Just a Memo

“So Happy Its Thursday” at SoCal! Just got home and ate some home-cooked meal from my grandma. Camaron rebusado and some Nilagang Baboy. That’s “yummy” in english.

Its been a while since I had some of her cooking. Last time the Golden Girls went up, they only brought pastries. Anyways, LA is gonna have some nice weather this weekend. We are going to get some high 70s, and low 60s at night. Should be nice.

Meanwhile, I’m gonna chill a bit before I roll on to bed. Probably watch either Fever Pitch and/or Hustle & Flow. Tomorrow, I plan on swinging by Westwood to get some lunch with Jevon and Jovan. At night, probably go down towards the Long Beach area to take my cousin out to dinner as she is visiting here from the PI through her contract-work as an Software Analyst (I think).

Oh man, should be good times on a TGIF. As for Saturday, no plans yet. I guess we might just end up rolling to Zanzibar at Santa Monica at night. Maybe catch a flick with some buds in the daytime. For Sunday, maybe roll on to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles but we’ll see what everyones doing.

Anyways, have a great Friday and smile… ’cause the weekend is here!

…album link

*write-up about this past weekend o’ fun coming up

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Damn, that was one rough flight coming into OAK. Don’t do it again SW, or… NO SOUP FOR YOU! (I’ll update this entry later today, sooo tired from the weekend… lots of stuff to write about. Good times.)

I flew down this past Thursday night by SW. Seems that they were delayed by 30. But oh well, I got to do online checkin and got sat with group A–yayer! First time I actually got to sit with that group, as its usually C and a couple of times in B. I just dont like sitting in the back cause by the time you get your drink (for an hour flight) you’re already landing.

Fast-forward to Saturday
Woke up pretty late, as late as 11am. Yah I know, thats pretty early for a Saturday but I’ve been getting up pretty consistently around 8am on the weekends for some reason unknown. Got ready and went with my bro to his band’s practice in the valley. Man oh man, it was freakin’ nice, warm weather. Its been a while since I have worn shorts and actually felt comfortable to wear throughout the whole day and night. But yah, these suckers are crazy when they practice. I took some documentary of it as well.

Meanwhile, 5:30pm rolls around so fast that we were in a rush to get back because of Tinz’ hula recital (which was first-come first-serve seating). I guess its really true when you’re having fun, time flies. And as a characteristic of LA, good ol’ fashioned traffic (plus smog of course). Oh LA traffic, how I miss thee…

I finally got home to change a bit. Might as well, so I can just go straight to the club right after. But yah, I really wanted to take pics of Tinz’ show but couldn’t cause there was this huge ass doods with sarongs(?). Kinda like the ones that are on those “hawaiian power” shirts. Yah man, aloha to you too brotha. Furthermore, the stage was really damn close to us, thanks to the patience showed by BelLou.

Flashdoms
It was Jevon, Juanaton, Tommy, Ryan, Jovanhorne, Cicely, Jay, BelLou, and I attending. I swear, we were like the press–a camera per individual. Even though they were strict about the camera, Lou managed to get some cool pics since he got the great seat–right up the middle and away from the “muscles” to see. Besides that, I learned that you can use nylon (from underwear) to make the harshness of the built-in flash of dSLRs softer. I am labeling that thing as a “flashdom”–kinda like a condom but for flash, keepin’ it safe from overexposure-titis. And who better to teach me this? Yes, its him, Confucious reincarnated… Juanaton. I tell you, those “flashdoms” are gonna be a great hit.

Feel the Aura
The hula thing went well, kinda reminded me of PCN but no “Celebration” song. I was glad somewhat that it was done as it took a long time to finish. The head guru (I guess) planned giving out the raffle stuff at the end; which dragged for more than 30+ minutes or so. I was stepping on it to go back home cause I left a battery for my camera.

But alas, I got to the Rhythm Natives‘ album release party and show @ Aura Nightclub in Studio City. I was stressing out cause it was daaamn packed. The line was extended prolly a good 100 feet; and that aint single-file. I freakin’ just paid $11 for VIP parking since I know I ain’t drinking cause of meds. Got out quickly with all my gear and proceed to call T (my bro’s gf), which didn’t pickup… thanks. So I rushed through the back and made my way inside. First time I’ve ever done that; got lucky cause there weren’t any bouncers when I went through.

