Now that he about (keyword: ABOUT) to become the new Center for the Los Angeles Lakers, he's gonna have to get used to the Southern California lifestyle like Steve Nash did when he got signed here a few weeks ago. Yes, I'm talking about the triple digit heat we currently have this week, the paparazzi for whenever he goes clubbing at some club on Las Palmas Boulevard in Hollywood and the traffic from wherever he's coming from to the practice facility in El Segundo. That shit happened with Kobe Bryant at the start of his rookie year. When he was heading to his first practice session with the team by coming from his then house in Pacific Palisades, he got stuck in traffic for a while which got him tardy for practice. I don't know if he got fined since he was young at the time, but I bet his parents had to pay for it cause he was underaged. This is very similar and coincidental to when Shaquille O'Neal got sent here also from the Orlando Magic 16 years ago, and he was a center too. Its crazy how the Lakers now have Nash and Howard, the two people who we prevented from getting a world championship in 2009 and 2010. Hope everything goes well with the new lineup.
Now on to other things. With the exception of The Encounter restaurant, I'M DONE WITH LAX AIRPORT. I never going there to travel or drop off and pick up anybody there anymore. When I went to drop off my moms and sister at the Terminal, they made me wait there to see if there are some stuff from the luggage they don't need so that they won't be over charged and my two other siblings who weren't traveling went in to help her, even though I'm not allowed to wait there for over a minute. One of the security guards at the Terminal told me that I have to move my brother's car, which I drove to the Airport, otherwise he'll write me up. I told him that my moms was in there and that it'll take a few more seconds. Then those seconds turned into minutes. 15 minutes to be exact. I was in pins and needles and started to get impatient cause I didn't even know what the hell she was taking so long, and if she did tell me that she wanted to take out some clothes from her luggage, then we could've paid for parking, but she hates that. Then later that same security guard came back again and he took out his ticket book and I got into the car at that moment. He then ran up to me and then we got into a shouting argument for two minutes. That motherfucker pissed me off. After that, I drove out of the Airport without getting a ticket and just drove up and down Century Blvd until I heard a cell phone ring, which happens to be my little brother's. I then started asking him what's taking so long and he told me that my moms had to take some stuff out of the luggage so that it would weigh less. I then told him that I'm out of the Airport and that he and my other sister should wait outside the terminal so that I can come and pick them up, which I happened to do. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to my moms and sister, but I wish them safe travels.
So yeah, the rest of yesterday was pretty much a piece of shit, but I had days 30 times worse than last Thursday. On a positive note, there gonna be showing a screening of Back to The Future this Saturday at Adat Ari El in my old stomping grounds of North Hollywood, on Laurel Canyon and Burbank.The address 12020 Burbank Blvd. Even though I already saw the re-release at Citywalk two years ago and obtained the 25th Aniiversary Blu-Ray pack, the best part of the screening is that Claudia Wells, the original Jennifer Parker from part 1, will be in attendance. It starts at 9 and it cost 5 bucks for admission (its just 5 bucks) I'm gonna try to make it cause I've been wanting to meet Claudia Wells for a very long time. So check it out if you're not doing anything this Saturday night. Speaking of which, if you're an serious avid fan of the Trilogy, listen to this 51 seconds of porn.
Yes, that the Edward Van Halen guitar riff from when Marty played in his Walkman to wake his pops up while he was sleeping in Part one. It took me forever to find it and this shit is too rare. I thought it was from a actual Van Halen song, but according to TMZ (yes TMZ) they said that it was just a random guitar piece and Eddie was just fooling around with his guitar. Show how much I really like this film.
Anyway, I'll end this post here. If you have free time today and this weekend, please stop by the Topanga mall and drop in at the Bezold Photography kiosk downstairs between the Vans store and the Kids Foot Locker. You don't have to get your photos taken, but just come and visit me for support. I'm there every Friday, Saturday and Sunday all day. Thanks for your time reading this.
Judging from the recent events in London, I just wanna say on behalf, that we really suck ass at Basketball, and I'm not talking about Team USA.
For those who do not know, my ethnicity is Nigerian. I was born here in the United States while the two great people who created me were born over there. I honestly didn't know up until last Thursday that Nigeria had a basketball team in the Olympics. I mean, I know there are some other athletes from my relatives' country competing and all but damn, SINCE WHEN DID WE HAVE A FUCKING BASKETBALL TEAM? AND OUT OF ALL OTHER TEAMS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, WE HAD TO GO UP AGAINST THE "110% EXTRA CREDIT A PLUS" TEAM USA BASKETBALL TEAM?!?!
After I found that out, I then peeped the game and already this showed up just as soon as I turned into the NBC Sports Network (the gay peacock-suckers version of ESPN) just to support for the hell of it, I see this shit to no surprise.
Yes, that was Kobe Bryant with so much real estate on the hardwood floor to execute a rare perfect slam dunk. I though he doesn't do dunks anymore like he used to during the "Shaq/Kobe 3 championships" era from the early 2000's and yes, that score was legit, not some photoshopped screen cap straight out of NBA LIVE 2K-something. By halftime, this game goes worse than worse itself. Lebron, Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Deron "Taper-ass" Williams and the rest of Team USA were just chillin' at the bench being entertained from the score and the game itself, and hell, even the commentators were having a field day. Also Craig Sager from the NBA on TNT was one of the sideline reporters for this game, and that fool was wearing a polo shirt, not one of his loud swagger rainbow suits that he wears every Thursday Night during the basketball season. Again, another rare sight.
After the first half, I turned it off, feeling all embarrassed and disappointed. I even shut off the Computers and mobile devices cause every one I knew were all surprised about the 50+ point margin difference and talking about it and making jokes about it for a while, including making the front page on the newspaper the following day. But fuck it, its just a game. A practice session. A high school JV basketball game gone bad. That's what I've been telling my little brother about it for two hours (true story) after he got very upset from hearing about the outcome of Team USA versus Nigeria. Again, we suck at basketball.
So what other stuff happened over the past week. Well, the Air Jordan IV Fire Red colorway dropped last Saturday. I though these were gonna create massive hype similar to the Olympic VII from last month, but somehow, this was a smooth release. I went on Niketalk and the Sole Collector forums to expect people bitching about the shoe being sold out in 15 seconds, but most people there managed to get their pairs. Before I left for work, I went on Nike.com to see the sizes they don't have left. To my surprise, THEY STILL HAD THE BIG SIZES LEFT IN STOCK. From 11-13. I never even planned on copping those IVs, and I already have the Air Jordan IVs in the White/Cement-Grey colorway.
But that shit on Nike's website was nothing. When I got to the Topanga Mall right when it opened, I stopped by the Finish Line there to see if they had any sizes left just for the fuck of it since I didn't intend to buy this like I stated in the previous paragraph. Place was dead with 5 of their Sales associates just chilling at the cash register counter. One of the sales associates asked me what size do I wear. I was expecting him to say that all of the Retro Fire red IVs were sold out just like in every Air Jordan Retro release, and keep in mind this was 30 minutes after the mall opened. I then told him my size and then he went to the back of the stock room.
I was shocked when he came out with a pair of Size 12 (yes, that's my shoe size since I was 10, no joke) Fire Red IVs and that assume that this Finish Line, as well as a few other stores here at Westfield Topanga had a full size run of these kicks minutes after the store opened, which was a first for an OG colorway since late 2007 I believe, otherwise, these would've been gone like the White/Cement IV release I witnessed. By the way, this was the first time ever that the Fire Red IVs were dropped in it true original design without the Lasering and the Mars Blackmon logo from its previous releases. I could've just copped these if I didn't have to buy new work shoes from Payless Shoesource (I got tired of wearing my Black Nike Dunks so I had to get some proper footwear) and some $20+ lunch and dinners the day before.
Wasn't on instagram (every photographer should have one on their phones to promote their business) the whole weekend that much cause my T-Mobile G2 had no power in it battery and I misplaced my charger until I found it this morning. I had to rely on a cell phone Kiosk upstairs to charge it for 10 minutes which is the most that I can have it charged, but then again, the power went out fast in 15 minutes while I was listening to some MP3s on the device. Whatever.
Not only did the weekend turned out pale, but it lingered on earlier this morning as well. For some strange reason, my Yahoo Email account (required in order to get a Flickr account) forced me to change my password. Then after I picked up some prints from Samy's Camera, we planned to go have lunch at Islands in Century City, but they didn't have a parking lot and my little brother hated parking on the streets in the westside. So we ended up going over to the one in Porter Ranch instead. It was my first time eating there at Isalnd and I had the Quesadillas while the little brother had the big wave hamburger. That place was really good. I bought him Islands since he's gonna turn 20 one week from now as one of his gifts.
This whole thing wasn't a negative rant. It looked like it, but just a description of how my week went. I'm already used to dealing with this type of shit, yet its part of life. Thanks for your time reading this, and I'll leave you with this epic photo I took of Scarlett Johannson on 35mm film right after she's leaving her Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony back in May, and I LITERALLY had less than two seconds to capture this on film, and I'm so glad this shot turned out great after I got it processed and developed. (had to make the watermarks large so that some conceded, degenerate asshole wouldn't download it and clain its theirs)
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.
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.
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
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.
Instead of the weekend, I'll just recap the past full week.
