Why the Big Red Machine has made me a worse person…

Posted on by anele25

Target, what can I say it’s been good to me and it’s been bad to me but through almost three years now, I see myself as a different person. When I first started working there I was nervous and very neurotic, always wondering what people thought of me and how they perceived me. I thought my supervisor, Maria C., didn’t think too fondly of me because I was slow and unresponsive to anything she wanted me to work on but I found out later on she was appreciating all the work I was doing and I just needed to speed it up more. From this, I was always trying my hardest in departments where I was set to work such as Toys, Sporting Goods, Home Decor, and HBA but I never got the recognition I thought I should have gotten. I was always bitchting to people about how we weren’t good enough as a team and we needed faster results but I wasn’t aware that I was getting stuck in that zone of always working and never having any fun. I was too worried about my own self-image and how it would be looked upon if the team didn’t perform as well as it should have. What I’m referring to is the wave where we worked as one team and we just pulled every product forward in order for it to look straight. However, along came JB, who for all intents and purposes was friendly and kind towards me but his idea of work was much different than it was for the rest of us. His idea of work was to come and hang out which was something I adopted for the better part of a year until the remodel of Target Westgate started. I found this idea of coming to work to hang out made me lazy and unresponsive to actual work because I got accustomed to just being like JB which was something I should have pointed out to myself but I was too stubborn to realize it. Yes, it’s nice to relax at work once in a while but to say it constantly makes it seem as if work really doesn’t really matter to you and you are just doing it for kicks. It was sad to believe this because every time me and JB would be together it was just talking all the time but other people saw this and they too saw that they can pull it off as well. I realized after that I shouldn’t given people the impression that it was cool to be talking like we did because if one person then it must be ok but then I thought it set a bad example for other people as well. So one way it made me a worse person was by thinking that work was all play and fun but the truth is I shouldn’t have taken it for what it was because I was a veteran leader who was looked upon as knowing their stuff. Another way in which it has made me a worse person is by buying into people’s bullshit, inside and outside of work, I remember when a guy I used to work with Daniel R. would talk about how he knew the system of target and how he knew all the insides and outsides of the politics. This guy was cool as a person but in terms of being a very reliable worker he seemed to exaggerate his accomplishments which were hard to believe. He would tell me how he was talking to one girl and then he would tell me about this other girl he was talking too which made me question as to what he was looking for in these girls. At the end of his run, he ended up getting terminated for attendance but we all knew he would bullshit us once again when he told us he quit before they fired him. Another person’s bullshit that was hard to believe was a guy I used to consider a good friend in Mike Z., now Mike Z. was a cool guy at first but I soon saw what my good friend Ricardo pointed out to me when he first saw what he was like as well. Mike would tell me about how San Jose State is almost easier then West Valley which made it almost seem as if the guy knew more than the school system itself. He also would tell me about how he learned to only look out for yourself at Target which made it seem as if all we were there for was a paycheck and nothing else but along the run we could use some help at least. Another guy that’s bullshit was pretty funny was a guy by the name of Pedro. This guy is sad honestly, he pretends he is Target’s savior and he lies right through his teeth. He was telling other people before about how a good friend of mine John S. didn’t like electronics but he went and told other executives about it and was sad to say the least. He also pretends every single female cashier in the store is ripe for the picking because they have little to no experience in retail and every guy has to be nice right? Yeah right! He’s also lied several times about promotions that he’s been passed up for because there were really no opportunities to do so. Another way in which it’s made me a worse person is that I feel I make myself feel certain things about certain people and sometimes they were wrong other times they weren’t. For example, whenever a new person comes into work I already destine them for failure sometimes and there are times when I’ve been wrong about that. The perfect example of that is Golondam, who has turned out to be a heck of a talent and I feel I enhanced her when I gave her encouragement and later one she started asking more questions which showed more eagerness to learn. Another one is Tamara, who is an awesome person and a good friend because I judged her right away on her appearance based on the fact that she had braces and she was short which said to me no she is not fit for this job. Another one I was wrong about was Alex Russell, who is a guy that started around last Black Friday and at first I didn’t know what to think of him cause he was so big but once I got to talking to the guy I saw we had a lot in common with music, movies, life, and work. One last one I was wrong about was Stella who I do miss dearly but at first I thought she was just a total bitch but once I started talking to her I saw she had a great mind, an even better personality, and more dynamic to her than any other girl would. One last way that it has made me a worse person is by how I’ve been tired and worn down from the place. I have school usually two days a week till 4 and the other days till about 1:20 which if you look at it allows me to basically just be at work and at school and it leaves me very little time for seeing my home. These days, with school and work, I feel a bit more tired and by the time the end of the week comes on thursday I feel more calm and relaxed that I can finally sleep a full 8 hours or more. I didn’t used to feel as tired but with more pressure on me to perform to increasingly high standards I feel a bit burned out and more willing to begin a job hunt within the next few months but I feel I can give it one more Christmas but who knows what the future holds, only I can control it.

As any young gun would do…Fitting in

Posted on by anele25

Fitting in, what is it exactly? Is it trying to be like your friends? Is it following every single thing they say for you to do or say? Or is it just following trends that everyone else does? The truth is, I did all these things when I was younger and I learned that fitting in can be good and it can be bad because it’s cool at first but if you let the fitting in factor rule over you, it can be met with complications afterwards. Here are a few things that I did to fit in when I was younger:

Wearing clothes my brother and/or my friends would wear:

This one was a bit strange because my friends from my childhood always had the newest shoes and whenever they had new shoes I had to get new shoes or else I would be considered a failure and I was trying to make myself feel better in the process because I now had what my friends had. Whenever I saw them with Gap clothing or Old Navy Clothing I kind of thought about buying into that whole idea of wearing what was in but it didn’t suit me at the time so I stuck with my Dragon Ball shirts and my Anchor Blue Pants. Speaking of Anchor Blue, I remember when my brother first showed off his anchor blue pants and I too wanted to buy some so I begged my brother that we go to Sunnyvale Mall and buy some for me. Of course, he obliged because he now had a job that paid him decent money and I looked at him with joy as he bought me my blue ‘baggy’ jeans and I felt so cool afterwards. I also tried going for the ”ranchero’ look when I was younger but I knew looking at myself in the mirror that the cowboy hat and boots was not my look because I was so integrated into American culture that I couldn’t buy wearing something that wasn’t me but now one day I wish I could do it again.

Being good at Arcades:

Ah, how I miss these days good times in my opinion because not only did me and my friend Adrian spend countless fridays and saturdays at the arcades but we also tried our best to fit with the rest of the crowd by playing the games with tickets and the fighting games. I remember when we used to play the 4th Mortal Kombat and my friend would tell me a move to do with Johnny Cage and I would hesitate because I didn’t know whether or not it was the best strategy at the time to use the shadow kick or the fireballs but I obliged, which was either hit or miss depending on the situation. I also have a memory of when we used to play the awesome, yet difficult House of Dead 2 and we would always end up dying yet since we saw people attempting to pass it we vowed one day to pass it but we never got the chance because we just ran out of tokens. The most fond memory I have though is when I played Tekken and some Asian Guy played up right next to me and played me and I remember how Adrian would egg me on to use Eddy’s moves on this guy and I would always try to use the same sequence of moves because I wasn’t a good player back then but somehow I ended up beating the guy due to sheer luck.

Jumping on the Attitude Era Bandwagon:

The late 90’s of wrestling was and is one of the greatest eras in wrestling because it was filled with vulgar language, deep storylines with swerves at the end, partial nudity, characters with shades of gray, non-clean finishes, and evil bosses. Yes, this is when I truly became a mark for wrestling, however I’d watched it before this and I noticed a real difference in how it was when Bret Hart shoved Vince Mcmahon on the canvas and screamed “Frustrated isn’t a goddamn word for it” “This is Bullshit”.  I was in awe simply because my beloved hero Bret Hart was shoving announcers for a loss he didn’t deserve. Well, from then on we got racist storylines, middle fingers, crotch chops, sexist jokes, sensual women, and once again cheesy yet effective storylines. I remember when me and my friends would wrestle each other in the pool and do moves on each other because at the time wrestling was essentially the thing to watch on monday nights. That’s all people talked about and whenever we had the chance we would also wrestle in a small grass area near our house because like always it was the cool thing to do. I noticed a small change in my behavior from being very polite to very vulgar in my language and hence also in the way that I looked at women. I began to say phrases like “suck it” raising middle fingers, and doing crotch chops because everyone else was doing it but looking back on it now it was immature and I now feel that wrestling was made to entertain and tell complex stories. I started feeling attracted to girls around this age and at times I imagined what it would be like if I kissed one which is something that I saw in wrestling because WWE diva Sable was amazingly gorgeous for any 10 year old at that time. Anyway, long story short, my behavior was somewhat changed by wrestling in those days but we all grow up and learn to appreciate the true world of professional wrestling.

Vehicles of transportation:

This one is brief, yet important. My friends started getting into skateboarding around the age of 12 or so and I felt I needed to get a skateboard so I asked my dad if I could buy one and he got me one but it ended being a really crappy skateboard because the wheels were kind of loose. I thanked my dad for buying it and I never used it again because I felt embarrassed that I even tried to ride, much less tell my friends hey I have one too. I also recall my brother buying his first ca from his friend’s uncle and I felt so cool at that time because I could finally say that my brother had a car that he could pass his family around in. I fit in with my friends finally after all those years of asking for rides and what not and I felt proud.

Playing sports:

My friends were always big soccer fans and sometimes a group of us would get together and play at Vargas Elementary School where we would hold mini tournaments between teams of three all of which had three players each. I remember I didn’t like it that much because I wasn’t very good at it but once I got the hang of it I loved it because for my age I ran pretty fast and I was agile. The fondest memory I have of playing soccer was when my brother’s friend, Victor(who’s genuinely a nice guy), was playing against my brother and they were racing against each other and my brother barely juked him but Victor got really upset after that because he knew he should of outrun him and I could tell after that he got “blown up in a sense”. I also remember when my brother’s friends went to play soccer at the same school and yet my brother didn’t show up but I decided to go anyway and I didn’t regret it because after all I was trying to fit in with the rest of the guys because I didn’t want to be perceived as just “Jesus’s brother” but rather as Meno, someone who has guts and glory.Fitting In, it works if you use it the the right way.

Well, it’s pretty late gonna get some sleep and hope tomorrow brings more memories and more adventures! Till next time

Taking classes with friends… most of them are anyway

Posted on by anele25

It’s been about 4 years since I’ve become a student at De Anza College and it amazes me how much we as students have the power to be able to dictate which we want to take. I remember my first quarter I didn’t get the classes I wanted because I was in Mexico and I couldn’t register for classes in time yet my brother was nice enough to register for Chicano Arts and History 17A both of which were fun classes as well as being able to take an English class online which was my writing class which was fun and exciting. Fall quarter was going along nicely until one day my friend Freddy(who attended De Anza for one year before he left for Texas) handed me a flyer when I was exiting my Chicano Arts class and he asked me to take this mind control class with himself, me, and our other friend Adrian. I thought, why not, two of my best friends from  my childhood have asked me to learn Psychology and Speech with them and I obliged and I didn’t regret it one bit. The first day I sat in class with them I couldn’t believe how surreal it was to be in class with these guys because I had lost touch with them yet we were not missing a beat as we always had a great time in the class. I remember one day when we were sitting in groups and all three of us were separated yet me, being sort of an immature idiot, decided to throw a pen at Freddy who was sitting across from our group and it was just to have fun with him, because I always messed with him due to his quirky personality and he was always easy going at least when it came to discussing life and school. I always messed with Adrian as well because I remember one time in the class we had to do a group project on a video game and it was called “Who Done It” and I remember these guys loved soccer and they came to watch the game as we were doing the project and I remember being a little frustrated that they were not taking the project as seriously as I was yet we ended up doing very well on the project because we were gracious when it came to how we dealt when we actually presented the project itself. Anyway, all in all I remember meeting this girl named Amanda in that class and I wish I would have talked to her more because I only knew her for that period of time and she was hot was all I was thinking when I met her. The best part of the class was having to dress up for doing speeches about being hired for a company that wanted my expertise and my insight on how to market video games. It was a great experience and I wish I could do it again with another group of friends. The next quarter, Spring 2007, I took a class with two of my friends, one of which was my brother and the other was my friend Ananad. I took Nutrition with Ananad and I took intro to Political Science with my brother Jesus. I have to say taking a class with my brother was something that was awesome because we took three take home tests together and I remember when we would do them at night we would always mess around with each other about sports, wrestling, movies, and music. I also remember talking to my brother in class about what he was texting his friend because at the time I didn’t have a cell phone yet I was curious as to why he was always texting his friend Enrique. Not to add to the fact, but I remember the professor, Scott Hefner, made the class hilarious by adding political humor and also showing that by looking at his lesson plan he knew what he was teaching and he acted like a real political geek. I just remember being in class with Jesus and knowing that we were in the class to earn credits but also we were there to learn together as brothers who had no real problems with each other and it is something I hold dear to my heart till this day because I would give everything I own to once again learn side by side with my brother. The class with Ananand was also fun but I felt I didn’t learn as much because I felt kind of weird learning about Nutrition and  I wasn’t fully prepared for the tests that were given. The only problem I had with taking the class with Ananand was that he would always be harder on himself than he should have been because a 40 out of 50 on a test yet he would point out that he should have gotten those 10 more right. He felt he was letting down himself if he got a bad grade on his diet assignment yet a bad grade for him was a B but I felt proud when I got mine back and got an A-. It seemed as if it was necessary for him to have to ge the grade he wanted or else the world was ending. Good times I had with him because we shared a lot in those times and I remember giving him rides to school in those times and actually enjoying it because I had nothing going on at that time. Flash Foward to Fall 2007 and I end up taking English 1A with Adrian and Arts 2A with Ananand. Boy those were fun times, I would have my long days on Tuesdays and Thursdays and my short days on Mondays and wednesday and I would look foward to both days because I enjoyed talking with Adrian about his new job at Macy’s and his problems he was having at home. I remember talking with him about projects he was working on in other classes and I remember when on the last day of class there was a paper due yet Adrian didn’t do it! We also did a project on a collection of short stories and we also had to read The Kite Runner, Fast Food Nation, and short stories all of which interested me especially Fast Food Nation as I remember having to not need fast food for two weeks and we would get 15 extra credit points. However, Ms. Hren was interesting because she let us do a paper on anything we wanted to was dragging down society and I did mine on Fantasy Football which was fun and exciting because I got to do research on something I loved. As Adrian didn’t do his last paper he claimed he was fooling around with a girl from Macy’s who was having problems at home, and that’s when I realized that Adrian was being one of the guys by telling me this and I felt shocked how he described in detail what had happened the night before with him and this girl. The one memory I do have with Ananand was when he and  for he art class went to the Stanford Art museum and we looked at very elegant pieces of art and I wondered what had inspired these artists to work on art like this? All in all I had a great time in this class and in Adrian’s class because we got to be a lot more closer and more honest with each other because we had never had the privilege of actually being in school with each other as adults. I had the opportunity one more time to take a class with Adrian and my brother once in the winter quarter and once in the spring, respectively in 2008. I had a hard time adjusting taking a 7:50 class on Mondays because I wasn’t used to it and with Adrian we always talked about life and all it’s consequences. This was around the time I got hired by Target and I found it hard to work and go to school but I learned it’s better that way because you keep yourselfbusy without really hurting anybody in the process. That was English 1B and I found that class to be much easier than English 1A because it was a little more hands off in terms of what was allowed and what wasn’t. In the spring I took History with my brother and I had a great time once again with him in this class because this one was taught by Ben Kline and he always had us laughing in terms of how he described history and he also downgraded anything that really happened so me and my brother always had a great time in this class discussing everything he talked about and the way he discussed his life was entertaining and humorous. So, throughout this I didn’t take a class with any of those guys after that because we either separated or they ended up leaving De Anza all together to pursue bigger and better things. Flash foward to 2010, what happens you ask? My buddy JB ends up going through a life changing experience and he decides he wants to go back to school and he wants to take classes with me. I was thrilled, of course if you’ve been reading the blog you can tell I saw JB as someone who could do no wrong and a self-righteous human being but taking classes with him kind of made me see what he was like. I always considered JB special, so special that I saw him as sort of like a family member but when I took Sociology 35 and Arts 2F with him I saw that school didn’t really matter to him. He felt he already knew everything there was to know in Sociology 35 so he didn’t exactly care what there was to learn as he didn’t end up buying the books themselves. In Arts 2F as well, since he had this “experience” he felt he had knowledge about the Arts yet I found out as the quarter went on he didn’t really care about taking classes with me. Hence, if I took classes with him he wouldn’t have to pay for books and he wouldn’t have to drive most of the time as I ended up driving him home 70% of the time on Mondays and Wednesday as I found it wrong to say anything at the time because he was still someone I actually did consider my best friend. The classes were well taught and stimulating but I wish JB had been more active in actually learning instead of just going because he wants to have fun and not be bored. The difference between taking classes with Ananand, Adrian, Freddy, and Jesus than it was with JB was that these guys actually cared about learning and had deep minds instead of someone who just thought he already knew everything there was to the class. Let’s face it, not everyone knows everything as when I entered History and Political Science with my brother I didn’t know all the stuff I learned and at least I know a little bit more now than I did before. The same goes for when I took Mind Control and 2 English classes with Adrian, I was learning all I could and the saying is true that you learn something new everyday at school. One day I hope to gather with Freddy once again and discuss all the mischeive we caused in Mind Control because I know that if we end up talking it’ll never stop at that point. Anyway, this quarter JB ended up dropping our Women Studies class which wasn’t surprising since I felt he had no  real interest to actually learn something new that was a surprise for both of us. I’m glad it happened that way because I feel more engaged in that class and one word of advice I have for people that take classes with friends: Make sure they want to take the class for the same reasons you do, not just to to mess around and believe they know everything already. Have a good thursday everyone and here’s a song that’s been stuck in my head:

2010 Playoffs for the MLB…

Posted on by anele25

Man, the playoffs are here again and right now I’m watching the Rangers against the Rays, it’s the series is tied at 2 and I can only say that a Rays and Yankees ALCS will be exciting because both teams have no real strength because the Yankees have decent pitching but a strange offense. What I mean by this is that A-Rod isn’t exactly having a great year yet they still managed to get into the playoffs with help of an offense that had two players that are rarely mentioned in Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher. I can only hope that the ALCS shows us the talent of the two best teams in the AL because the NL has shown no real threat to the AL. Besides the Phillies, the NL is filled with players who hit a crazy amount of homers yet they strike out immensely which includes Carlos Gonzalez, Ryan Howard, Marl Reynolds, David Wright, and Hanley Ramirez. The Phillies have it within them to take it all because I’m now convinced the Phillies have a crazy pitching rotation with Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels which is saying a lot because all three of those guys can easily anchor any staff on any team yet they are the top three starters for the Phillies. With an offense that includes Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, and Jimmy Rollins who knows what they’re capable of because of a great bullpen with an almost unstoppable closer in Brad Lidge they can take on any team at this point, (yes including the Giants). I woudn’t say the Phillies are going to walk away with the NL pennant because the Giants have the power to at least make it interesting. Well, onto the game that’s going on right now between the Rays and Rangers (btw go Rays). 2-1 Rangers!

What keeps me motivated…

Posted on by anele25

It’s been about two years since I was sitting in Tono Ramirez’s PHIL 1 class and we were discussing the potential of actual knowledge and reality and one day, I forget why now, he asked us what kept us coming back to school? I didn’t think about it at the time because I was having such a fun time basking in the glory of the Big Red Machine and it’s benefits if you will, (I was madly infatuated with this girl named Eunice at the time and I always looked foward to work and talking to my buddies John S., JB, Jimmy, Ricardo, Daniel, Gurmit, and others). Anyways, I didn’t think about it at the time but I always driven to learn something new and school did that for me. This is where I learned to enjoy and be enthralled with the knowledge of Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, History, English, and a subject that I’ve come to enjoy Speech. Ever since then, the reason that I believe that keeps me going back to school is the ability to learn something new and exciting. But besides that, there is always the prospect of getting a better job down the line and making some room for myself to have a family as well. There are other things that keep me motivated to… well live life dangerously(not in that way though) and here they are:

1. I like meeting new people.

This one I like doing because as much as I like interacting with people, I enjoy talking with people one on one rather than in a group setting. At work and at school, they can come and go but the one’s you stick with are the ones who you know will not be plastic and fake to your face.

2. Wrestling.

Let’s face it, I’m a mark for wrestling, I enjoy the promos and the angles that they run but the wrestling is what pulls me in. The best thing about wrestling is how it mirrors real life whether it be in the stories they tell in the ring or the angles they run on the show because I see myself emotionally connected to the wrestlers themselves or seeing how it may just be fun stuff as a whole. I hope one day wrestling will boom again because I’ve been a wrestling since 1993 and if people get on that train again, I can say I was there when it was good and bad.

3. My family.

I love my family, I feel I’m letting them down if I call off from work for some inept reason or if I’m sick because I can’t hold it within myself to miss anything that is hurting them as well. As I’ve gotten older I’ve seen that they need help with money and I find it hard to at least give them a bit of money every month to help them out. They also push me to try harder in life and in school as well.

4. Music.

Music is something I love, every day I wake up to music on my IPOD Touch listening to a song I’ve put on there whenever it was as I’ve made it one of my goals in life to prusue the discovery of new music and new artists as well. These past two yeasr I’ve disocvered The Clash, Billy Joel, Cuisillos, 98 Degrees, The Mamas and the Papas, and one of my favorites that probably no one has ever heard of Felipe Arriaga.

5. My Dog

Yes, Paloma keeps me motivated, ever since I got her I’ve loved her ever since because every night I come home there she is jumping in joy to see me and you can’t get that every night from everybody so when I see it, I can only smile deep down inside and wonder, wow if an animal loves me like that, then I’ve done well in life.

Well, happy joy everyone and enjoy your weekend.

Getting on a bus…

Posted on by anele25

Buses, from my earliest days I can remember taking the bus and that’s all I knew at a young age, pay money to take the bus or walk somewhere so every time I did take the bus I was always wary of sketchy people as well as the potential crowded aspect of the bus. I can remember taking the bus to school almost everyday to Sunnyvale Middle School and I wouldn’t always get a ride from my friend’s mom in order to get there so when I did it was an adventure. The bus was always packed with kids who had day passes, month passes, and just plain old money so they could get on. I can clearly still see one of my friends holding his backpack in his lap and someone would ask him where he was headed and of course my friend would say he was headed to school. The worst and (funnest) part of taking the bus was making it in time to take the bus anywhere because the bus can only wait so long. I remember having to wake up at 5:45 in the morning to head to Homestead High school since I lived all the way in San Jose but the trip was very nagging because it was on a Tuesday and the night before there had been wrestling and I was very tired. I was glad that my mom sacrificed her well being to take me all the way up to school because she had to work that morning around 8 AM and I feel during those times when only my brother drove, as a family we were a lot closer because if we had to go somewhere we would take the bus to Wal-Mart, Vallco Mall, other cool malls in the area, downtown San Jose, and even to our family get togethers. We would essentially bond due to the nature of actually anticipating of going somewhere instead of actually saying ok let’s go to this place. The things I do miss from taking the bus are that you can let your mind wander freely as I have a vivid memory of taking the bus all the way to Mountain View where my brother worked in order to go see the A’s play the Tigers back in 2007 as I felt happy to be taking a trip down somewhere that I was familiar with but I had to spend little money in doing so. Me and my brother were still sharing an iPod Nano which was cool to have since I had just gotten into the whole iPod revolution. Another thing I miss is the way that the bus is filled with interesting people. I have a vivid memory of a less than impressive homeless man eating rice out of a tupperware and me feeling a little sympathy towards him as a 10 year old as I told my mom that I saw the old man eating rice like he did. I also miss taking the bus with friends. Now this one is a bit tricky because I loved my childhood but having friends that were always with you can be seem like a habit as I was with Adrian, Freddy, Chinoy, and all my other friends that lived in my apartments. After a while, I grew apart from those guys but we’ll always have the memory of taking the bus to school on a sunny day, cold day, and even cold days. One last thing I miss is the crazy ways in which buses go whether it’s going towards De Anza College, High schools, Mountain View, and San Jose. I remember feeling kind of dumb not knowing that some of these streets actually existed which for example was shown when I confused the actual street Santa Clara for the city Santa Clara which was a rookie mistake when I confused the two in my head as a young boy. Anyway, I do miss the VTA but now I have a car that is ready for anything and everything. Good night everybody, oh and here’s a great song.

Things I wish I could do…

Posted on by anele25

Take a road trip

Make more mix CD’s

Sleep everyday for hours(this isn’t really possible)

Swim during the summer

Have an actual bike(this costs money) and ride it!