I took quite a lot of pics, or tried too. It was way packed inside, more than I was expecting for a gig like their usual ones. I tried taking clear pics but that was a prayer since I had no clear sight to take a good exposure on. But anyways, I got a handful showing how great of a show it was. If you haven’t heard any of their stuff, you can go to www.rhythmnatives.com. Go and support, they’re really good–surprisingly.

Besides hearing that Lil’ Wayne was there, we saw JC Chasez with a couple of hot ladies. Didn’t really get to take a pic of him, I shoulda cause I just remembered that Gwen like that dood (if I can recall). But yah, he had some weird haircut–I think it was a mullet.

Great Weekend
Got to see the doods/doodettes from Irvine, the fam and catch another RN gig–a band on the come up, I swear! And oh yah, got to eat one of my favorite late night spots–Sanamluang! Man oh man, can you say “mmm mmm good” in Thai?!

From my mind to yours, support my bro and his band–the Rhythm Natives.

well, got some r&r this past weekend. went on somewhat of a shopping spree considering i haven’t bought anything for myself except for a couple of shoes and a old navy pant this past year. anyways, finally upgrading my computer–this baby should be able to rock steady with the new graphic/digital design tools i’ma about to get my hands on. hopefully, i can play around with more artsy fartsy stuff and get creative on that ass. besides the new computer parts, i got some loose fitting jeans from old navy…same one i had, but a different “blue” color; which is pretty weird considering the fact that it’s either looks dirty, “stonewashed”, and some funky color-looking ones. and oh yah, some boxers $5 each–i know its a bit pricey for old navy ones but man oh man, my boxers are loosing their elasticity (woah, big word…i have a headache now).

besides these material stuff, i got some food for the brain. supporting the RIAA and got some new CDs. not necessarily in any order but i got Da Band’s Too Hot for TV, Chemical Brother’s Singles 93-03 [Limited Ed.] and Slightly Stoopid’s Everything You Need.

some opinions about the CDs in my rotation…

…da band. you saw them on tv, you heard their stories, and now you can hear the end-product. i give it 4-headbobs (out of 4) for the beats–p.diddy got new ones, integrated some old ones, as well as welcomed some of today’s hot producers like wyclef and trackmasters. i give it 3-headbobs in terms of a group-CD in general…’cause dylan didn’t really do much, so i guess it’s not really a complete group-CD … ‘kno mean?! but overall i give it 3.5-headbobs in terms of beats, lyrics, content, feeling, etc…they put their hearts into making it …now go support them by buying a copy of their CD (got it for $9.99 at bestbuy).

the chemical bros…err brothers to be musically correct … “MC” (trying to start a new word…sorry for the corn). these guys are funky ass hell. i really liked their 1999 release, Surrender, which got me into their music. i saw them perform at the first-ever coachella music festival. i was there working for staff pro trying to raise money for my uci cultural club–kababayan. it was soooo freakin’ hot and muggy–you know, riverside weather. but to make a long, flashback-story short …it was an awesome experience. we got to see beck, rage against the machine, tool, etc etc. this girl offered me fifty bucks to let her in the vip section when beck was on the main-stage, but my old, fat area supervisor stepped in and shit…bastard was horny–but umph…she was a hottie. anyways, back to the CD…i give it 3.5-headbobs (currently) …since i haven’t listened to the second disc… i’m sure it will end up going to 4… they just inspire the ‘ish out of me (along with other astralwerks‘ artist) when i do digital art projects and sketches.

…last but not least, sligthly stoopid’s CD brings you to a chillaxin’ place. well, you can’t go wrong with skunk records to give you that smooth, melodic groove with a lil bit of punk all-mixed-into-one; ahhh dubby dub…rock on with 4-headbobs. if you haven’t heard any of their songs, might i suggest listening to their Acoustic Roots CD fosho–these guys are awesome musicians.

woah, haven’t wrote a lot ’till today. must be the glow… (whose the mastah?!?! sho-nah!! …damn, i gotta get that on dvd…one of my favorite movies as a kid). well, in other news, hendo and i are getting ‘ish done with our little startup-venture. i’ll let you get the down-lo on it as soon as we get everything ready (hopefully soon). …good times, good times.

from my mind to yours, feed your brain…and support he music industry by buying some CDs once in a while–don’t be shady foo.

I finally finished the second part of Jeff’s-Las-Vegas-Trip-Weekend. You can read it here.

Also, I got some new pics from TnJ. Here’s some of them: