Times Up

I am just sitting here. Got back from the gym about it an hour and a half ago and the kids requested I do their laundry again. They wanna make sure they have something to wear in the morning. Haha. Ok. I can't blame them I remember being like that too back in the day. Especially right after we moved from East San Diego to Santee. Our attire was not up to these white folk's standards. It was all about Mossimo, Gotcha, quiksilver- shit like that and shorts. Here I was straight from pretty much the hood and rocking le tigre and other fake lacoste and Izod polos, sometimes with khakis, sometimes with sweats. Yeah I was the fat kid in the sweats. I of course didn't want to be that kid, but due to circumstances outta of my control, mainly my mom threatening violence if I didnt wear what she had bought, I had to be. I remember the first time I wore shorts to school was in Santee. It was just too hot out here to be rocking sweats and khakis on the daily. I only had the guidance of when I would see the vatos from back in the old neighborhood wear shorts. They would pull their socks all the way up- even if they had stripes at the top. So I decided to go with that approach. As soon as I get to school this cat named Mike, who actually tried his damnest to get me to assimilate to the suburban life when I first moved there, tells me
" Hey dude, pull your socks down."
I was confused. Why? Was it because I wasn't wearing a wife beater to go along with the shorts? you pull your socks down when you're wearing a fake alligator polo? Up with a wife beater? Or up when you're just wearing a white on top? or Down if you don't have tatoos and up if you do? Or does the tattoo have to be of the virgin Mary or other religious figure? Maybe it just has to be a female or female's name? Up with cursive tattoo writing, down with Block writing? Up with a Jail Tattoo, down with Professionally done one? Up when you're wearing shades? Or is he just messing with me? It's always up right and he is just checking to make sure I don't make the mistake of pulling them down?
" Pull your socks down, dude trust me."
Ok. He had advised me twice and everything else he had done prior hadn't been made to mock me so I did. This was in the morning. by the end of recess whatever hood instincts I had were telling me the socks down thing was not cool. what if a vato came cruising along into the school and saw me with my socks down? I couldn't let him see me like that. So I pulled them back up. Hood restored. a few minutes later from Mike;
" Hey Roy really pull your socks down and keep them down..."
God Damn it. alright. Now I was in a bind. Adjust to how people wear their socks here and risk someone from the hood hearing about and or seeing this, or don't and risk being the outkast here just a couple months after I had moved. So I pulled them back down with the plan on pulling them up every so often and then down again. Right before lunch I pull them up. No one noticed throughout lunch or the recess period after lunch, So it was all cool. Until we had to line up to get back in class. I am leaning up against the class room wall when I hear Mike.
"Alight dude I'm gonna do it for you and I'm gonna hide them gay stripes too."
So He bends down and starts folding my socks for me, making sure the colored stripes are hidden. He then proceeds to tell me I should only wear white socks- no stripes with shorts and that I should always roll them down. Thats just how its done here. I figured if a kid is gonna go ahead and go through the trouble of actually pulling down your socks for you and take the time to pull them down so no stripes are showing, maybe I should just listen to his fashion advice. Too bad he couldn't do anything about the lame ass sweaters I would wear that said ridiculous bullshit like;
" Warning! I'm a party animal"
"I know you are but what am I?"
"Don't bother me till I've had my first cup of coffee..."
which really, the last one didn't make sense for me to have to wear because I didn't drink coffee back then. Anyways I believe it wasn't until 6th grade where I finally got a say in what the fuck I wore. Of course everything was too expensive so I had to settle for the lesser brands but at least I finally got rid of the khakis, sweats, and ridiculous sweaters.

I also remember a few weeks after moving to Santee a conversation bewteen 3 white kids sitting at the same lunch table as me. One of them asked...
"Alright what colors do Crips wear and what color do Bloods wear?"
I was thinking colors? really its just Blue and Red. They aren't fashion gangs- they don't accessorize. Anyways obviously to me the shit was second nature- even in east san diego this shit a was well known fact- skyline , Valencia Park = bloods, barrio market, shelltown = crips (no nothing like LA gangs but then what is I guess and I'm not even sure if this is right anymore but back then I knew...), but these other two kids were clueless.
" you guys don't know?" asked the gang conversation starter, getting all proud that he knew but that they didn't. He proceeds to tell them.
" Crips wear blue and white and Bloods wear Red and Black."
" Aaah, I knew that I just forgot it..."

Apparently Mr. Gang authority here had just watched himself some colors and was trying to organize his own Santee branch. I believe he was gonna ally himself with the gang whose colors looked best on him...

A couple of months ago I was hanging with Mike at his house (I wrote about it) and this guy had the audacity to call me the whitest Mexican he ever knew. Well it's partly your fault, dude.

O.C.'s Times up because "you lack the minerals and vitamins, the iron and the niacins" to hang with me at 1:30 in the AM on a Sunday.

No Comparison

The fries were eaten, unfortunately some with ketchup, the kids put to bed, the kitchen has been cleaned up, laundry is in the dryer, and Sofia's homework has been checked with a note on what to correct for in the morning when she wakes up. Am I usually this awesome? No. About a solid 70% of the time though. I had Sofia do all her homework today even though its not due till next Friday, well because I wanted to check it. Give the ex a break. Which leads me thanking Luie from a conversation we had a couple of months back at Baja Cantina (30 dollar pitchers of Margaritas? Really?)Anyways ever since I have only been getting my kids every other week, My ex has kind of been giving my kids rules to follow when they are at my house. They aren't bad rules, they deal with minor things such as drinking water daily and not drinking any soda. It felt like she was relaying messages to the kids and I didn't even want the inclination for the kids to feel like it was some sort of competition between their mom and me. I also didn't want her to think that when they are here thats its a free for all. I didn't want her to feel like she was the strict one and I was the fun one. So I called her- the majority of the time we converse through text, but those can be misconstrued and I didn't want to come off as being upset. I wasn't. I honestly don't ever remember instigating any fights with her. Now my actions? Different story. So I called her and finally let her know to avoid any type of feelings the kids might have about this, that she should call me and let me know. We have spoken about this before- the soda thing- and my stance misguided as it maybe is that they are kids and that I have them out doing physical activities to offset anything they consume here. Now I'm not even the one that buys the soda, its grandma. So I just asked she call me to discuss these things directly to avoid putting the kids in the middle. She was cool and understood- way cool. I just feel we shouldn't do our own thing, we should and have to raise them together. We obviously have different views on plenty of things but we need to be able to come to compromises right? Like for instance...

After the kids came back Danny asked me to update the music on his phone. Last time some music got on accidently that shouldnt have been on there (Mobb Deep for instance)to his credit he didn't bother listening to it. I try to pick songs where the language isn't so questionable. Again as misguided as it maybe, I have no problem with the occasional curse word in a song for him as long as its being used in a creative context and not just for fuck's sake. haha. Plus he's mature beyond his years and knows not to spout off anything he hears. I know this must rub her the wrong way but hey if I'm gonna keep good hip hop alive it has to start with my kids right? Its mostly atmosphere, the roots, the foreign exchange, 9th wonder, Pearl Jam ( He loves him some Even Flow), Little Brother, Murs, Common, etc... The laid back stuff I listen to pretty much- but the occasional curse word does come out. I know some of you parents are like "Christ, really Roy?" But again I have to emphasize that Danny is not your average kid. He knows not to say them. I just had to add the rule that no matter how much he thought his friends would like the song, he can't share them. Don't need a parent giving me a call or worse telling their kids not to hang out with him anymore. So song by song I thought would be ok I played for him while he was playing PS3, he either gave the thumbs up or the thumbs down. He did a good job. What was the first thing after we were done selecting songs? He took the phone and went to his room to go listen to the songs we just had picked. My Boy! haha...

I know the pain of smokers who have to leave a bar or restaurant to go have their nicotine fix. Since I have started dipping again, I don't allow myself to dip in front of them so I usually head for the backyard and spend sometime back there doing my thing. I think the water and dip diet is gonna just become the water diet. I am planning on this can being the last one. I keep thinking how idiotic it would be if I actually got into shape and months later, Bam mouth cancer. So this is the last can. I have to be honest and say that I'm rationing it like a man on a deserted island with only a couple of oranges left. You know, to prevent scurvy...

I was playing basketball today and I had two ringers on my team. it was them and two other guys who thought because they played there daily they automatically deserved to get the ball on every possession. so after about the 4th trip down, they decided to stop trying. So it was basically 3 on 5. how lame. It was one of them that had asked me to play and I had to exert extra effort to cover any extra guy? BS. I would have understood if the ringers were missing shots but they weren't they were on fire. I was fine with it- I'm used to be the fat guy to fight for offensive rebounds and score that way and I did on the occasion they missed. I'm just saying if the oldest fattest guy on the court is still trying even though he knows the ball isn't gonna get passed to him, man up and at least play D. When I actually had the ball I tried to get them involved but they just either passed it back or shot hook shots from half court. Not cool. We still won. I have to say my post D is improving, my outside shot is on fire (12-15 ft out), and my post moves are finally coming around. Still need to work on my lateral movement. When I'm defending a face up player try as I might, I give up base line too easily. Haha but I always have- I play what you call Tom Chambers D. I'm gonna try to play a couple steps closer to them next time and see what that does...

Well its Midnight and I plan on waking up at 6am to hit the gym and climb Cowles before the kids wake up. Then its off to the Zoo to have them go on their Bataan Death March. If they survive, I'll treat them to some Filippis. Feel Free to join

Buck Shot and 9th Wonder- No Comparison. Veteran MC with one of the best beat makers out there. You have probably heard his beats and have never realized it. From Beyonce, to Nas, to Jay Z and everyone in between.

The Seeds

after my status I realized I hadn't written something about them so I just wrote this- it was pretty easy...

when i look into those eyes
I realize
failure's not an option
though right now it feels like I lost them to adoption
they're always on my mind
and so maybe one day they'll find
these lines
and hope they understand what happened in these times
the thoughts of giving up
get shut the fuck up
when I think about their future
And I pray they'll never have to go through something like this
I hope they continue to reminisce
on past fun past trips
and come to grips
that pops was far from perfect
but time spent with him was worth it
I preach don't settle to be like me
My job is for you both to be better than me
my undying love is all I can guarantee
so I hope you see
this experience burns my heart
from the depths of hell
so I'm going back to the start
reinventing myself is going to be the hard part
I'm truly sorry for this ride
hope at the end of this tunnel you'll still be by my side
cuz my life belongs to you
so from now on everything I do
every sacrifice every hardship
every missed relationship
will be so that I can secure
your love now and in the future
with this I hope you get the idea
I love you Danny and Sofia...

Not Enough

So for the article manuscript I submitted I had to include a little something about myself. this is what I came up with in the five minutes I cared to think about it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Roy De La Cruz has been writing since he was in his high school journalism class. His beat was sports but since he was too busy to actually attend most sporting events, he would rely on his editor (Hugo) for the scores, highlights and stats. He would then weave a tale about what occurred, mostly inaccurate and fabricated depictions of what transpired during the games. While the alumni at the school would know the depictions to be completely fabricated, they found them highly entertaining. He became engrossed with life and left writing behind only to discover blogging in 2006. Friends, family and strangers alike were soon entertained again. He spent a decade in the exciting career as an insurance underwriter. When he found himself ungraciously let go in February of 2010, he began his love affair with writing once again. He hopes his random, sometimes incomprehensible thoughts on a wide array of subjects from his drunken tales to his love of hip hop, to be published in some sort of medium outside the internet soon...

I hate Ketchup and Mustard. They suck. I also hate relish. This is a problem when your dinners have been consisting of chicken hot dogs lately. So I have to get creative. Sometimes I do the grilled onion bit, sometimes I do the hot sauce thing. Today I went with cheese. I tried peanut butter once but it was not the great idea I thought it out to be. I also did the bacon thing once but since I am trying to be sensible these days that option is out. Back to the ketchup thing. I wrote about this before but I have to point it out again since I have an addiction to french fries. It is highly rude to pour ketchup all over those masterpieces. Be civil and pour it on the side and dip them if you must ruin the taste that is a good french fry. What if you don't finish them? Have you thought that maybe someone who will gorge himself to death on fries may want your extras? Obviously not, Mr/Mrs selfish. But there you went ruining that opportunity for him and those tasty things must now go in the trash. I actually make some bad ass french fries when I am inspired to do so, which is pretty much every time my kids are over and I make them dinner. Maybe if you're lucky I will divulge my recipe ala Kurt Vonnegut one day. If you don't know who he is, read a damn book. It involves voodoo. No not really but it will taste like you sold your soul to the devil. Oh and don't ever expect to split fries with me- that shit aint happening. unless its like a family basket. Then, maybe. I have beat little kids (mostly my own) whenever they have gotten into the fries on the way home from the drive thru. And the ones at the bottom of the bag are mine as well. My son has since gone to the darkside with his love of ketchup but Sofia is holding out strongly and it only took a few beatings...

I had my first full night of sleep last night in weeks. Was asleep by 10:30. I think its the fact I spent an hour on the elliptical, and played basketball until I thought I was gonna faint, then shot around for another half hour. So I did that again today which is why I my back is destroyed...

I just realized I have not turned on my TV since Sunday night. Almost would be proud if I hadnt been spending that time on the computer... Though it has been mostly to re-write my resume, write some articles, apply for jobs, and sell off the rest of my cds. I have just been really sitting here listening to music when not at the gym destroying my back or winning at poker. I have won the last two times in a row. So it paid for some badly needed tires, and the shipping costs for my cds to secondspin...

I have updated the site a little bit to make it easier in case you havent noticed. Thought the boom box matched the blogs nicely. I also found where the stats of pageviews for this thing and from where people are reading it. turns out after the US and Canada, its the UK and France. Denmark is in there as well. I'm sure its the song titles that gets them here. Seeing as its mostly writing from a guy I think 1500 page views is not bad I guess. The all time rated post is also pretty interesting though its neck and neck with another one. It also tells you where they visited the site from like google, facebook (of course), etc... Haha for google it also tells you what they searched for in order to find the blog, hahaha sorry guy from asia who searched for the Green Hornet...

A few years ago I read that postcards were losing popularity. So I decided to go on a crusade and begin sending them. Sometimes when I was out on the road, like the few east coast trips, other times I would just send San Diego ones to people who lived in San Diego. They would be filled with obvious ridiculous bullshit, but I figure the people in the postcard and post office business needed the revenue. If you were one of the lucky ones to receive one, I would definitely cherish and hold on to them. I am sure after I die here soon they will be worth at least the stamp that it cost to mail them. Who knows if I find my address book maybe I will start that up again. I also did it because nothing of note ever comes in the mail anymore. Its either a bill, coupons, some bullshit wedding or birthday invitation you don't even wanna go to (just kidding!) or something from the IRS wondering why you filed your taxes the way you did. So I figured a nice little postcard every once in a while would get people to be pleasantly surprised on the walk back from the mail box... That would be like my service to you all...

Not enough by Little Brother. Darrien Brockington on the hook and he is a bad ass motherfucker, well like me but with a voice.

Contents Unda Pressure

Tuesday I found myself at a bar in Ocean Beach. I had just dropped off my cds at Cow's used records and CDs for them to look over and buy if they wanted. I had heard they were looking for hip hop cds so I figured they would be interested in my collection. The bar was empty- it was just the bartender and me. We started discussing about how easy technology had made it to obtain music and how nowadays most musicians had to stay on the road longer to make up for the lack of sales. We also lamented on the loss of the days when you would have to go out in search of the music instead of just turning on your computer. The loss of cover art photography, the loss of liner notes. Yeah I'm sure if you wanted to you can still buy the whole album including pictures and notes, but we were talking about the tangibleness of actually holding a cd in your hands. Sure the perks of not having to worry about an MP3 scratching, getting stolen out of your car, misplacing the cd are great, but I enjoyed displaying the collection, having to go to multiple cd stores to find the album I wanted (and with my taste that was always an adventure) and the small slight sense of victory that occurred once I found it. Then going home popping it in, listening to it while reading the liner notes- always a plus if they explained how the song came about or more bonus if it came with the lyrics. I like the majority however have become placated with the ease of obtaining music online. Even during these times having my cousins finding albums I want for free. I always try though to make it up to these artist by either buying the album later on, hitting up their tours, or buying their merchandise (hence the steady stream of hip hop only shirts I wear). Again to make up for the lack of cd sales, most of the people I listen to have to got on tour constantly and some just stop producing the music and go on to make a career in other means. Truly sad- its not that the music wasnt good and it wasn't selling that line of thinking is way wrong. Its just apparently not as promotable as other acts, not radio friendly or whatever. This doesn't affect musicians, it affects everyone in the music industry- Tower records, the wherehouse, music trader, etc... are all gone. I had a hard time just finding a couple of spots in San Diego that still took Cds. What does that mean? loss of jobs. Technology just hasn't hit the music- its hit the movie rental business as well. Hollywood video is long gone, so are most small mom and pop dvd rental stores. Blockbuster is bankrupt. Again its cool not having late fees, being able to see the movie when you want on demand and having it delivered straight to your house instead of having to drive out. Again I'm not saying I'm taking a stand and refusing to do these things- I have netflix, and until recently was a big fan of the on demand features. I also don't think most musicians are out there bitching about the state of things. I figure most of them that will continue to make music regardless of the income it will generate for them will adapt to the challenges of the onslaught of technology. I'm also not just referring to the genre of music I listen to but all genres. But anyways back to the loss of jobs in the music record business. Tuesday I found a few places in San Diego online that still bought cd's. One actually specifically stated they were interested in hip hop collections. So I decide to head there first. I had gone through my cds and they were kept in excellent condition- 90% didnt even have surface scratches. So I call ahead just to make sure they would have time to go through my 300 or so cds I had left. (another 200 had previously been stolen from my car :/) They said no problem just bring them down. So I bring them in. The guy starts checking them and after about 5 minutes says to me,
"are these ALL gonna be hiphop?"
"Um yeah- you website said you were looking for hiphop?"
" oh its cool I guess"
Now I figure they surely wouldnt take all of them- I know even some that claim they are legit hip hop fans wouldn't have known some of the acts I have listened to. So I notice he's doing two piles- cool totally expected. One is getting way bigger than the other so I figure those have to be the ones they are taking especially since he has placed such cds like LB's the listening, Common's resurrection, The original WU release, 9th wonder's Stepson, Atmosphere's latest etc... after deciding I maybe will finish up the black keys collection by trying to find blakroc and thickfreakness used, he lets me know he's done. he now has 3 piles. Turns out the biggest pile he can't take because they wouldn't sell- haha ok no one is looking for common's first one or any atmosphere they havent heard before. fine the next biggest pile they'll give me 1 dollar each for them- 40 of them in all. the last pile he said he wanted to buy off me personally and that he'd give more than the store would. So the guy did have some hip hop in him as he picked up O.C. jewelz and the D.I.T.C. collaboration album. He gives me the spiel that some of them were too scratched, some they had too many of, and some just wouldn't sell. He told me of a couple of other places besides the ones I found that may take the rest of them. I collect the unwanted and head off. Basically same thing happened at all the other places, including get laughed at when asking about used black keys albums. I'm also beginning to theorize that even though they say they'll buy any amount. they max themselves at around 40 per purchase. The 2 other places that bought cds from me all bought 40 each exactly. The last place in OB I finally gave up on finding blakroc or thickfreakness used and just traded them straight up for new ones. All told me that all the other titles wouldn't sell. But they had junk in their hip hop section like Chunky A, milkbone, jermaine dupree- not even just the popular radio hip hop of today, but like junk from other eras. I was like wow. Really you don't think anyone will come in and buy up de la soul's first lp, Nas classic debut album, even his It was written? I didn't say it because I didn't wanna come out like my music taste was better than theirs. I understand that maybe they really just don't know. They have their own tastes and that's totally cool. which brings it back to technology. Obviously the stores can't have experts in all music genres anymore. Back in my Wherehouse days in Monterey the manager asked me before hiring me what music I listened to and when I said hip hop, he said good because he needed someone with knowledge in that section. we had the rock, death metal, house, classical/jazz, movie members. I don't know if all managers took that in consideration but it was definitely a sensible issue to take in. Everyone had to learn and know the top 40 radio stuff. The stores that are left don't have that option to have so many employees knowledgeable in different genres of music. I decided to go back and respect my collection and go back to using secondspin.com. An online website where you can sell your cds to. They partially reimburse you on shipping costs and since I remembered the current USPS commercials about the packages they have "where it fits and it ships for one price" I decided that getting what these cds deserved to be sold for was worth the small hassle of initially shelling out some cash to get checks in the mail later on. instead of a buck or 50 cents, the majority of my cds sold for 3 or 4 bucks. some for less, far less but still. a Los Lobos cd I owned actually fetched 8.50. basically you enter the original UPC code and it figures out what cd it is and the price they will sell it to you for. I was sadden to discover I had forgotten to take out my last copy of Pharaoh Monche's internal affairs and Ras Kass' Soul on Ice. Both are out of print for different reasons and a couple of years ago they were going on Ebay for like 50 bucks. They are also hip hop classics. More Soul on Ice than Internal Affairs. I accidentally sold them for 4 bucks. Terrible. I at least still have one copy of the Ras Kass album.

Shit, maybe Ted Kaczynski (The Unabomber) and his anti technology stance was right. Gonna give me a buck for the Roots "things fall apart"-fucking ridiculous.

