The past 28 hours…

What a 28 hours it’s been, starting at about 4:00 yesterday which was the beginning of something that would take me through a range of emotions which were happy, awe, joy, surprise, and sometimes even disgust. Every week me and one of closest buddies, Richard, try to hang out and we started this almost about a year ago. First, our hanging out, started as simple conversations about the big red machine and how he had felt about the job. We talked about everything that went on there, from the  drama, politics, alliances, trust between everyone we had relationships with, and eventually that didn’t matter because we found common ground with other areas that interested us. We talked about basic topics such as girls, history, philosophy, psychology, trust, TV, lying, capitalism, movies, problems we had that happened in our lives, music, and the list is just endless. But yesterday I got a different vibe from Richard, I felt that at this point in our friendship I can let him know anything without him having to turn a cold shoulder. Our conversations always seem to shift to baseball right off the bat because it’s something we both enjoy talking about whether it is about the pennant races in the AL/NL West and in the East and Central. We both have this habit of bashing the Oakland A’s even though we both are fans of the team which in hindsight is just unintentional comedy because we just share memories of when a batter struck out, when this player played for this team, or when this player was around. It’s all in good fun because baseball is a sport that may seem boring but if a person really analyzes it, it has this effect to be really interesting because you find things which were undiscovered before hand such as seeing where a ball may land in the catcher’s mitt, pitch location, batting approach, defensive approaches, hitting counts, and then there’s homeruns and strikeouts which are look really difficult to accomplish. After we finished all that fun stuff, the attention was shifted to serious stuff such as my buddy JC, who I consider my best friend but there are times I’m worried about him. We talked about JCs exaggeration’s when it comes to stuff that he wants to do but it all seems to involve the ultimate prize, dollar bills. JC talks to me about places he wants to go, things he wants to show me to “make me look good”, and also the price usually involves me spending money. The funny thing is, this usually involves me driving to far away places. Yes I understand if JC wants to shed that memory away of breaking up with his fiancee but there are times when I feel burned out from doing so much for the guy. I was in awe when Richard thought that JC wasn’t entirely over his breakup and he tries to get away from that from taking action on these dreams. JC has done a lot ever since he broke up with his girlfriend and I feel that some of the things that he’s done such as getting back to being acquainted with God, opening a community center with his dad, and even losing weight have been great for him. He is a changed man but then there’s this idea of him being able to find a girlfriend. He’s been trying to search for another mate for quite some time now and every time he thinks he’s stumbled upon the right girl, he comes to a realization: He finds out who they really are and it’s sad that has to happened for him but it could be that some people just really don’t seem who they say they are. The conversation between myself and Ricardo was mostly centered on other topics such as moody road, going bowling on last saturday night, and even the very touchy subject of Toy Story 3. That was at Mcdonalds till about 6:45 or so and then we headed out to Pet Club Express in Mountain view to buy my dog dog food. We went and did that which was nice and then we decided to head to Round Table Pizza over in santa clara to catch the A’s game which turned from joy, surprise, and then disgust. I was feeling joy because we sat down and talked more baseball but it really surprised me when Ricardo suggested we talk more about something that is a sensitive subject with me, the idea of missing somebody. I never thought I’d be saying this to him but I ended up telling him that I missed working with a co-worker of mine and someone I did consider a good friend, who for the time being we’ll just call her Madusa. Madusa, how can I ever forget her, she had beautiful european eyes and a special vibe about her which I still miss to this day. I told Richard that I missed working with her because I had good conversations with her which were serious but steady but also friendly. We talked about everything from what I remember from family, to politics, movies, music, and philosophy. I told Richard how much I missed her and I regretted how much she missed out on the fun me and him had during the days of our “secret meetings” at Golden Mushroom. I did what I could with her and I felt that at the end of her run, she still had a lot of growing up to do. Usually, I hate talking about the Big Red Machine to Ricardo but we talked about how much I have contributed to that place as well as what I could be doing in the future. The conversation shifted to two particular ETL’s there, referring to the former HR and the current STL. I don’t hate our STL, he just disgusts me sometimes because it seems all her cares about is himself which Ricardo agreed with because he noticed that too with how he treated people. His attention was focused on the fact that our former HR was evil which I never saw but he felt that she had this evil laugh as well as this higher up “I’m better than you” mentality. He felt this was evident when a former employee was let go because she showed up late three times in one month which was surprising due to the fact that I’m sure everyone has been late once or twice. I didn’t notice that but it was pretty evident the method in which she handled her business. That was one of the best conversations I’ve had with him because we shared stuff about family and even things we feel should be done at work in order to improve it. After that was over, I went home and spent time with my brother which was nice because we sat down and while I played some MLB 10: The Show, my brother played some music which goes along well with any video game. This morning I had to wake up at 9 to go with my dad to fill out an application for Ace Cleaning maintenance which was nice because he helped me find my first job. After I filled out a simple questionnaire, we headed to a garbage company to see the status on his other application but nothing was said about it. Then once again, at 11:17 me and Richard had one of those good ole fashioned conversations which was awesome. We started off talking about the A’s and today A-Rod finally hit his 600th HR which was thrilling because all the talk in the media is finally over with. Then we went into a subject matter which I feel is not emphasized enough which is idealism vs. realism, which is better? Idealism eventually won due to the fact that it is looking at things from a positive point of view instead of looking at things from a negative aspect. I liked the fact that realism is one of the aspects of life which is looked down on because it is not really a way to look at a positive lifestyle. The conversation eventually ended with us talking about survival of the fittest which somehow got connected to immigration and it was really sad how much of it rings true. Then Richard told me something that shocked me, he was thinking about moving out of the country in 2 years which would sadden me because I would never really have someone to talk to about issues that we care about. I say all the power to him because he can only grow as a person in another country and I hope one day I too to can move to another country. Then the day moved to me putting a headlight on my car and getting a license plate light as well which was nice to finally be able to have everything clicking in that car. There were also a few cameo appearances from my aunt and my cousins and also my uncle which was nice and comforting. What a 28 hours it has truly been and good night everybody!