A Year In Review

The year is over and its time to sum it up.

• I grew closer to the girl that I love and hope to take many more trips and adventures with her
• Saw Mastodon and Norma Jean for the first time
• Fractured a bone in my foot
• Saw Blink 182 for the first time since 2009
• Did the Crash Marathon Race
• Got a Wii U and PS4
• Did not get hit by a car
• Bought a bunch of awesome cds

No Puddles To Splash In

So on Friday we joined the bike collective in riding from CSUN to Amoeba records in Hollywood. It was originally predicted to rain that day and as the hours got closer to the 5 p.m. head out time, the wind seemed pick up pace, but none of were discouraged. The sun set and with darkness covering the campus, we all turned our lights on and headed out. Although cold, the weather lent itself to be rather enjoyable. The closer we got to Universal, the more the anticipation grew on riding over the Cahuenga pass. It almost appeared that it was going to rain but luckily no rain whatsoever. We all rode over the pass and soon found ourselves in Hollywood. High fives to go around and smiles for what was a long ride. At Amoeba we found some awesome cds and hopefully the start of a growing metal collection between us two.

After Amoeba, we split for the El Capitan Theater to go see the premier for Frozen. The movie is hilarious on a lot of levels and the Mickey Mouse short that went before it was absolutely awesome. Disney has some good tricks and surprises up its sleeves.

and here I find myself thinking about you and listening to The Cure. Funny how things are sometimes :)

Collective ideas

Yesterday concluded one entire year since it was officially decided we were a cheesy, dorky couple. As part of it, we went on our first trip outside of Los Angeles that didn't include Disneyland or Seaworld, and had a lot of fun. I enjoy dressing up for her and wearing my black pants with a nice black button up shirt and walking around as her arm candy. Lots of laughs, lots of food and a great time together :)

I injured my foot a few weeks ago and it just straight out sucks. There is discomfort in walking and I can't either ride my bike or play soccer (it's not like I did anyways). I know time isn't on my side and I am super out of shape, but I really miss playing soccer. I've never really been good at it, as my passion is a lot larger than my actual abilities, but the feeling of playing a pick-up game with friends was always fun. The laughs and generally positive vibes made the sport enjoyable. Maybe over the winter I'll find time, but until I guess the only real thing I have is FIFA 14 on my Playstation 3 and on the Vita haha

I just randomly felt like posting Children of Bodom's "BloodDrunk." It's a really good song but the keyboards always stand out to me. There is just something about certain metal bands getting the mix of keyboards right, that makes me enjoy the sound.

I'm still a bit bummed I didn't really get to go on a ride today. Just did a few miles. A bit of a let down but what can you do.

On a separate note, it's a bit strange when someone complains about other people hogging the tv to play video games. I wouls like to play sometimes too

On Monday, woke up besides her, went to school, went to Disney's California Adventure with her and went to see Helloween with her, went to sleep with her cuddled up in my arms. All in one day. It was a superb experience. Got on Tower of Terror and who knows what not. Got some awesome new pins!!!!!! Plus Helloween played the jams and a lot of the best songs from Straight Out Of Hell, even though sadly they didn't play "Far From The Stars. "Awesome day to every extent

You're 1, 300 miles away and all I can do is hope you're having an amazing time. So far it seems like it's going great and that makes me very happy. All I imagine is that beautiful smile of yours lightening up the place. I miss you already and know that I can't wait to hold you once again when you return. If you have the opportunity to read this then I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip cutie. I love you :)

I hate Gio. That bastard got this stupid song stuck in my head. Lately we've been listening to some of the worst hip hop music we could find and this one is pretty high up there. Their names are Lil' Debbie and V Nasty. HAHAHAHA. I recently starting following both of them on twitter and its hilarious to read their tweets.

I wonder why there aren't many people who ride bicycles to heavy metal. The fitting seems perfect: fast paced music + fast paced activity (or life threaten depending on how you look at it). That's just me though, then again I have a pretty biased opinion

Neck In The Hemp

I'm going through a minor metal withdrawal. As much as I love Mastodon, In Flames, Northwind and Arch Enemy, my brain just can't deal with them at the moment. They come up so much on my shuffle that it makes me cringe. I can't sit through their songs anymore. I took them off my Bike Playlist since they do me no good anymore, and yesterday while listening to my entire iPod on shuffle, the second, third and fourth songs were Arch Enemy, Northwind and In Flames...out of 1,500 songs!!!!!!

I'm going through something similar with Amon Amarth, but it's borderline at this point. New releases by DevilDriver, Norma Jean, Chimaira and Huntress have definitely softened the blow. After "I Want To Fuck You To Death" and "Blood Sisters," Huntress' Starbound Beast wasn't convincing me but "Zenith" was that one song that had the first album all over it and rips big time. Norma Jean's Wrongdoers reminds me a lot of Redeemer just without the awesome cover. Some songs like "If You Got It At Five, You Got It At Fifty" and "Neck In The Hemp" are reminders of what made O' God, The Aftermath so special, chaos. And since I first heard it, DevilDriver's "The Appetite" is my favorite song of the whole album. The catchy opening riff and the chorus. Oh yeah baby. "I'm beggin' I'm beggin' I'm beggin' I'm BEGGIN' YOU!!!!!!!"