The Alkaholiks- Contents unda pressure, maybe the Liks best ever song- beats, flow, one liners with a west coast edge.

Dr. Octagon - I'm Destructive

Sometimes I just wanna listen to some completely ridiculous shit. Dr. Octagon definitely qualifies. I have been working on my desktop today and thats where the majority of my music is. It had been a while since I had sat down in front of this one well because a laptop is just more convenient. Although I did read an article late last night about how the heat from the laptop can actually damage your skin or some shit. Dunno was dozing in and out of sleep to actually pay attention to it. You know a lot of times I just sit here when writing these and I have no clue where I am gonna take it. Tonight is one of those nights- Where I wanna write something but haven't figured it out yet. So until then you'll get this filler. I am sure if you skip to the next paragraph you'll find it more entertaining... I had to change the album- only so much Dr. Octagon I can handle in one sitting. half the album was good this time. Some Juice it is. Oh yeah I did decide to send in an article or my attempt at one into the reader. Checked their website and they allow for you to submit one with some specific shit that they are looking for so I decided to go ahead and do it. Don't know what will happen to it and don't really care it's not like someone- especially a novice would automatically peak their interest on the first try and actually make it. I figure I will try it a few times and if nothing happens I'll just realize that this writing thing isnt for me. One of the things they didn't want was a weekly column so that's kind of lame. I think my style would be more fitting in that type of format- people would need to grow into gettting my type of writing I think and don't think one article I write can stand on its own. But whatever I wrote it up in between re writing my resume and applying for jobs so its not like it really took anything extra out of my day. I did get to thinking about what type of book I would write. In the past I figured it would be a more cohesive version of this blog, maybe without the song and movie titles. I've been here 32 years and have plenty of stories of drunkeness and other plights and think the target audience would be the college age kids who actually read outside their curriculum - all 15 of them- and some people around my age group. Anyways I figure it at the minimum would be something productive to do while waiting for the next interview.

I also signed up to volunteer at the San Diego History museum. I just heard back from them and haha its another thing I have to apply for. I have to do a cover letter and send in my resume and everything. I just wanted to go in there and stuff some envelopes or dust some artifacts. But whatever I don't see why I shouldn't. Still waiting to hear about tutoring kids with jailed parents though- which would be more in line with what I would like to be doing.

Back in 2006 I went to Pennsylvania. A friend of mine at the time was born and raised in Johnstown PA. A book and story that has always fascinated me is the story of the Johnstown flood- way before I had ever met her. David McCullough wrote an excellent book on it. He also wrote an excellent book on the Brooklyn bridge, but I digress. Anyways we used to have a set of Reader's digest abridged books and that was one of them. For some reason I read it multiple times throughout high school. Anyways The town is located 2 hours east of Pittsburgh and I was gonna go to a Padres game while I was there so I decided I would finally get to go see this town, whose story for some reason I had read multiple times. Prior to 9/11 it had been the worst disaster with regards to lost lives. I think some 2000 people died. I won't bore you with the history knowledge but back then it was a major producer of steel and was located in a valley. on an adjacent hill, a lot of the rich people at the time like Mellon, Carnegie, and them built some pretty bad ass houses and made that area into a fishing club for their summer use. They built a lake on this hill by stopping a river with a shitty dam. Then during heavy rains the dam gave way causing the flood. I just found a journal she bought me to write some shit about her hometown and State. She also wrote me some things throughout the book. Some of the shit she wrote in it is funny as hell. She also has the least legible writing for a girl. Can barely make out what she had to say back then. I am really into history and this trip was all about me seeing some historic sites. Checked out Mt Vernon- George Washington's home, that was some feeling walking in the house where such a historic figure once walked around. Hit up Gettysburg and a bar there that had been a house during the battle. It still has the bullet holes. I couldn't get over the fact that people still lived and worked in the same homes where such historic shit went down. Washington DC and Ford's theater where Lincoln was shot. The house across the street where he died. It's a ridiculous thought to me that there most likely are people that live so close to such places and have never bothered to check them out.

You know what's also cool? is driving around in places you've never been and stopping in a one street town to have a beer. you definitely stick out like a sore thumb, but its always an easy way to meet people you would never otherwise meet. Plus they get a kick out of some one from San Diego being there. I would have to find the business card of the bar I stopped at and played some pool with the locals there (and where I threw some atmosphere on the jukebox) to figure out the name of the town. I remember just after a day of hanging out in Gettysburg, I just got in the rental (the life time ban would come in a later trip) and drove down this two lane road out of town. I stopped and a church that had been built in the 1700's for a bit to check it out, and continued on until I came into a town after maybe a mile the town ended so I turned around, found the bar and strolled in. Probably the only Mexican for miles. To me it's interesting to go into a situation like that and just people watch- try to get what these townspeople are all about. I was still young enough that I got carded and the CA license usually starts the conversation in these towns. The what the hell am I doing there, am I visiting someone? Not passing through because no one passes through this town, why would a Californian pick PA to vacation in... so on and so forth. The other small town in PA I did this was a town called Gallitzin and pretty much the same thing happened.

She titled my journal "Roy's fucked up, rambling, incomprehensible, thoughts" kind of like this one tonight.

God's Bathroom Floor

One of the things I love about a live show is when the musicians personalize the show a little bit for the audience. What I mean I guess is when they do a whole different version of one of their songs. Its obviously easier when you're taking a rap song from a DJ's beat and deciding to go with a live band version of it. But still. I have seen Atmosphere do this song live with a DJ ( in Chicago so now every time I hear this song it reminds me of our trip out there back in 2006- best show I have ever seen to date, and the rest of the trip was awesome. Padres sweeping the Cubs, Hugo's asian buddy, 3 forms of ID requirements, L & G's, the cool waiter at the Espn Zone... getting lost on the way back to the hotel for a bit, rockin shorts and flip flops in cold ass weather and then getting completely drenched when I walked into a puddle,the gay cab driver who ran outta of gas and made us miss our flight home and took a whole 5 bucks off the fare... ) and with a live band (LA, SD)  and still havent been able to decide which version I like better. The original version has this sweet Jazz sample and the song is way more mellow.
Anyways on Thursday, Brian, Nick, and me were at some bar in Rancho Bernado when we ran into the Mayor of our City. The city being Santee. The Mayor being Randy Voepel. Hell of a guy. Knows how to party. Couldnt convince him to hit up a strip club with us though. Haha " No school shootings since Randy Voepel been in office..." haha the asshole comments we make sometimes. After ward we hit up the usual spots in Poway, bar tender at Patricks was excited that they now served the tequila from Entourage and gave us a shot of it. It gets pretty blurry after that though, Nick disappeared and I ended up hanging out with this Sushi Chef. All I remember is that I thought he was like some type of artist at one point and that I discussed the writing process and my aspirations to write a collection of short stories one day. Somehow we ended up hitting denny's (sadly in my drunkeness I forgot my self imposed ban on eating there) . Never had met before but apparently he was highly amused with my antics. He drove a white lowered honda or something and I actually fell on my ass trying to get out. I just remember him needing to get me up. We talked about a whole myriad of shit his sushi business, writing, and god knows what else I just know we were at denny's for a long while. I must have had like 5 cups of coffee. Anyways he ends up giving me a ride back to Nick's. Except Nick went to bed and locked the door. I told him I guess its sleep in my car time. But he decided he would just take me all the way back to Santee. wtf? I told him it was cool its like a half hour drive and he really didnt need to do that. But he insisted. Random right? Guess he just wanted to continue a conversation with a drunk man.

Saturday, Hugo decided for his birthday we should all get together and attempt to play some softball. Wow did our softball team playoff aspirations take a real hit. Yeah its sad when the best player is a ten yr old. D did have a nice basket catch, Brian had a nice celebration after he made a play, Wes had a nice head first slide,  Kurt hit the worlds worst triple, and I bill bucknered a ball at first. haha D also hit into the slowest double play ever. The rule of having to finish a beer at third base before being able to score was hardly used until the later innings. Seriously a 1-0 game 6 innings deep? haha. The rest of the day and night and early sunday morning was spent at Hugo's. Good times. I owe Pilar 6 bottles of wine I guess. Drinking wine with Hugo is highly entertaining. He turns into the biggest male chauvinist ever " Hey Don't piss off the Baby!" so I always try to get some wine in him when we're drinking. Two more of you turned 32 this weekend. Welcome to the glory. The liver worked some heavy OT this weekend. So it will be taking the next week off. I have also decided to put my alarm clock back to use. Hopefully the fear of the sound of an alarm clock buzzing at 7am will help me get to sleep.