Work out 5 days a week (not really possible but never say never)

Reach out to people I lost touch with

Save money

and most of all

Have a relationship that is worth it.

Don’t know why I wrote this but I felt I wanted to write it real quick, well gonna go prepare for my speech now!

Baseball, Drug Dealers, and Reverse Gravity

Posted on by anele25


“Reverse gravity has helped him get two outs that is the phrase of the night from Shooty Babbit, still trying to figure out what it is, we’re not ever gonna find out what it is but it sounded so good, I’m just not sure how it pertains to Cahill because Gravity would be moving downward and reverse would be moving upward and we don’t want his pitches to be doing that No, we want the sink action because we don’t want the rising action because if it rises it’s going to be straight, well let’s get 27 reverse gravity outs all on the ground.” Glen Kuiper and Ray Fosse on 9/21/10

I’m not sure what to say about this day the 21st of September because for all intents and purposes it was funny, serious, and filled with great conversation. It all started when I woke up this morning and took Paloma walking and it felt cold and it felt like I was freezing. Soon after, I headed to school to start my Psychology of gender class which just had a basic introduction with rules and what not but after a while it got kinda boring. Then it was to Women Studies where Ms. Cole discussed what women Studies was and after a while it made sense as to what she said. We had a few people asking questions and what not but I enjoyed it because we got some great opinions in the discussion. Eventually, JB treated me out to Panda Express which I found to be courteous of him since he’s usually not that nice to treat out his buddy to some food. After that, we headed back to school for my speech class where I surprised to see my old friend Arsh from work which was awesome because he and I are great friends as we’re always laughing about everything. After Alex Kramer explained the class, I headed out to hang with one of my best buddies Ricardo which was something that I had been looking foward to since the last time we met up. It’s something that I want to do every week because with me and him, it can’t be something that we feel we HAVE to do because then it gets compliacted. We met up at Peets Coffee over in Sunnyvale which was a nice beginning to what was sure to be another round in the saga of Ricardo and myself. However, what was a casual gettogether turned out to be one of the best experiences I’ve had in a while. We started off with the usual banter of baseball which is fun because it’s all about the playoff races right now with the NL being meshed with the Braves, Phillies, Padres, Giants, Rockies,  and the Reds. Meanwhile the AL is cluttered with the Twins, Rangers, Yankees, and the Rays. After we got that out of the way and I let my emotions about work come out and how I might be thinking about a job change, we decided to go ahead and catch some of the games at Red Brick (again) which is something that is pleasant and certaintly not a waste of time. On the way there, I let Ricardo know once again that having parents in our lives gives us the opportunity to live in their home and they don’t have to accept us but they do anyway. We could leave if we wanted to but it would be difficult to do so if we had to support ourselves with money. I found it hilarious how me and Ricardo always seem to make something out of nothing with baseball because watching the Phillies/ Braves gives us an opportunity to really get engaged with two teams we’re not even fans of. Usually I would laugh about the Phillies but the truth is, they have a soild chance of winning the NL pennant again this year and even though Joe Blanton looks like he might eat a baseball every time, I still consider the Phillies the class of the NL. We also had a good laugh at our two favorite baseball announcers, Ray Fosse and Glen Kuiper and all the mistakes they make on the air but hey what can we do because they’re only human right. After we settled down and had our usual talk about baseball, we sat down and had one of the most eye opening conversations I’ve had because it for one it’s Ricardo and two I couldn’t have been happier it was anyone else. Usually, I don’t like to talk bad about people but recently I’ve had some internal feelings about how I feel about JB and the way that he is. That’s the way the conversation turned to at first which I loved because I got to hear his perspective and now that I think about it, it makes a hell of a lotta sense. The main points were this:

JB has that mentality like he’s still in high school(i.e. his dad still gives him rides to school even though he has a car, he brags about how he’s getting all these girls to text him even though he doesn’t like it and how he’s being made to feel important)

JB is very selfish, only cares about himself because he could care less about taking a class with me because it’s a free ride home and he doesn’t have to pay for his own books.

JB has the personality of a drug dealer. This one was scary to think of at first because it was hard to imagine JB being like that but after comapring him and drug dealers it made sense because he would call me like he was a brother and tell me he loved me.Of course the gullible person is always gonna come back for more because there never gonna want to stop getting it and I fell into that trap.

The more JB has gotten into shape(dropping from 230 to 170 almost) the more he’s gotten to believe to himself that he’s actually this guy that’s “hot”. Hence, when I hang with JB he says that girls are eyeing him yet what’s their purpose, maybe they’re just curious.

The idea behind JB needing me was always the true intention of why JB sticks with me. This I can believe to be true because over the past year or so I’ve done a lot for JB because I thought he was one of the good guys but the truth is, he just needed me there for his own purpose.

