yeah, I just thought I spill a little update on what's been going on with me so far. Even though not too many people keep up with their blogs cause of other important matters in their lives, I'll still continue to write on here and upload some photography for those who like to read this shit whenever I get the chance  Finally, I copped the iPhone 5 yesterday (wasn't cheap, but whatever). Was impressed with my cousins iPhone 4s when I was with him last week so it made me go out and get one for my self, but only the latest model. Its gonna take a while to get adjusted to it for expect your news feeds on Twitter and instagram to be flodded with photos and random statues that get tossed around in my mind. I didn't take that many photos yet, but here's two I took so far.

Lastly, here is my current lock screen capture featuring Lisa Ann (who I've met last year). The Hundreds isn't the only thing that's Huge. 

Anyway, thanks for your time reading this. I'll have some interesting stuff in the works, so stay in touch with me on instagram @justforsneaks07.

Hanging Over the Balance Inquiries

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.

Certain Things Unlikely Rises

First and foremost, just wanna say rest in peace to Sally Ride (first woman to travel to space) and Sherman Helmsley (George Jefferson from The Jeffersons who just passed away today), as well as the 12 who got their lives taken away during the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises at Aurora, Colorado last week.

Obviously, nobody wants to hear and read about news that involves those type of drastic tragedies like I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Its makes us distracted and feel alot worse later emotionally to some degree. For the past few days, the city in Aurora, Colorado has been dealing with grief and sorrow from a massacre that really wasn't meant to take place. Hearing that 12 people (that's TWELVE people including a three month old) were killed at that cinema got me upset to the point were I just want to ignore hearing everything about the incident that night. I also feel bad to the rest of the movie goers that were there who survived the shooting spree. They got traumatized and emotionally shocked from being there and witness all the crazy shit that went down in that theater during The Dark Knight Rises screening. Now that shit is going to overshadow the movie itself for quite a while.

I read some background from different news sites for any information about James Holmes, the mid-twenties "man of the hour" suspect who went bat-shit (no pun intended) in that shooting spree by taking 12 casualties in Aurora. What I read was that this fool grew up a decent life in San Diego, getting on the Principals list in High School and doing well in UC Riverside... until somehow he started heading towards a downward spiral and began experiencing a twisted side, like his hair color for example. Either way, this dude is super fucked.

As for myself, I haven't been on here for two weeks cause of my recent job at Bezold Photography in the Topanga Mall. Mostly there full time on the weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), so the weekend recaps will tend to be stale for a while unless if something dope happens during the work week. I take photos of an average of 15 clients a day there, which makes us the most busiest kiosk in the entire mall and the fact that some of the people who shop at the Topanga mall are mostly mid-to-upperclass upscale blokes coming from the affluent areas Tarzana, Calabasas and Woodland Hills. If anyone is planning on hitting up the Topanga Mall on the weekends, stop by and visit for support, even if you don't plan on getting some photos taken. We're downstairs between the Kids Foot Locker (I'm surprised they sold out of the Olympics VIIs from last Saturday) and the Vans store. The rest of the four days of the week was just resting at my place.

By the way, I think I'll retire from dropping by The Grove at Farmers Market from now on. Been going there for the past four years since my homegirls Jade and Tracy took me there for the very first time back in June 2008. That place is now mostly full of tourists and a bunch of stars that I never even heard of. I'll fuck with the Americana at Brand more often and I need to check out the Commons in Calabasas since its owned by the same people who created The Grove.

Thanks for your time reading this. And shoutout to those still seeking jobs out there in this tough-ass economy. I have to spend the rest of the week with the little brother by helping him looking for a new job in the Valley, but hopefully he and everyone else will find somewhere to make some cash at a place they're comfortable at

The Fifth Year in July

Independence Day was yesterday. I didn't like it.