Throwing this in here just because :)

I went to Target today with my mom and the cashier saw my black nails and was surprised because she had never seen a guy with black nails. It felt good inside. That is all. Boring story, yes I know.

Rockin' The World For You And Me

By being a general metalhead, I enjoy the exposure I get to different groups. At the core of it, if the band can create good music, I could care less what they sing about. So with this I would like to bring up Stryper. They're a Christian metal band that don't get the credit they deserve. They rose to prominence during the glam scene but in my eyes they don't really fit in there. There music is pretty fast paced at times and slowed down at others. Obviously I'm predominately into their fast paced, speed metal sounding songs. It's almost impossibly to deny the sheer amount of religion included in their lyrics. Lots of mentioning of Christ, Jesus and God. I don't mind it just because the music is surprisingly pretty heavy, but I know of others who dislike it and that's cool with me.

We Are What You Fear The Most

I got the new Chimaira album. I have to admit that I was definitely going into this skeptically just because the only remaining member of the band is the vocalist. Every member was replaced two years ago. I also hadn't heard any of the newly released songs so I can say I went headfirst into listening to cd without a bias. Fuck the new album just kick ass. It has Chimaira written all over it and without a doubt demonstrates to me that they're not slowing down or going a different route. My favorite song so far is easily "Kings of the Shadow World." It's just fucking heavy and the solo even though feels a bit out of place on the first listen, immediately starts sinking in. Best Buy had it on sale for $8 so it was kinda hard to resist the purchase, especially when it's not $15 like a lot of cds now a days. Anyways, listen to the song below because it just rips.

El poeta se va entre abucheos

Execute My Evil Plan

I like "I'm Destroying the World" just because it's a nice blend between blue grass and punk. I'm not too familiar with Guttermouth's catalog but I definitely fell in love with this song and think the bango and violin perfectly work with the band's sound.

If You See Kaye

I don't think there are enough bands/groups out there that don't take themselves seriously enough. Especially in a genre like metal (which is understandable because everyone wants to look and sound heavy and badass). The Black Dahlia Murder is the only group on here that doesn't have ridiculous music, but rather are know for the ridiculous on stage antics. With Between the Buried and Me, I have them on here because even in between their hour long songs (I'm just a tad bit exaggerating), they put random little bits that are always fun to hear.

A Turn of Events

I don't think I've written a serious post in a while

My sister didn't graduate middle school. It came as a shock to all of us. My sister got really lucky we still have the No Child Left Behind program in place put in by President Bush that prevents children from K-8 from being held back. But at its very core, I messed up and forgot that what she's going through is really hard, especially more now than ever. My sister was/is a lot closer to my parents than I will ever be. They share a different bond than I did, which is probably more related to the time spent together growing up. (Maybe I'll talk about this in a later post)

Anyways the point I bring this up is just because my sister tried committing suicide a few weeks ago as her own personal reaction to the news of not graduating middle school. She knew the disappointment that there would be from this just because both of my parents highly value getting an education as so do I, but I understand sometimes higher education/schooling system just doesn't work for everyone. To be honest, we were all disappointed. We all went out of our way to accommodate her culmination ceremony. My mom even took my sister to a restaurant she had always wanted to go to as a gift.

On the day that would have been her culmination, my mom headed out to my sister's middle school to see her grades and discovered that she was no where close to graduating. The blame goes all around between everyone. My dad doesn't really intervene in her schooling. Doesn't ask for grades, doesn't ask how she's doing in school. My mom is too busy balancing time to spend with my sister and work. And me? Just being a shitty brother that pays barely any attention.

My sister is psychologically scarred. She's stuck in a situation worse than I am in between parents that always want to be right. She has all these bottled up feelings inside and no where to release them. Today my mom told me she's trying to take my sister to psychologist through her health care provider and I believe (I could be completely wrong) that this will benefit my sister just because no one really knows how to listen to her without inserting their own biased opinion. (I'm pretty sure even I do this)

My sister is scared I don't love her just because we rarely spend time together. She's scared of my mom because she likes to shout when things aren't done immediately and throws large tantrums. And lastly she hates being alone since my dad leaves her home alone to just watch tv all the time. 

I don't really know what I would do if I lost my sister. Obviously I would keep living, breath and going through everyday life, but since I'm home all the time by myself, I'm pretty sure I would have danced close to depression and my would have been in an even worse situation, losing a mother and daughter in less than month. Even though I have a terrible way of demonstrating it, she does mean a lot to me.

She's bright but just hasn't found her calling just yet, which is ok because she still has three years to decided if she wants to go to college or not (after that would mean taking her time deciding what she wants to do). I do have to say that I'm glad she's slowly taken up reading books. Hopefully it helps expand her imagination and takes her mind off stressful stuff. Keep your head up sis, better things will come.

DevilDriver have a new song out. I like it but it just doesn't feel like I'm smashing someone's face, which is what their usual first released songs/singles sound like. Still, I'm very much looking forward to Winterkills. Going to be awesome

When Hell Freezes Over

On As Blood Runs Black's Allegiance, a lot of their songs had that punch you in the face feel to them. But then there was "The Brighter Side of Suffering" which is just one of those songs that you want to walk around to and just bang your head. I like to tell people that they're one of a few bands that really get breakdowns and are able to mix it really well with the guitary stuff and solos. This is just one of the songs that gets it right and also has that "I'm going to kick ass" feeling to it.

Trivium also do this. Their song "Anthem (We Are The Fire)" is just all about taking names and kicking ass. This song also stands out a bit for just because I don't really think The Crusader was that good of an album especially since they've been incorporating a lot of singing into their songs over the last couple albums. But anyways, here's "Anthem (We Are The Fire)" so just sit back and bang your head. Ciao

Movies

I've seen Monsters University twice now and I do believe it was just as funny the second time as it was the first. I have to get that movie when it's released on Blu-Ray.

Now yesterday while on a date with my gf, we decided to go watch Pacific Rim and holy shit was that movie insanely awesome. It's Guillermo Del Toro so you know there's quality to it. (We both recently rented and watched The Devil's Backbone from my local record store and talk about good stuff from him.) The movie has awesome action packed sequences, the futuristic look just kicks ass and the humor written into the movie is perfectly timed. Charlie Day is fucking hilarious as a crazy scientist. It was really cool that the movie didn't have a forced romantic relationship and the way the movie starts with a kick in the gut (in a good way) is a great twist to setting up the film.

I really want to watch Turbo so hopefully we'll get to see it soon. I'm just not looking forward to having Ryan Renolds do the voice acting but i think I can at least put up with not seeing his face. Until next time blog

3:30 Thoughts

Went to sleep early and ended up doing worse and woke up at 2:30 wide awake and hungry out of my mind for breakfast. I hate my body. Grayceon won't put me sleep even though that's all I want

Yesterday I got bored of the internet really early, I have no idea why today something would even pop up. None of the websites I check won't even update until at least 7 am and since I only check like 7 websites anyways, it takes less than five minutes to get bored all over again.

I hope you got home safely, I know it probably slipped your mind but I still have that small worry in the back of my head

Well and just like that, in a little over a month, I went from having to grandparents to none. Today my grandfather on my father's side died. I still feel lucky in a way that I was able to have met all of my grandparents (even though I never really knew my mom's dad since he died when I was a few years old). What can you really do? Everyone rolls the dice all life comes to an end at one point or another. Regardless of who you are, dying of cancer is pretty shitty and that's just what life had in store for him. Tonight my dad is flying out Mexico to be there for his funeral tomorrow. I wish him and all my aunts, uncles, cousins and family relatives the best. I'll have to pay my respects next time I'm there.

All Over The Place

Vibes:

It's a bit strange to think that I don't know the lyrics to my favorite DevilDriver song, "Grinfucked" but that's just kinda how it goes. The song itself has many things going for it: fast paced riffs, drums that get the timing right, a sick bass intro and lyrics that sound authoritative and to the point. The song has certain vibe which makes it stand out for me out of the entire catalog. "These Fighting Words," "Horn of Betrayal" and "Pray for Villains" also share that same feeling. I don't think many bands having that pure in-your-face sound. On Beast, only "Coldblooded," "Shitlist" and "Dead to Rights" had that full on DevilDriver sound. That's why I'm happy that this new album is returning to the The Fury of Our Maker's Hand and The Last Kind Words era sound. Just look at the lyrics to "Grinfucked." Amazing:

Lights on but no one's home
I should've left you alone
You can't stand the heat,you're all alone
YEEAAAA!!!
Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
Coulda,woulda,shoulda your bed is made
Another man down & gone

Take advantage,manipulate
Take advantage,you piece of shit

Grinfuck
Debt paid in full!
You won't Grinfuck me!

This time the advantage is mine
This time vengeance is mine
Come seeking treasure
Without a map
It's in the journey & you'll never find your way back

Take advantage,manipulate
Take advantage,you piece of shit

Grinfuck
Debt paid in full!
You won't Grinfuck me!

Drop down!
Fool me once-shame on you
Fool me twice-shame on me
You've been Grinfucked

Even though Mastodon has been give or take more element influenced lyrics in their music, they also have that in your face feel to their songs. That's what makes Leviathan such an amazing album as well as Remission and to a certain extent Blood Mountain. That moment in "Blood and Thunder" where Brent just kicks off the song with "I think someone is trying to kill me..." is the moment you really know what you've gotten yourself into. "Island" has that too (which also comes out in Monsters University). I think of Mastodon as business first band. In more recent year (yes I'm calling you out Crack the Skye and The Hunter) they've lost a bit of edge but still show signs that they've got it thankfully. Their unreleased B-side for Crack the Skye, DeathBound, still easily can rate as one of their best songs. Keep on being classy guys, buisness first.

Lastly there is Lamb of God. I really wish they would sing like rednecks because that would be hilarious. They keep it adrenaline fueled all the time. "Laid to Rest" will always be the song I consider their best but with songs like "Redneck," "Beating on Death's Door," "Ruin," "Broken Hands" and "Ghost Walking," they're going full on metal every time.

Parents and Their Friend:

My mom and step-dad left to Mexico yesterday morning to go and celebrate my mom's birthday with the entire family. Thankfully they didn't really encounter any problems during their trip and made it safely. What is a bit weird though is that my step-dad's friend might go propose to my aunt even though they only met a few months ago. I guess the guy is a sweet talker or something but she's had the same sketchy (and I mean really sketchy, plus no one really liked him cause he always lied about everything, especially connections and how much money he has) boyfriend for the past two or three years, so this is a bit out of the blue. Congrats to him I guess, even though that would make him my uncle, but whatever.

Cycling:

Yesterday I rode from the northern part of the valley all the way to downtown as it has a been an itch of mine for a while. Riding over the Cahuenga pass next to the 101 is pretty cool and definitely has a nice view :)  There was show at the Hollywood Bowl so traffic was super packed and I got to just ride through everyone and leave them all behind in my dust. In recent weeks I've lowered the number of miles I cycle and hoping to use the summer to get that number back up.

Monsters University:

I saw Monsters University with America on Thursday as part of a date. The movie was definitely a change of tone from most Pixar films but I really loved it. They have a goth monster which was really cool (voiced by Aubry Plaza from Parks and Rec) and the cameos are pretty hilarious. I never really excepted seeing movie with whole 80s college tone to it, but it worked out perfectly and still has that same Pixar funniness to it. Squishy is an adorable character by far.

Next Gen Consoles:

Playstation 4 is way cooler than the Xbox One

Tomorrow is CicLAvia :) On the downside, I have not ridden a bicycle in about a week and a half so today and I'm going to ride and most likely get soar because it's an ambitious ride but I hope to end it off with treating myself to ice cream  hehe Going all out today

It has been a few days since my last post so just going to post a song before I got to sleep since I have to wake up in three hours. Good night everyone

Little Pet Peeve

I'm terrible at using Tumblr so who am I to complain, but one thing that really annoys me are gifs that people post/reblog with text that doesn't match the actual picture or scene. 3/4ths of the time you can looks at people's mouths and go "yeah they did say that" but it's really annoying seeing a person's lips barely move/or even move in general and it goes along side a large block of text. It just bugs the crap out of me. I'm sorry for taking time out of your day. You may resume whatever you were doing

New Songs

I always love discovering new songs and over the weekend I found out about Hammerfall's "Hero's Return." It's a power metal song, so really catchy and nice fast chugging guitars.

The other song I found out about was Manu Chao's "Panik Panik." This song is one of those obvious songs I would like because it makes absolutely no sense but really catchy.

Check them out if you want to :)

I Am Amir of the Desert

I know I'm never going to be part of a band that will ever record an album, so let me get that out of the way. Anyways, if I ever did though, I would like to record a song like "Amir of the Desert" from Coal Chamber's self-titled debut album. This is the only song on the album that has that demo sound to it and pretty obvious they were messing around in the studio and recorded it in one go. The song itself is just a playful 45 second improvised jam session. The song itself is also short and catchy. Can't ask for more than that. Check it out if you want to.

Coconuts

I've had a headache all day. It was weird earlier today (even a bit yesterday) in which I lacked motivation to ride my bicycle. It's a feeling I've rarely gotten since really seriously taking up cycling. I felt out of shape (I'm not really out of shape when it comes to bike riding) with the constant need to grasp for air, a hurting stomach and a headache that developed (which I still have now since 1 in the afternoon).

Motivation isn't usually a problem. I love to ride my bicycle. I love the adrenaline rush from just peddling as fast as I can alongside cars, that love/hate relationship with drivers and my want to just shout at them. Just peddling was hard for me to do and there wasn't much wind to provide resistance. On top of all that, I had my bicycle playlist blasting to get me in the mood but yet nothing. I've gotten my 12 mile ride down to about 50-55 minutes all in one go. But today it took me close to an hour five/hour ten and I had to stop three times because I needed to catch my breath. I felt queasy while riding. I threw up in my mouth a few times, but just swallowed it and kept riding. I'm still confused now as to why it happened, but hopefully tomorrow I don't have it and if I do well just going to push through it and ride. One way or another I need to find that self motivation.

I had really been in the mood to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail these last couple of days and finally got around to watching it today. I watched it with my mom and step-dad and they ended up falling asleep so I pretty much just watched the whole thing by myself. It's an enjoyable movie so I didn't really mind it in the end. It made me forget about my headache for periods of time before the pulsing reminded me it was there.

Yesterday America and I went to park to have lunch/dinner and read. It felt really nice and I'm really looking forward to do it again in the near future :)

Sorry for the Distraction

hehe Remember this:

(He's the guy who does the duet himself of "A Whole New World") I wonder what ever happened to him. It just crossed my mind. Continue whatever you were doing.

CloudKicker

I like CloudKicker. I forgot the name of the guy who does all the music himself but he's very talented. Programs the drums himself and records everything else in his in home studio and releases it. The coolest part about it is that it's just a hobby for him. The guy works a day job and then records this stuff for fun. These are my two favorite songs by him: "Dysphoria" and "Tip Your Van Driver." Check it out, they're really cool instrumental stuff.