After that was all said and done, I had one of the best walk and talks that I’ve had with Ricardo around Target coleman which almost made me wanna just tell him what was the big deal with my perceived best friend JB. There I found out what Ricardo was: A guy that actually cares how he treats people, not just doing things cause it’s the right thing to do. Ricardo told me that night, I don’t need JB and I don’t need him and I could do great in trying to make friends anywhere else. We recounted once again what was said before but the main pints of this one were that:

What does JB mean when he says, “Your ass isn’t ready, this place needs us, They’re gonna miss us, and me and this guy don’t need to be here” The conclusion that he came to was that he’s trying to make himself feel better by saying all those things and he wants to feel important.

I believed everything that JB had said before because I saw nothing wrong with him, he was like a God to me but Ricardo kind of painted a picture of him as being this guy that draws you in with is words, kinda like a cult leader.

He would never feel comfortable when JB would make fun of me because it doesn’t seem like anything friends would do to each other.

I told him about the time that JB told me I was a better person than he was which prompted Ricardo to tell me that he sees something real in you.

JB loves the spotlight that’s why he’s always complaining about how all these girls text him but the truth is why does he respond? He’s trying to patch something up that wasn’t there before.

Anyway, long story short I was amazed at the depth of the conversation we had about JB because he has so many elements to him that it’s almost hard to tell if he’s playing with your emotions. After that I heard Ricardo’s story on this girl that he got to know a few years ago and how she always kept going back to this guy even though the guy would treat her bad. He kind of related that to the story of what’s going on with JB and how people tell others that without so and so you’re nothing which is like the whole drug dealer comaprsion. Once I heard that I was amazed to find out that she broke up with her boyfriend and she enjoyed her summer. We also talked about how before he would drink for fun and how he told a girl that if she didn’t have a boyfriend he would date her which surprise turned into him getting into trouble with this one girl before in high school. Eventually we winded it down with a good little talk about laziness which is something I hate seeing at school and at work because if people give just a little bit of effort they’ll get somewhere at least give them that. What I can conclude about that night was that I’ll never forget the encouragement and the friendship that was built from that because Ricardo and I might not see each other every day or even every week but when we do see each other, it’s something that we both want, always remember if something becomes a habit or routine then there’s something wrong or at least change it. Tuesdays are a day I cherish and I always look foward to spending time with a good friend and an even better man. Anyway, it’s getting late and I have school in the morning, so later, oh here’s something that’s awesome too:

And what the hell is Reverse gravity having to do with the way Cahill’s pitches sink huh?

School and Work…

Posted on by anele25

It’s Saturday the 18th and we’re about two days until school starts again for me and I’m excited for school to start because I can find myself learning something new again this quarter. This quarter I’m taking Women’s studies, Psychology of gender, and a speech class that deals with arguments. My registration date was pretty late this year so I couldn’t really take the classes I wanted to take so I found these classes because they interested me. For the longest time now, actually ever since high school ended, I’ve had this fascination with how different genders think about certain issues. Guys may feel it’s ok to have a beer and watch the Monday nighter while the wife complains that the husbands never do anything to give them attention while watching football on a monday night. The truth is, I want to know what women think and why it is the way it is. For example, a friend of mine at work, whose name is Valerie, is a Psych graduate from San Jose state and she is so observant that I can see that her and I almost think alike. Yesterday at the Big Red Machine, Val and I were working away on yogurt yet two of our other co-workers, Ashley and Rooshda, were kind of acting like two high school girls. The question I had for Val is why is it different with girls yet with guys it’s ok to do so. Me and JB are connected at work already as being “BFF’s” yet rather than us getting critiqued for it we are already known as doing so and nobody gets upset about it. But with Ashley and Rooshda, it seems as if it’s more like a Beautiful people type routine. If you don’t know who the Beautiful people are, it used to be a stable in wrestling consisting of characters whose names are Velvet Sky and Angelina Love. This stable had them doing one of those gimmicks where they were prettier than everybody and nobody could stand in there way. In wrestling, it’s damn amusing to see that happening yet when you see it in person it’s almost sad because one of the two people in this little joined at the hip connection is actually a good to decent person. I’m referring to Ashley of course because she is a good person yet I think she is manipulated too much by certain people in her life. I know that I have no right to say so but that’s what it seems like because she considers herself a follower and not a leader. Being in classes like this will allow me to enhance my view of why and how women and men act differently and think the way they do. I must say also that taking Alex Kramer for speech again should be entertaining because I have taken a class with him before and he always makes it so that the class doesn’t seem repetitive and boring so that should be fun and exciting. All I gotta say is that the good times are rolling right now and we got some football on the horizon tomorrow so we’ll see what happens till then.