I stopped by at Los Angeles Pierce College last Wednesday just for the fuck of it since I had too much time on my hands that day. that's where I took a few classes between 2007-2009 and I haven't stepped inside that school in about a year and a half or two. As I got in, the place looked almost foreign and unrecognizable to me. There were so many changes and construction around the campus and it wasn't like since the last time I was there. The school was empty since the Spring Session just finished. As I walked around, I started recalling so many mad memories during my times here. Few of them were good, yet many of them were not good that I should've improved on. For example, I once got into a heated argument with the school's only photography instructor there. I wanted to transfer some photos I took at the Fiesta Lakers event in 2009 from my SD card to my flash drive on the Mac Pro's there cause I sold my black Macbook a few months prior for cash (it was a rising peak of the recession then) and I didn't have a legit computer at my house that time. He gave me such little time to transfer them and being that those photos were large file sizes to move, the bloke got impatient and then that's when the fireworks went off. Never stepped inside that room after that moment. Other than that, Pierce College looks brand new. The refurbished up to date buildings make me feel old for some weird reason since I'm used to the old style of the campus. Here are some photos I took off the T-Mobile G2.
The old cafeteria used to be there, which is being replaced with this building. I once had a lunch date there with this Russian chick that I kept seeing while riding the Orange Line since I didn't like parking my car at Pierce. The food was alright, but she was on her SideKick III 50% of the time.
My first time seeing this fountain there, AND THERE WAS STEAM COMING OUT FROM THAT SHIT! Major upgrade.
A statue of Pierce College's mascot, the Brahma Bull. Again, this is something new that I've never seen there before.
These stairs are no joke, and it leads up to this...
My favorite spot of the whole entire campus. A scenic view area to see 3/4 of the San Fernando Valley, next to the performing arts building where I took an Acting course there once just for extra units. Unfortunately, they closed it off due to ANOTHER CONSTRUCTION PROJECT. WOW. I used to invite females up here several times in between classes or whenever a class was cancelled.
After seeing all the changes there, I walked over to the Westfield Promenade to try on a couple of Levis 501s at the Macy's there, then chilled at the Barnes and Noble there and read this one book which has OG photographs of some youth and young adults skateboarding in Southern California back in the mid to late 1970s. Very similar to Lords of Dogtown and most of the kids featured on the skatebords had long natural (yes, natural) blonde hair and rockin' a pair of old school Vans which also fits the vintage California lifestyle. Then I walked to the Westfield Topanga Mall up on Owensmouth Avenue and just walked around the mall like usual. Nothing special happening there that day, other than seeing the Sony Style there being closed down. One of only stores that I like checking out at the Topanga Mall has always been the Sony Style, and most of the items there are not being displayed. I saw employees inside just cleaning up the store inside. Damn, now I have to go all the way to the Sony Style at the Beverly Center or the one at the Americana at Brand in Glendale.
On Thursday, I witnessed (pun intended, I guess) the Miami Heat winning their second World Championship by defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the NBA, and Lebron James getting his first title that shuts the whole world up. Everyone was upset that he won a ring, saying that it the playoffs was an inside job for him or shit like that. The best part in my case is that I no longer have to hear those "Lebron will never have a championship ring" jokes anymore. They were amusing for five minutes but then got quickly dried out after that. What I didn't like was that Mike Miller of the Miami Heat didn't get the Finals MVP, which Lebron James received, since he hustled his ass on the floor by dropping Ray Allen-type 3 point field goals. I said the same thing about Ron Artest when he made that one desperation 3 pointer towards the end of Game 7 two years ago to give the Lakers the advantage to win the series, yet they gave it to Kobe Bryant instead. Thy have to let the non-big names receive the MVP for once in my opinion. Other than that, regardless if the NBA is worked or scripted from assumption which I doubt, congrats to Miami and especially to the Thunder for displaying their talent and performance despite them not winning. By the way, I kinda dislike Commissioner David Stern. Hell, one of the first two acts he did as becoming commissioner was announcing Michael Jordan's name in the 1984 draft and fining him 5'Gs for rocking his original Black/Red Air Jordan 1s as it violated the dress code then cause of the shoes colors.
Speaking of Air Jordans, I finally copped the White Cement IV's the next day. I 've already told the story about these shoes several times on my previous posts back in February. Drove all the way to Flight Club LA straight from work via 405 Freeway southbound Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard and Fairfax Ave just to get these since I got paid very nice that day. Reason why is that they were doing construction on the Wilshire Blvd off ramps which I usually take to go to West Hollywood from the 405 freeway. Surprisingly they had parking available on Fairfax Avenue that day since its always hard to find. Was about to get the Size 13 but that shit was $400. Fortunately, they had a size 12 which was a $50 difference less that turned out to become $350, and plus they fit more comfortably than the Size 13. After I got the sneakers, I then walked over to Diamond Supply Co. down Fairfax to purchase one of the t-shirts there. Last time I bought a shirt there at Diamond Supply a year ago, the workers there acted bored and uninterested as if they didn't drink coffee or something. This time they were showing kind courtesy and displaying excellent customer service as I asked for the size of the shirt I wanted. I was about to stop by the Beverly Center, but I decided to rush back home to the Valley. Took Coldwater Canyon instead of Sepulveda Blvd to avoid the wekend traffic there, as well as the effect from the demolition of the Wilshire Blvd offramps. Stopped at Best Buy to purchase two blu-rays, which I kept one of them now cause the other wasn't working on my pops Blu-Ray player due to firmware issues.
By far the shoe of the year for 2012. Celebrities, models and rappers were rocking these all over the place since February, more than the Air Yeezy IIs and the South Beach Lebron IX's. Fuck, even Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother was sporting the OG's back in 1989 from his Doogie Howser M.D. days.
Here's a video I took talking about the IVs and everything else.
Fucking glad I finally got them.
Next day on Saturday, I went down to Hollywood to meet up with Gianna Michaels (yes, the adult star) at some novelty store on Hollywood Blvd. There were two other stars there that I've never heard of before, but I wasn't concerned about them. Before that, I stopped by Amoeba Records on the other side to see if I can sell the Moneyball Blu-Ray that I bout the day before, which was the Blu-Ray that I had issues with. I picked Amoeba over Best Buy, not only because I was close to where I need to go, but Its also because I misplaced the receipt. I REALLY didn't want to sell this movie, but the screen on the TV was black for 10 minutes after I pressed play. So I gave it to him and got $3 in return. Yeah, I know, that was totally bullshit but I didn't want to give it away for free. Then later I met up with Gianna, and took only three photos of her... with her clothes on obviously. That meeting went by really short and fast but then again, the San Fernando Valley where I grew up my whole life is know for people like her.
I then later jetted on over to The Grove to test drive the new Cadillac XTS sedan they had there. All I can say is that the car is really nice. Just another luxury car to me, only with some interesting tech. First of all, the gauges are digitized like the Lexus LF-A gauges. Second, they have what its called the Cadillac CUE where the touch navigation screen has a menu display featuring icons similar to an iPad. I kinda think General Motors over did it with that feature on the XTS. There are even other automobile manufacturers that have their navigation systems in which you can check your Facebook updates on it. WHAT?!?! Major plus for the insurance companies I guess, unless if there's weekend traffic and nobody on the freeway is moving that causes the driver for nothing to do other than to... check his or her Facebook status. Man, do I really hate that site, but I bitched about it on my previous posts several times admist the recent events that the company went through (instagram acquisition, Facebook's initial public offering, Mark Zuckerburg's marriage to Priscilla Chan) since I last posted here back in March. And I'm about to approach my five year anniversary this Sunday of joining that site back on July 1, 2007. Time fucking flies. By the way, here's a video I took of the startup for the XTS, where it shows the digital gauges.
So afterwards, I finished driving around Fairfax in the new XTS, which feels like driving a CTS mixed with the Ford Taurus SHO that I drove at the LA Auto Show two years ago, and then the staff at The Grove gave me a $10 AMEX gift card just for driving it. I remember when I got a $25 AMEX gift card for driving a 2010 Kia Serento when it came out back in March 2010. Stayed at the Barnes and Noble there and read another photography book there, only this time it featured epic portraits of A-list celebrities for a photographer named Michael Thompson (not the Showtime Laker from the late 80's, only which it was spelled Mychal Thompson). His work is actually great. Got some motivation from reading the entire book. Went back to the Valley to eat at The Habit in Encino, but I stopped by Primitive first to talk with their awesome staff there. Shoutout to the homegirls Ashley and Irene over there. Feasted at The Habit by using the AMEX card and then headed straight to my pops house to rest.
FInally on Sunday, I did some typical sprucing up around the house and then for the rest of the day played most of my vinyl collection of out of print, hard to find 80's albums (not bragging because its true). I then later walked to O'Melveny park in Granada Hills to meet up with my Aftergloam family there since their member Elvis gave out an open invitation for anyone to come and hang out. Its been months since I was last with them, but we made use of a good time by playing soccer and ultimate Frisbee simultaneousley. Then I listened to some amusing stories that they were telling and then we all went home two hours later.
What a great way to start of summer. Couldn't ask for anything more better that weekend. Oh and don't forget to find me on instagram.I didn't mention it on her since it on Android came out while I was on hiatus from updating this blogsite. My username is: justforsneaks07. I'll leave a few comments on your photos once you start following me on there. Thanks for your time reading.
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.
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