I was at my crib in Sylmar during the whole 4th of July, and that shit was annoying. Drunk excited fools were blowing off Fireworks, Roman Candles, M80s, cherry bombs, and other explosives since the afternoon. Yes, fireworks went off during the daytime. As I said on my Twitter, It felt like being at an episode of World Wrestling Entertainment's Monday Night Raw with all that noise and explosions in the sky. If you've been to driven past Sylmar at least once, you'll see some people riding horses on the streets (in fact, its the only city in the San Fernando Valley where people ride horses on the streets legally) and on the Fourth of July yesterday, shit, them horses were scared as fuck and started galloping like crazy. Thank God nobody fell of and had a Christopher Reeve moment (that's how he got paralyzed for life until his death). The only thing I like about this holiday is the history of it, from when Washington gained its own Independence (hence the name) from Britain and had a ballistic Revolutionary war that started the formation of the United States of America. I'm very fortunate to live her my whole entire life.


On one of my posts last month, I explained that I just got a full time gig at Galpin Ford washing Mustangs and Lincolns and other Ford related vehicles. Unfortunately, I just resigned from working there and I was just there for a month. Reason being is that I got another job at the Topanga mall as a studio portrait photographer for Bezold Photograhpy. I applied for Bezold Photography a month before I started working at Galpin. I thought they threw my resume away or something cause I got an email from the manager saying that he wants to interview me. So I went to the interview, which lasted 5 minutes. All I had to do was just set  the exposures on the camera and demonstrate how to activate the strobe lighting. Went by quick. I got there five minutes late and I had some sweat on my forehead when I met the manager. After the interview was over, I then kept thinking that he may not hire me and that there might've been about 20 other experienced photographers that he could've chosen instead. All that nervousness disappeared after I got an email saying that I was hired and that I was gonna start on July 1st.

I'm not gonna lie, but I was happy as fuck after I read that.

That was the only best thing about that day. There were other shit that happened on June 29th which made Friday the 13th two weeks early.

-Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise. She could've been set for life from all the royalties that Tom Cruise made in his films. The worst part is that Katie Holmes also requested full custody of their daughter Suri Cruise in the divorce suit. As a person like myself who grew up next to Hollywood and has experienced two divorces from my parents (true story), this sucks. Well the part with Tom Cruise not seeing his daughter, but everything else about this divorce case is nothing in Hollywood.

-Lauryn Hill get sent to jail for not filing income tax returns. Shows that some musicians aren't that crazy rich. Very sad to hear a talented artist who won a shit load of Grammys back in the late 90s gets thrown into this mess.

-Adele announces to the universe that she's gonna be a mom. Good for her expecting a kid which was unexpected to the rest of us. The bloke who piped her is 12 years old than her.

-Lamar Odom returns to Staples Center. Not as a Laker again, but as a Clipper again. Now those games are gonna sell out and the tickets will increase in value. No surprise if his wife is getting scored on by Clipper Darrell in the Staples Center crowd.

-Magic Mike premieres in theaters. Fuck, no thanks.

-Instagram servers crashed from the storms in the east coast that messed up their server base there. Yeah, alot of scene kids and spoiled chicks with iPhones weren't able to take photos of their dinner at some restaurant or a landscape sunset taken at a place that I've never heard of for a few hours, and that caused them to loose their patience. Not just instagram, but Netflix was out as well. I don't even have Netflix so I can't speak on that. Anyways, it got resolved over the weekend and now its working. It weird cause I used to talk so much shit about instagram for the past two years but now after they launched a Android version of it last April, I then forgot everything I said about it and then got completely addicted to it. Then Mark Zuckerburg and Facebook's corporate ass bought it out for motherfucking 2 Billion dollars. With that being said, follow my black ass on instagram. Screenname: justforsneaks07

-Erin Andrews quits ESPN. I had the privilege to see her in person early last year at The Grove, and she looks better on TV. Her stint on "Dancing With The Has-Beens" and that peephole incident made her exposed as not just a sports reporter. I even blogged about her three years ago. http://justforsneaks07.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-dearest-rachel-nichols.html

So like I said, I'm glad I got to finally do what I like every weekend. Its crazy to actually say that my stint at Galpin Ford was shorter than Kim Kardashian's previous marriage to gay-ass Kris Humphries. But let me tell you what's actually longer than that fabricated marriage.