The week in review…

Posted on by anele25

It’s sunday afternoon and I couldn’t think of anything better than to sit down and blog the amazing and rather spontaneous week I’ve had since sunday night. It all started sunday when JB called me to tell me that he was bored, I wasn’t surprised because I’m usually the guy that JB goes to when he’s bored at home. Basically, we did the usual routine of eating at Denny’s on Lawrence and we had the usual conversation. I had had a bad day that day because of work and stuff at home as well and I wasn’t feeling at all in the mood to be with JB since I had other plans that night. I was planning to go to the gym that night but when friends are “bored” I guess you have to oblige and go along cause there feelings would otherwise be hurt. Of course, we got into a conversation that night about our friend Ashley that night which was strange because up until then, this girl has been a mystery to me and an “annoyance ” to JB, or so he claims. He ended up paying for my food that night which I found nice of him but I still found it funny how he just ends up burying me for getting so much food yet he was the one that insisted. The next few days I just relaxed at home and until wednesday was when once again I found myself being the one talking and doing the listening on a little get together at Yogurtland. One of my friends from work, Audrey, is going away to college and she suggested that JB,myself, and someone who has recently become a friend of mine at work, Naimm get together at Yogurtland that night to hang. Me and Jb got there late but it wasn’t a problem because that’s when all the fun started. I find enjoyment in talking to people about everyday events, occurences, and all the drama that is involved in life but this time it was me telling Audrey directly about ow crazy this girl Ashley had been driving me. I told her all the usual things about how she has been talking to this guy, how close JB has gotten to her, and how she seems like one of those girls that just doesn’t know what she wants. After I had given her the rundown and I told her the hilarious story about a bar trip we made about 3 weeks ago (more on that later), it was JB’s turn to dish out his problems with women. The funny thing is, JB is the one that is talking to these girls and they get the wrong impression about the degree of words he uses but I have the opposite problem which is I scare girls away from what my friends tell me. It seems to me JB plays himself into traps with these girls and the one problem I see with him is that he contradicts himself a lot when he says stuff with these girls and it hurts him in the end. Yes, he can talk to girls but they get the wrong impression of him because he is so confident about himself he then thinks he can do anything and everything he wants. Him being “himself” hurts him in the end because then you usually don’t remember how you got there and then you’re fucked. Audrey alo ended up talking about her guy problems which I found to be insightful because they all end up being white guys. She’s smart and funny and that’s what any guy would want in a girl and her stories about going out with guys are good to hear because that describes her willingness to try new things. Then Naimm showed up which was cool because when he showed up it was his turn to open up about his relationship problems. He had tried to go for this girl at work that works with us but in the end he said it wasn’t worth it because she gives him mixed signals. He also talked about his problems that he had the year before with his ex and how he had sacrificed so much for her including taking her out and she complained too much of how they never went out. I found it amazing because at that moment I realized that Naimm is one of the “boys” at work because he’s around our age group and I think he has potential to be our new buddy. For a while, it had just been me and JB but I think the one thing that started to bring us together was P-Fresh and the culture that it creates. About three weeks ago, a bunch of us from work including myself, JB, Alex R., Valerie, Ashley, and John W. went to a bar in Campbell. The bar was fun due to the conversations that I got into with Alex and John and as well me being me with Ashley trying to get a word out of her. What I found amazing that night was getting see what kind of people John, Alex, and Valerie really were. I now consider them good friends of mine because they just like to have a good time and my philosophy is if you can find any way to have fun then do it. They’re all drinkers but I have no problem with that because my whole life I’ve been with people that drink. If I get asked to drink, I’ll decline politely because I’ve seen what alcohol does to people and my whole family does it so I’m just trying to be a new breed. The funnest part of that night was walking to Denny’s afterwards and I couldn’t velieve the crazy antics that were happening before me. First, there was A;ex screaming 408 never late and then you had John just stumbling around and talking non sense about women. Valerie was also pretty chill that night because she just seems like someone you want to share your life stories with. The highlight of the night were Alex and John talking about women and of course the now famous “hey where are my chicken tenders” which had me ballin’ the rest of the night. Alex of course had me laughing as well with his statements in spanish and his ever epic actions. But this past friday was certaintly interesting because only time can tell what was going to happen that night. That night after work, we hit up a club called “the spot” which mind you had been the first time ever I’d been to one. The funniest thing I noticed was that myself, JB, John, and Alex were all wearing almost mathcing striped colored shirts which was significant later on during the night. It was hot in that club and I tried my best to dance that night with Ashley. All I can say is that Ashley looked very beautiful that night and she looks even better without glasses than I would have imagined. It was worth a try to ask Ashley that night to dance because I had nothing to lose but oh well she went off to do her own thing. What I also remember that night was Alex telling me that one John had fallen on the carpet and it happened in slow motion which led to him getting kicked out but Alex telling me that some guy bought him a drink that night had me cracking up. Anyway after that, we drove to Denny’s and of course Ashely and her friend Lexi were there already but it seemed as if Lexi was throwing up after our trip the bar. Then I started talking to Valerie about how The Big Red Machine works and what goes on there. I don’t remember much of what I said because I was just yapping on and then I just remember incohrent talking with people taking pictures because we were wearing matching shirts. Then we headed back to Alex’s car and we talked some more about the night’s events which is a night I’ll never forget. The day after was rough cause I was so tired I could barely even begin to talk at my brother’s goddaughter’s party and now the NFL season has begun. We had some excellent games today, albeit none of them were too exciting because the real teams don’t show up until week 8 or so. But the best games of the day were Green Bay Vs. Philly, Pittsburgh Vs. Atlanta, and Houston looked very impressive against the Colts. Anyway, I wrote this to reflect some on my fun and spontaneous week which is always welcome, till next time!