Album Covers

It's 6:07 a.m. and I'm already wide awake. But anyways, that was yesterday's ranting. I would like to talk about shitty album covers. Right now there are four that stick out in my mind:

WTF is this?! I have no idea how anyone at either Bleeding Through or their record company could have looked at that and said, "yeah I like this one." I hope this wasn't a fan art submitted contest because man your fans have really shitty drawing skills. For something released in 2010...WTF!!! (Korn had a contest for their album Issues where they would take fan submitted art and choose one for the new album cover. What ended up happening was that when they brought it down to the final four, they couldn't decided on which to select, so they released all four. Here are versions one, two, three and four. They all still look better any day)

I enjoy Heavy Heavy Low Low but again WTF is up with this. Super bright colors and again a terrible design. You're a damn metal band! I do have to say though that this is at least a little easier on the eyes than their upstairs neighbor. I understand their music is chaotic and random all bands need to have at least a decent album cover. I don't care if they play it safe, just don't release some pile of shit that isn't easy on the eyes.

Now this is one of those releases that still has me scratching my head. Iron Maiden has one of the thee best track records of awesome album covers. Derek Riggs is the man when it comes to knowing what it takes to draw an awesome album cover. (For those who don't know, Riggs drew every Maiden album cover and single from their first self-titled release to No Prayer For The Dying and came back for Brave New World). So you take Maiden and remember that to grace a Maiden cover, that shit has to look good (check out Virtual XI right here. That's what I'm taking about) but this pixelated screen shot of just terrible looking people and why is that baby standing on the side of the dog/wolf thing?! C'mon Maiden...really?

Helloween also falls into this category of shitty digital art. Except Dance of Death was released in 2002, Straight Out of Hell was released in...2013. I wish this was a joke too. If this released somewhere in the 90s I would have happily forgiven them but in 2013 you can't be releasing this kind of crap especially when A) you have a track record of some pretty damn good album art (Keeper of the Seven Keys and Metal Invaders look good) B) your name is Helloween. Seriously guys, some needs to inform me how these kinds of crappy computerized works of art are approved. Even paying $500 for fan art off of Deviant Art would have done these guys better. I still cringe looking at this thing. The pumpkin with the gas mask in the logo could have looked so much cooler!!!!!

Our Theme

About a year ago I left to Germany and one of the songs that stuck with me while I was away was "We're Going to Be Friends" by the White Stripes.

Internet

I need to find new web pages that interest me. I only view the same ones over and over and non of then constantly update. Metalsucks, Joystiq, and Kotaku have an update about twice an hour while they're operating (let's say 8-6 but for MetalSucks they stop at 3) and then there's Cracked that updates once a day at 8 in the morning (but their writing has gone down as well as topics of interest so I visit once every few days). Tumblr...well I'm still terrible at it and still search for almost everything I repost. Twitter gets boring after a while. Facebook, I just get tired of seeing the same people post over and over again so I'm taking a nice break from it. Lastly there is GameTrailers but their best content is only up on the weekends: Annoying Gamer, Pach-Attack and Bonus Round (and they're all one episode a week). Which means I get tired of the internet pretty quickly. I'll eventually figure out something to entertain me past 6:35 in the morning

Sleep

I don't think I've ever really gotten used to being a morning person. I hate the inability to sleep in. I wake up between 5:30 and 6:30 on a daily basis almost regardless of what time I went to sleep. About 99%, the second I wake up, it's over for me. In that instance,y my body just decides "well looks like you're wide awake." An annoying side of it definitely is my mom being baffled every time for me waking up so early. "Why did you wake up at 5?" It's always as if I had a choice of when I could wake up. Not even tiredness of the body makes me sleep in. About 50 miles on my bike the day before, still up at 6 in the morning.

I think part of it is also a bit of jealousy. The significant majority of my friends can sleep in until 10, 11 or 12. When I use to sleep over at my friend's house, I would wake up at 6 and have to patiently wait until 12 or 1 in the afternoon until they woke up to actually do something. It's always a pain 24/7. Can't sleep in during the summer even though I'm going to sleep at 2 or 3 in the morning.

But it seems more like a two-for deal. I don't get to sleep in or have dreams. Where is the compensation? Waking up at 6 in the morning super hungry? That just makes the situation that much worse. I haven't even eaten yet and I woke up an hour ago (6:30 am).

I think my body goes "hey, you're tired. Your should go to sleep...but only for a few hours because you don't deserve more than five hours of sleep."

But what's funny though is that when I sleep in her arms, I can wake up later. We can wake up at 9 or 10 no problem. Or just wake up and fall back asleep immediately. Maybe it's the cuddles. Damn do they feel good. She used to almost only sleep in my arms but pretty much the tides have turned. It's okay, I get all comfy at night and don't mind at all.

Well enough from me, I'm super hungry and need to eat. PRONTO!

