Stand Up

I guess this explains the "Denver Hip Hop" shirt we saw at the Pete Rock and CL Smooth concerts guys, haha! I had been intrigued, confused, and amused by this shirt since that night and I finally found a somewhat decent group from the Mile High. My cousins and I had been perplexed by this shirt when we saw it and could not for the life of us come up with a hip hop group from there. Technology has it perks, haha...

Anyways the violins on this beat reminded me of my youthful aspirations to rock the violin like no other Mexican ever had. I attended an inner city school back in my youth and at this school they offered free music lessons as another way to channel the ghetto kids to positive hobbies instead of the more famous hobby of loitering the streets. I remember how it started. The school held an assembly where the music class performed as a way to try to attract more kids into the program. All the current kids were the white kids that had been bused in from more affluent parts of town, and they decided it was time to show the neighborhood kids what we were possibly missing. I remember this girl had a solo with the violin- don't remember the song or if she played it well, I just remember I thought it was cool for some reason. Why? who knows- I was in 4th grade. So I decided to sign up. I thought the instruments were provided- turns out they weren't. So at first I remember my dad decided at first to rent a violin thinking it would be a temporary thing. Later when he would see me practicing and I (I think) was getting halfway decent, he decided to go ahead and buy it. They aren't cheap. I stuck with it for a good while- even performed at a concert with a whole orchestra and shit. I was really getting into it- I flew passed the twinkle twinkle little star stuff and moved on to some Beethoven pieces. Never got quite to the point where I commanded a solo part in the concerts- that was still held firmly by the girl who had performed at the assembly. I would have stuck with it I think if I hadn't moved to Santee.

The Santee school district had its own program but it wasn't held at the school I went to, and it wasn't free. They would bus us to a different school- I believe it was Carlton Oaks. The money wasn't what stopped me however from continuing to learn the art of the violin. I was still new at the school and the area and when the time came for my first bus ride, I missed it because I didn't want to show the people at my school I was rocking a violin. So I made my mom take me instead. When I got there I didn't know where to go and being too socially anxious, didn't want to walk around and ask where the music room was. I also didn't want to be walking around with a violin case. So I just sat in front and just waited for my mom to come back and pick me up. I lied and told her I had gone but that it wasn't what it was at my old school and that I didn't want to do it anymore...

Instead, after this failed attempt to resume my violinist ways, I decided it would be a good idea to go hang out with my brother and his new found friends. He has always been good at obtaining new friends easily. Me? not so much. Anyways in our old neighborhood, siblings hung out with each other and that meant any friend they made, you would also hang out with them. Santee? not so much. I learned a new term "tag along" here. Well anyways I decided I would try to go hang out with him and his new friend at the guys house, so I rode my bike to this guy's house and tried to go in. No one answered the door even though I knew they were there. After what seemed like forever and feeling dejected, I got on my bike and headed home. It was just one of the many things that I would learn was different from East San Diego and Santee. I would have to learn how to make my own friends. Took a bit, but I think the friends I have made were probably the best I could have asked for. Most of my friends I have now stem from elementary and high school. That's how strong the bonds I have made with these cats have been. I have known Brandon since 5th grade, Brian since 6th grade, Nick, Hugo, Joel, Kurt, Dan, Danny Clay, Jake, and Wes since high school. All the other friends I have spawn from these relationships- their siblings, their siblings' friends, etc... I can say its been a privilege to be able to say I have hung out with these guys for as long as I have. But yes I still hang out with my brother's friends when I get the chance...

I have gotten a few comments regarding my new piece of jewelry. Before I get another weird look and to prevent you guys from coming off as assholes haha, my daughter made it for me and she wants me to wear it for her since I am most likely moving to LA. Since blue is my favorite color, she made it from a purple string. Because it looks blue to me and purple was all she had...

At the advice of some fellow bloggers, I have added the most popular blogs I have written to my site. Hopefully the readership picks up as I get better at this blogging thing and future posts will soon be on this list. If you haven't read them or you would like to relive some glory, Enjoy.

I guess add my violinist aspirations to the list of things I haven't finished.

Stand up by the Flobots- the one decent Denver area hip hop group I found.