Myself joining Facebook (my first profile) five years ago- July 1, 2007

Myself joining Flickr- July 1, 2008

Myself joining Blogger (this site)- July 1, 2009

As you get older, you start to look back and notice how much time has went by from when you started on whatever you're currently focused on. I remember when I first launched "Random Shots" on Blogger (I originally had it hosted on iWeb back when I owned a Macbook in 2008), times were somewhat different. Barack Obama was just getting used to the White House. Now his term is gonna be up in 4 months. Michael Jackson just passed away a few weeks earlier. Now they're still doing tribute shows and his Physician Dr. Conrad Murray is locked up. The Lakers at the time just won the NBA title and Kobe Bryant won his fourth ring. Now the Miami Heat won the NBA title and Lebron James won his first ring. My little sister just finished her Freshman year at Kennedy High School then. Now she's about to start her Freshman year in College next month.

Many thanks to everyone (especially the ones who read my long ass posts word for word) for always to stop what you're doing for a few moments of your valuable time just to read some of the thoughts that I type up on here every now and then. I'm still gonna continue writing some entertaining stuff on here cause that's what I like to do, and the feedback of it makes me more confident as I keep typing. Again, thank you for your time.

Lost-N-Jealous

Three fucking months since I last spilled my guts on here.

I haven't forgotten about this site during that time period, but there was so much shit that I had to work out in ways that I couldn't imagine. I would like to discuss it on here, yet many of them were not fun to deal with, so I'll set that away from this post. Typical life learning bullshit that some (or most) twenty-somethings always deal with. Had some tensions with the family for a bit, but thankfully its already been resolved.

My two younger sisters had their commencement graduation ceremonies last month. The youngest one graduated from Kennedy High school in Granada Hills, which is where my other siblings and I attended. I really hate the way they run their admissions to get into the ceremony by having tickets and a bunch of other shit. An example was trying whatever I can to get into my brother's commencement back in 2010. One of the graduation ceremonies that took place there in 2009 made it to the news. I wasn't able to make it there on that day. My other sister got her Masters in Health Care Management from West Coast University. The ceremony took place at the campus of University of California, Irvine in Orange County and damn, the area is well decent. Not to my surprise since I'm familiar with Newport Beach and that part of the OC, but this was my first time at UCIrvine. Campus is just TOO CLEAN, about slightly similar to the other notable UC school at Los Angeles in Westwood.

Now in regards to the ceremony, it was fine. The chairman of West Coast University mostly promoted and talked about the institution by featuring in detail the programs they offered and the student life there. There were a good amount of people there and about 500 graduates were rockin' the cap and gowns, with more than a third in the institutions Nursing program. After the show, we went out and took a grip of family portraits and then headed out to an El Cholo restaurant about less than 10 minutes away from UCIrvine. I didn't even know there were more than two El Cholo resturants (the ones I know are the ones in Western Avenue and downtown LA) That El Cholo we went had more light than the OG one in Western which had a darker ambiance, but the environment and the experience is still the same, as well as the food. Feasted on some Quesadillas while the moms, siblings, one of my sister's long time "besties" from back in the day, and this Filipino couple that I never met before. The guy from the couple was the "photographer" for my sister's event and he was shooting with a Canon EOS 60D and the 18-135mm lens.

Now all of that happened right before Memorial Day Weekend. Colleges and Universities I can understand, but this was the first time that a public high school had their graduation set before Memorial Day weekend. It kind of makes sense since that holiday, which not everyone takes seriously, is the unofficial start of Summer. But then again, the public school systems here in LA are already fucked up with numerous cuts in money and staff, and that caused it to shorten some of the pupil's summer vacation and fragment the traditional school calendar. The year starts in early August instead of September that I'm completely familiar with and ends in May instead of June which I'm also familiar with. Well, not everything stays the same in life and we all have to adapt with the changes that come across us. I myself had to get used to supporting the smart decisions that my younger siblings make as they keep maturing, especially the youngest sister since she's now out of high school. There was a time when all of us would live in the same house and see each other every day. Now, I can't remember the last time when when that happened cause we all moved on and live separately and already we're used to it. Major part of being an adult is just accepting changes in family life, technology, and society as well. We make not like most of it, but we can't do anything about it that much except taking it or leaving it.

As for me, I spent the last six months at a warehouse in Sylmar helping out underprivileged middle-functioning adults at this place called Build Rehabilitation Industries. I was about to work as a washer/porter at Galpin Ford that my friend told me about last year but the last position was already taken at the time. My friend then said that he can get me in as another alternative by just helping out with the clients there at the warehouse for half a year as a quick reference so that I can get that job at Galpin Ford without having to be interviewed there. It was quite an interesting experience at Build for the first half of the year. Dealt with all different types of people that you don't normally see out in the public. Most of them can't read, write, spell or speak clearly and they're all twice as old as me. I did get paid for being there, but the check varies every two weeks since I wasn't getting paid hourly. Sometimes it low (my lowest was 18 bucks) and sometimes on a day that is jumping, the check get high (my highest was $350). But in most cases, I'm wasn't too concerned about the pay there that much. I was supposed to finished at the end of the month, but since the staff there really liked me, they decided to put me in at Galpin Ford for that position, a month before my six month stint ended. The job is alright. I just wipe Mustangs and other vehicles inported from Detroit and I leave work with that new car smell every day. The pay is alot better cause unlike Build Rehabilitation Industries, this one was hourly. I'm working there so that I can get better photography lenses and equipment for the summer among other important things. I wanna improve my skills and enhance my photography business alot more, so therefore, the gig at Galpin Ford is just on the side to make some cash, even though I'm there full time 5 days a week for 8 hours. There'll be some times when I may not like it, but then again its part of every job and I have to just plow through it.

Since the last time I typed on here in the middle of March, even though I dealt with a lot of bullshit, the only thing that was impressive was the sports world here in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Dodgers currently have the best record in Major League Baseball right now. Shoutout to Ervin "Magic" Johnson and the Guggenheim Baseball Management for turning over a new leaf at the Chavez Ravine. Went to a game against the San Francisco Giants and thankfully there were no "monkey business" from the intoxicated fans just like opening day last year. Plus there were several Giants fans in the Left Field Pavillion where me and my homies were sitting at, but again, nothing wild didn't happened. Also, it was the first time in forever that the Staples Center had a different playoff game everyday from the Lakers, Clippers and surprisingly, the Los Angeles Kings. When I mean everyday, I mean EVERY DAMN DAY. Hell, there were days when there would be two different games at Staples in the same day, which is rare. We're used to the Lakers making it all the way to the big dance, but they didn't get past the second round courtesy of the confident Kevin Durant and his Western Conference champions Oklahoma City Thunder. We're used to the Clippers making a fools of themselves during the NBA season, yet the shortened season made them alot opportunistic with the talent of Blake Griffin and his teammate Chris Paul who was supposed to be with the other LA basketball team, and like the Lakers, they didn't get that far in the playoffs as the San Antonio Spurs stopped them by showing that they still have some life left in this aging team. Finally, we're used to Kings not even touching the Stanley Cup Finals, or the playoffs for it, every year. Apparently they surprised everyone by winning alot in the playoffs and that sucked in interest to alot of non-ice hockey fans for the past several weeks, including myself. I'm not a fan of ice-hockey at all, but watching them at the Stanley Cup Finals against the New Jersey Devils (who also played against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim back in 2003 at the Finals) suddenly just became too addicting.

To be 1000% real, this year Stanley Cup Finals was the first time I EVER watched an NHL game in its entirety, not just five minutes of it. Plus this was history being made which was another reason why I was tuned in. Viewed most of the games at the De La Torre's place. I felt high and fell to the ground laughing with some weird excitement after the clinched the Stanley Cup at Game Six, and the best part was that they won it at home. It felt like when the Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics at home in Game Seven two years ago, only this time it felt slightly different. Reason being is that this win is mostly for the REAL down-ass LA Kings fans who have been season ticket holders since "The Great One" Wanye Gretzky took them to the Stanley Cup Finals back when they played at the Forum in 1993 and the fans before that when they had the same colors as the Lakers in their uniforms (that DID happen cause the Kings and Lakers were owned by Jack Kent Cooke then, now its fucking AEG). I almost went to the victory parade, but I didn't cause one of my friends I was about to go with couldn't make it and also, I wanted to let the real fans enjoy it for once. They really earned it.

Lastly before this post goes on for another 5 years, I'll just recap the weekend since it was one of the best ones I had in a long time. My pops is out of the state, meaning he wasn't available for Father's day yesterday, so I had to watch over his full size Lexus till he comes back. I went over to my homegirl Nicole Stetter's place last Friday evening to give her a belated birthday gift cause it already passed three weeks ago and I haven't her and her partner Jorge Herrea in months. The gift I got her were two rolls of 35mm film: a Kodak 400 speed T-Max Black and White film and a Kodak 400 speed Portra color negative film. Ate homemade dinner that she prepared and also blew some balloons for her twins kids that got them very excited. After that I drove to my buddy Richard's crib and had some laughs there while I listened to his stories as we watched Next Friday on his TV. Then on Saturday, I met up with my old classmate from my filmmaking class back in high school at Starbucks in Mission Hills just to catch up on life and she how she's been doing since we left Kennedy high six years ago. Later on, I drove to Burbank for a pool party that my buddy's girl was hosting. To my amusement, only  about 10 people attended. It was on a very nice day and I kept wondering why they haven't showed up during the afternoon. But it was great meeting some new friends and taking a couple of photos there. Special thanks to Liz and Jeff for inviting me. I left at around 8PM and stopped by In-N-Out to get a Double-Double meal there. That shit is now close to 7 bucks, but then again, money is tight nowadays.

When I got home, my little brother then told me he wanted me to drive him to a Nigerian Youth "Function" party in Gardena with his car. I wanted to decline since I was out all day but because I still had some energy in me, I went to escort him and also to make sure that he's safe. The club was at a lowkey spot in Gardena just a walking distance from my photography buddy Joseph Harris' crib (his website: http://www.cherishedmomentsbyjoeharris.com/). Damn, I still need to drop by there like I used to back in 2009. Dude helped me out alot and saved my ass that time. But anyways, we got there and the interior looks like a scene from Tron mixed with some Electric Daisy Carnival from two weeks ago. Alot of laser lights and shit. About 100 young people around my brother's age (he'll be 20 in August) packed the club, with several attractive Nigerian females, but it kinda hard to see since it was dark. The DJ there fucking sucked. He didn't know when to transition at the right moment but then again, the young bloke is just doing his best. We were there till 3AM and then afterwards we had to drop off one of my brother's female friends nearby and then went back to the Valley by bumping Power Tools on Power 106.

I didn't plan on doing anything on Sunday so that I can get rested up for another long week of work. But after seeing a photo that Nicole posted of herself in her store on instagram (which I'll write about in the next blogpost) I decided to drive down there to check it out. The place is called Twin Lemons Collective and its a thrift store located in the border between West Hills and Woodland Hills, just next to the 101 freeway bridge crossing Ventura Boulevard. I missed out on their opening party back in March and other events that they held there, so I made it a day on Sunday to finally check it out. The place is awesome, like REALLY awesome. Every thing inside the store is authentic and natural, makes it Toys-R-Us for Gen-Xer's again. So many vintage items there that you won't see anymore or can't even find on the internet. Plus the atmosphere and the vibe there just makes it fit at home and fits the mood into its nostalgic theme. I'm very proud of the homies Nicole and Jorge to take so much of their time dedication and pride to put this store together. Wish them the best in everything they accomplish. By the Way, Twin Lemons Collective is on 22311 Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills/West Hills. I recommend y'all should check it out.

I end this post here since I threw down alot so far. I'll try to type some more on this blogsite since things are looking good so far. I say this every New Years Eve, you don't just expect a great year, you make it a great year. Thanks for your time reading this, even though its a lot.

The Best Photographers Don't Rest on Winter Break

Yes, this is gonna be one of the most fuckin' slowest two weeks in the year. While everyone is traveling and taking a load off to be with their families this week, I'll still be working on a lot of editing instead, including planning for my new website. Enjoy your holidays, or vacation for those who aren't British.