Down on Fascination Street

There are certain bands that I'm constantly falling back in love with after taking breaks. DevilDriver, Mastodon, Norma Jean and Chimaira. Right now I'm going through my Chimaira phase as they were the first artist I reimported into my computer. I think the two songs I'm the most obsessed with at the moment are "Pass Out of Existence" (that entire album is just awesome) and "Fascination Street." It's still a bit weird to think they have a person who does samples, but it works out really well. Their songs are heavy and smooth. I think they're an awesome band, but that's just me

Acceptance

Well looks like I've finally found the time to write this post. I'm not too tired even though I just drove for the last hour, but I'll be going to sleep soon anyways just to call it a night as I'm waking up super early.

So my Urban Studies professor made the argument about why acceptance of homo sexuality is both a good and bad thing for society. Good: we should be accepting of all people. Every person is a human being and there should be nothing that should take that away. Embracing one's pride of non-conformity sends a powerful message. Bad: Accepting and making it into a norm takes away the powerful meaning and causes people to overlook it.

I never thought about it in terms of negativity. If everyone was completely accepting of gay/lesbian (and every other acronym) West Hollywood would lose its cultural value. So would San Fran. They would be regular cities just like everywhere else. Sure it's a bit of a stretch but it does have serious implications. My generation and the one that follows will be very accepting of a lot of things and I guess it's a good thing they don't care about race, religion or sexuality. But with all this acceptance, where does critical thinking come in? What will be thought provoking for future generations, that is what scares me.

Hopefully tomorrow I can write a new post inspired by something my Urban Studies professor said a few weeks ago

Two Days

Finished finals on Friday and haven't really been able to find the time to update my blog but looks like it exists now, so I'm going to take advantage.

On Monday I went to Disneyland with America. What an awesome day. Walked around in our Oswald ears and went to both Disneyland and California Adventure. It was loads of fun. We rode Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Radiator Springs Racers (freakin awesome), Tower of Terror and every other major ride. I think one of the best highlights was taking a picture with Flynn and Rapunzel where I did the smoulder haha. Can't wait to go again.

Sadly, yesterday morning, she woke up ill and I spent the day by her side taking care of her until it was time for her to go to sleep and for me to go home. She has such a cute smile :) Feel better beautiful

I might be insanely sleep deprived, but I'm not going to sleep until I know you've gotten home safely.

All Rivers Run Towards the Sea

Just finished my first final paper, a 4 page single spaced methods technical report on cycling. I can't even say I cut corners because every single line of space on all four pages are used up. But meanwhile I wait for America to get out of work so I can help her get home safely, I would like to serve this PSA on the awesome In Flames song off of Colony, "Embody the Invisible." This is the opening track and jeez does it kick ass. I don't even need to describe how awesome the riffs are or how each layer of music compliments each other. This is fucking In Flames. Enjoy it.

I think in the back of my mind I'll always remember that I never made it to say good bye one last time. All I know is that I was a day too late. I arrived to find my grandmother well into eternal sleep. In her casket she laid with a few flowers and a picture of her with her children from my mom's birthday party last year. It was one of the last times, or even THE last time, the entire family got together before her passing. I remember that moment still fresh in my mind almost a year later. A family that was falling apart held together by a sibling who wanted to keep us all close.

Waking up on Saturday was nostalgic and chilling. For so many years I had woken up to sound of my grandmother calling, telling me to wake up and asking what I wanted for breakfast, conchas. This was a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly routine. She would give me ten pesos and off I would go to la tiendita de la esquina to get my Conchas Tia Rosa. I was afraid to do it this time. To walk down the same path that so many other times before seemed second nature, did nothing but bring fear to my mind. Emotions I didn't want evoked. To know that no longer I would wake up on the second floor and hear my name being called from the kitchen. To know that the familiar voice only lives now as a memory of my mind and that no one told me to cut my hair more than her.

I remember those days when my grandmother and I used to just lay down a bed sheet on the roof under the night time sky and fall asleep in the cool weather of the night. Such simple times.

Right now all I want is to be in her arms more than ever

I have abandoned all hope, because only the dead don't lie. With the beast of our memories, we are just wasting time.

Quotes

I'm not too particularly fond of inspiration quotes and my main reason is because people are so ambiguous on their origin. I never understand where people pull them from. One thing is quoting a set of lyrics (which I like to do, especially DevilDriver lyrics), but when people come out with "Every artist was first an amateur" - Ralph Waldo Emerson and "Inspiration and genius--one and the same" - Victor Hugo, that's where my buttons begin to turn. I never understand where the quotes originate from, what context were they used in or what led to their existence. Don't get me wrong, everyone is free from where they would like to get their inspiration from but I just don't get the point of quoting inspiration quotes, especially when pretty much half of them are anonymous as it is.

It's Twelve Time (and Stress Time)

Got an email last night being informed that on Monday we have to turn in our twelve page first draft for the class paper and the regular three page assignment. I never realized it but we have our final papers due a few days before our actual final day (as in turn in final the week before and afterwards we no longer meet for that Monday night when we would've if we actually had a final). This is both stressing and alleviating. This means I won't have to worry about my paper the weekend of finals but that means I need to finish it ASAP as I still have a ten page papers to work on for my methods class, a five page paper (plus cumulative final) for Indigenous Cultures of South America and a six page paper for Urban Studies. The worse part is that I still don't even get my prompts for the second two papers until next week. I guess I wouldn't be as upset/stressed about this if it was myself procrastinating due to getting the prompts months ago and just getting lazy, but quite the opposite. Time to listen to some shitty music. Time to listen to some shitty music and not think about this for a few minutes before going back to my study guide for tomorrow's midterm. I'm barely even going to get to study today. Aunts are visiting and I have to take them to the mall. That's already a day lost.

Dennis

It's going to be nice to have Dennis back in the collective once again after finishing his insane mechanical engineering project. He built a Human Powered Vehicle (a giant bicycle in the shape of a car) along with some other mechanical engineers and competed at a competition along with about 30 other schools finishing 12th. On top of that, yesterday there was a convention like (or science-fair thing) that went down comprising of 18 different senior projects and Dennis' finished second with a prize money of $700 which is just awesome. But that's all over now and his time is freeing up, he can hang out with the collective once again and do his favorite activity, ride a bike. CicLAvia is coming up tomorrow and it's going to be super duper fun. Can't wait :)

Our Hearts Alive

I always love me some good old Mastodon, just like I do DevilDriver and Norma Jean. "Hearts Alive" is one of those Mastodon golden age songs (I consider Leviathan and Blood Mountain to be their golden age). Slow start but picks up with fast paced riffs and drums but never actually sounds as fast as the music is actually playing.

Contests

I believe this is the third or fourth time I've been featured on MetalSucks. I submitted a picture a few weeks ago from going to go see the Metal Alliance tour with America, Kim and Irving for the "Show Us Your MetalSucks" contest and after losing hope earlier this week, it was posted. Pretty awesome feeling. You can check it out here.

I fucked up. End of story

Never Miss A Beat

Taking a break from writing my paper. I'm currently a page into it and just gathering some info.

Probot was a really cool project that Nirvana drummer/ Foo Fighter's frontman Dave Grohl did a few years ago that kinda served as a reminder to the metal community that he's still got it. He played drums and guitar on the album and would bring in a singer for each song (King Diamond, Jack Black, Lemmy, just to name a few).  My favorite part in song is when it goes "All access, yeah but not quite." Check it out, really good punk song.

In my world you are not welcome

Woke up with a headache and currently have a stomach ache. Stupid headache

The Spectrum

For better or for worse, the range of music I listen to varies greatly. I'll admit at times I do have pretty shitty choices of music, but whatever. I enjoy both the structure, but also the chaos that can be found within music. I like listening to bands like Stryper, the Christian metal band. I don't really care about their message, agenda or personal beliefs. If the music is pretty good, then why steer away. One of my favorite songs by the band is "Eclipse of the Son" from Murder By Pride.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is another one of those random bands, but with no real structure. (Along with this you can align The Number Twelve Looks Like You and Heavy Heavy Low Low.) I don't mind being the only person who actually likes the music. I lost the appeal to show them to others many years ago as no one seemed to like them. It's ok, I still walk away as the beneficiary. "Helpless Corpus Enactment" is an exceptional song and I really love the vocals.

Speaking of The Number Twelve Looks Like You, they have a bunch of great songs from each album. "An Aptly Fictional Description" easily ranks as one of their finest achievements in great song writing. I would label it "controlled chaos." When the band was still together, they had a phrase (which I think is still awesome) that went "it's number twelve time."

Heavy Heavy Low Low is one of those bands that's just out there like #12. "Mall-Nutrition" is a great song by these kiddos, but nothing compares to "Inhalant Abuse is Illegal And Can Be Fatal." That song is easily a masterpiece that everyone scoffs at.

Veil of Maya uses a lot of breakdowns and what not. I'll admit it. I also like the guitar work in the songs and find it exceptionally well written. Their entire cd [id] is really good and I'm glad their starting to become a more well known band.

Born of Osiris is a product of the attempted mix of metal with electronic music. Most bands don't get it right (or even close) but I feel that these guys got it right, or at least pretty damn close to it. I really enjoyed A Higher Place. I don't really dig the sample guy, but whatever, it works and I'm not complaining.

This is my last one and it's no other than Disney's "Disneyland Fun" as part of Disney Sing-Along (I rewatched the video before posting it just to make sure it's the right one). The second song with the the Country Bears is just fucking ridiculous. The bear suits look like rapists and the song is so jolly that it's impossible to not smile each time.

FIFA Thought Process

I'm a heavy FIFA player. I play in increments: days and weeks, usually months too without pause. Then just as I begin to get frustrated and tired with the game, I leave it, go untouched for weeks, maybe months, just to keep the fire burning. The process repeats itself until the next edition of FIFA is released. Just for kicks, I thought it would be fun to attempt to explain my though process as a coach in the game with how I form the structure of my team. Here we go.

Formation

At its core (besides having a really good time with a team that is made of expensive but top notch players), FIFA is all about having the right formation that works for you. Regardless of the players on a team, everyone plays different and has a different view of how the team is built and should play. The most common formation is the Four-Four-Two: four defenders; two defensive midfielders; a right and left midfielder; a center forward (they stand behind the striker and work as a link between the midfield and the striker); a striker. Most coaches have small variations of this and almost every major team plays with it: Manchester United, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona (this is a kinda because they have a tendency to also play without forwards), AC Milan and the list continues. The reason why this is a popular formation is because it is heavy defensive minded. At any point in time, you can defend with six to eight players.

Me, I don't play those kind of games, I run what my best friend Gio calls "my funky formation." It's the goalkeeper; four defenders; a center defensive midfielder; a central attacking midfielder and left and right wingers; and finally two strikers. This is what it looks like:

The way I think it works is that the formation allows me to always defend with five players and always attack with five players. Lethal, but defensive minded. Sadly it never works against other people. Because I usually play FIFA by myself 95% of the time, my formation is built upon four years on minor modifications in creating the appropriate team in career mode that can fully exploit my formation. It works great against the computer and I usually have no problem being dangerous in the box,

Proof

 but when I get together and play FIFA with friends, I'm a total joke (except Ed cause he's just terrible). But anyways, that's my two cents.

If Time Were To Arrive

I believe that I have an interesting personality that stands out because of the randomness it encloses. When I grow old (if I ever get there by living that long) I believe I would turn out like George from The Aristocats. It's not a bad thing to aspire too. Smiles, laughs and still enjoying life at an old age.

Bioshock Infinite

I beat Bioshock Infinite yesterday after what feel like forever (game time wise). I think it took me a good fourteen or fifteen hours to beat the game on hard. The game is frustrating yet amazing. Beautiful scenery contrasted by blood and gore. For the most part, Infinite abandons the claustrophobic structure which made the first so enjoyable. Although not market as dark, a good portion of the game is in ill-illuminated spaces. I threw many fits, cursed at my tv and died a plethora of times that almost drove me to quitting the game. But now that it's over, I'm happy. I was tortured but also invited to be apart of the city that is called Colombia. The game has some great twists and that small part of "landing" (pass through a time tear) in Rapture was just fucking awesome. I'll probably replay the game in a few months or a year from now, but until then, I enjoyed the experience Irrational Games. Thanks for a great story and hectic but great gameplay. Until next time.

It may be spring break, but I still have papers and projects to work on. I have fun stuff planned in the middle so it should still be really fun.

The news devastates me on the inside, but I'll be strong for you grandma. I promise.

Misconstruction

These guys get less credit than they deserve. This one of my favorite Apocalyptica songs. Check it out and enjoy it

I want to believe my grandma is doing well. She into surgery yesterday and appears to be doing ok. I guess I personally won't know how she's doing until Sunday afternoon, but until then, I'll keep my hopes up and my worries down. You're strong grandma, you'll be fine in no time

The End of It: March 17

This is the last time I will talk about my birthday for at least another year. So I'll kinda make it count.

On Sunday morning (March 17, no duh) after barely any sleep (I was super anxious that night) I arrived at the Crash Race meet up on Sunset and Fountain at about 3:50 in the morning. It was pretty cold, but not cold enough to keep me from backing out. David's phone was a bit glitchy, so it was kinda hard to meet up with the Bike Collective, but America and I them. It was a bit surreal, I had waited for this moment to participate in the race since last year (a lot like the excite that took over my body when I went to see Iron Maiden. Boy what a show). I found David, only to see that everyone was next to him and then Carlos started of the Happy Birthday song. They're all awesome to the max.

We took some group pictures and then messed around a bit.

 

David used his friend's bike to ride the race and it turned out to be the exact make and color as Abigail, which was pretty funny.

 

It was great having her by my side. She's such a cutie :3 hehe. Well back to the story. The race started at something really close to 4:twenty-something. The race it was tough, exhilarating and some of the most fun I've ever had riding a bike. We started in Silverlake, biked through downtown, to Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Brentwood and then jammed it to Santa Monica. The race took me about 1:40 to complete (our friend Christian finished in 1:05 which is ridiculous) and the site of the Santa Monica beach at 6 in the morning was relieving. I was happy to have completed the race and meet up with all my friends, but I was even more concerned with needing to go to the bathroom haha. America and I drove back home, where I got ready and took a nap before going to Denny's for breakfast with the family. We ate breakfast around 10:30 and all I was excited for was for hash browns haha. When I finished my plate, America kept giving me some of her food hahaha. She did it like a good four or five times. Afterwards I drove Genesis to my dad's house, got to say hi to him, talk for a little bit and head back to LA to meet up with John and the cellar for Korean BBQ. The food was delicious but the service was complete shit. They didn't deserve a tip at all but laws are laws. After that was off to Boba Bear for some smoothies/beverages. (Kim's idea obviously) We played some card games with these ginormous cards and had some great laughs.

Then we went to go pick up some stuff for Amber, but we couldn't, so we ended up just visiting America's family at home. Poor Luci was/is sick but I know she'll recover promptly. After we left to end the day at Plummer Park to go see Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird with special guest Psoy Korilenko perform Klezmer music. It was awesome. The humor, the sound, the vibe. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end such an amazing day.

Thank you to everyone that made it so enjoyable.