What we remember…

Posted on by anele25

Life is much different than it was 5 years ago for me. 5 Years ago I was still living in San Jose, CA starting my senior year of high school and I still remember those days and how much has changed since then. Ever since then, I don’t have the same friends as I used to, I have my   own money, I live in a different area, I have a stable job, and most of all I am still the same person but with a different mindset. I remember when I used to hang with my buddies from High School from Homestead I would feel a little different from them because they had a different lifestyle than they did. Even when I hung out with my friends from Cupertino High, I felt that I was different from them as well. I felt a bit more mature and more sophistacated than them. One moment in particular that I felt that I was more mature than my friends from Homestead was when I would hear them talking about their experiences they had getting drunk or smoking which dissapointed me because they always seemed a bit better than that. I never felt any real resentment towards them for doing that but I was still proud of them because my friendships with them were unique. I’ll always remember the fun times when I would see them in those times bt I felt I was lucky to move away from those group of friends of mine that were slowly but surely falling into a path that I was not set for. However, I remember five years ago in high school, I had a group of friends I dubbed the “Magnficent Seven” which was me, Anand, Vinod, Mohammed, Manu, Jason, and Hong. We were a close bunch but what I remember the most was that we were all smart and we never really had any problems with each other. I considered Anand to be a good friend of mine and we always got along well even though we never really agreed on much. We did a lot together in those times including going to the movies, studying, writing papers, and even going to eat out as well. Vinod was someone I considered to be truly awesome at that time cause we never had a disagreement and we seemed to click on all cylinders when it came to certain things (girls, movies, music, and school.) Mohammed was new to Cupertino so I had a difficult time getting to know him at first but after a while we seemed to get along just fine and we were never ran out of things to talk about. Manu, Jason, and Hong were sort of backdrop to my friendships with the other guys but they all had a good sense of humor when the time was right. However, what I remember most about 5 years ago was that I didn’t have to worry about anything. These days, I have to worry about saving money, putting gas in my car, making time for family and friends, finishing school, continuing to remind myself at the Big Red Machine that it’s not about me anymore and I have to enahnce talent rather than putting myself over in my head. It’s difficult to explain but when I was 17 I had no plans to find myself fighting over the fact that maybe life would be different if this happened or if this person never met this person. The truth is life would be different if I got toegther with a girl at the end of my high school tenure, and of course I always the millions upon millions of “what if” questions and some of them are:

What if I never moved to San Jose in the first place?

What if my brother and his girlfriend never stay together?

What if my dad never bought his first car after getting his license?

What if we never bought a car in the first place?

What if I never had found a job at the Big Red Machine? Would my life be better or worse?

What if my mom’s family actually started talking to each other again?

What if my dad’s family didn’t treat him like him like garbage?

OK you get the point life would be much different if all these things had happened in this time frame. If I didn’t find a job I would probably had never met all the wonderful people that work with me or have worked with me including(but not limited to): Ricardo, JB, John S., Audrey, James K., Dustin, Phillip, Manut, Alex R., and Jimmy. I always wonder what would life be like if we didn’t own a car and the truth is maybe our lives would be different and we would actually be a lot closer as a family. Not to say that we aren’t close it’s just you create a lot more memories when you ride not in a car. It’s also pretty funny how my parent’s relationships with their brothers and sisters have changed over the past few years. My dad has been someone that I’ve admired ever since I saw how he sacrficed for me when I wasn’t working and he would pay for my books and my school. I owe him big time for that and it kills my spirit when I see how his family treats him. He doesn’t get the attention and he never will because the people that do the most get the the least because they aren’t appreciated in the end. My mom has also had a pretty strained relationship with her brothers and sisters but I think that’s mostly because she’s the middle child and she has to take care of the younger siblings. It’s as if they are divided and they will only side with each other if so and so agrees with them. But whatever family conflcit is common and even though I hear it through phone coversations I know one day they will relaize the error of their ways and they’ll reconcile their differences. What we remember most of these days is not if we did things right or whether we did things the wrong way but we remember the reason it happened was because it was meant to be. Yeah sometimes a series of unfortunate events may happen but things happen for a reaon and the reason I’m writing this is to remind people that no matter how bad our lives get always remember there are people that have worse lives than we do and we complain about a bad day or a bad week. I think sometimes we have to be fortunate for what we have and as a good friend of mine used to say “It’s not about having what you want, it’s about wanting what you have”. Things happen for a reaon and at this timein my life I think all the good things are happening for a reason and even though something bad may pop out once in a while we just brush it off to become stronger later on.

The importance of a friend… without facebook

Posted on by anele25

What a day I had yesterday. Not only did I get to have lunch with three of my friends from work but I also got to hang with one of my best friends in Ricardo Villalobos. The lunch portion was something that was supposed to be just myself and a girl that I have my eye on in Ashley but I guess she would have felt uncomfortable with just us so she invited someone who works with her on a constant basis in Valerie, who by all means, is someone who I admire and respect from what she’s told me and I hope one day that I too can end up with a bachelor’s in Psych as well. I didn’t know this till later on but I had to pick up JB as well which was a hassle because it didn’t make any sense for me to pick him up if his car was at his house and he had told me that his mom was going to use that car. So, for all intents and purposes, I was excited on the way to pick up both JB and Valerie which was cool because I am a good person that likes to do things for the good of all mankind. When we got there, I spotted Ashley and she looked gorgeous which is something that doesn’t come as a surprise because she is so pretty and she stands out from the rest of the girls that have come into my life, whether at school or at work. I found our conversation to be fun because I started the conversation with how do you like working at Target which of course turned into something that was interesting. Eventually, we dwelled into the relationship that JB and I have and what brought us together which of course was Eunice. I told them the whole story on that and it was interesting what came next. Ashley started talking about how bad she has done in school the past couple of years and how she has failed many classes which to my surprise is something that wouldn’t change my impression of her because she has no “dingy” qualities to her. Then it hit me, I asked her if she had ever gone to prom and she said “no” which surprised me since everybody must have gone to prom, but to my surprise she says it is against her religion. She said she is apart of the Church of Christ, which JB later said, is kind like a cult. This seems, at least the way JB described it to me, to be sort of a straight edge society which doesn’t allow drinking, smoking, partying, curfews, dating outside your religion, getting married outside your own religion, and I guess a lot of no’s. But after hearing that, I wasn’t discouraged because I really like this girla and she can offer so much more to the world than being part of something that doesn’t allow her to be herself. She needs to be known and I want to show her that. Anyway, after that was over and done with and I heard Valerie’s problems as well which is something that is unfortunate and sad to hear. Of course, being the typical college graduate, she is having problems at home with her boyfriend and with life in general which is something I can’t even begin to describe because I wouldn’t want to hurt her image. Eventually, I took Val and JB home then I headed over to Ricardo’s apartments to pick him up so we can do our usual Tuesday routine of hanging out which is always good because we talk about the best sport in the world, Baseball. I picked him up and we headed over to Red Brick Pizza where we watched the A’s-Yankee game. Usually, I love to rag on the A’s and there team but the truth is if I didn’t love my team I probably wouldn’t say all the things that are wrong with them. Me and Ricardo always have a great time when we watch A’s games and this was no different as we ended up making the web of Billy Beane trades(the important ones anyway). I told Ricardo about my girl friend in Ashley and I told her how pretty she was and how beautiful she really is. He told me about his friend that recently has been having problems with a girl as well and I was wondering when he was telling me this, whether I should be concerned about girls would treat a guy like me? What I found fascinating during our great time at Red Brick Pizza was that would facebook produce something like this and then Ricardo proceeded to tell me about this article which says that facebook brings out narcissism. I found the article to be true because some friends that I have have facebook and it  seems to boost their ego tenfold afterwards. Overall, I had a great time talking with Ricardo doing the web of Beane trades because damn there have been a crapload of trades which have been, for better or worse, affected the A’s. After Red Brick Pizza, we headed to the Big Red Machine a couple of stores away and I just laughed at how I still work at this business we call retail but the truth is, this one looked a lot more calmer. I proceeded to joke with Ricardo about the random stuff that just happens in life and we looked at movies that we wish we could buy but oh well I said. I ended up buying dog toys and some headphones which are always a bargain because who needs to spend over 10 dollars on headphones anyway. Then this where the fun started. We headed over to Starbucks over on El Camino and Lawrence which is opened till 1 on weekdays. At first, I thought, this place is going to be packed but it wasn’t bad because we got an almost 2 hour conversation out of it. What we me and Ricardo share the most is that we care about our families a lot and we tend to forget sometimes what they do for us. I started right off the bat telling him about helping my family pay bills and what not and how that hurts me financially but the truth is, I think it is better to have a small amount of money instead of a ton of money because afterwards we get caught up in spending so much money on worthless things. For example, I used to buy a lot of wrestling DVD’s but I now see that some of the ones they come out with these days I can buy used later if I want to and I don’t need it right away. But anyways, I told him about how I try to give me brother advice on not drinking but yet he doesn’t like taking advice and then he proceeded to tell me about his girlfriend’s family. His girlfriend, is someone I went to high school with and her name is Brittany. I don’t know her that well and even though I don’t, I’m glad that Ricardo is there for anything she needs because they are almost a perfect match for each other. He proceeded to tell me about something that is never appreciated enough in this world, and that is if people are going to give advice are they good at getting it? He told me about his girlfriend’s dad and how he is not very good at giving advice and this is when he told me about his back problems. He didn’t rest and of course his back proceeded to get even more messed up. He then told me how Brittany is almost like her dad and she too is not very good at getting advice. I was surprised at how Ricardo told me this because their relationship is simple and not over the top. I’m glad he did tell me this because you can tell what kind of a person someone is if they are the one that instigates advice so to speak when something happens in the significant other’s life. We then proceeded to talk about something that is hard to put my finger on because it’s something that I recently discovered. It first started off when we started talking about girls and when I do end up with a girl, it will be something special. That was the basis for how it started but then we started talking about JB which is always strange because I used to look up to the guy as somewhat of a God. The fact is, ever since we had that conversation about JB about a month ago, I’ve viewed JB in a different light. Ricardo made a good point when he said that maybe JB is lying when he said that he found his EX her first job, put her through school, treating her better than himself, and also all this other stuff. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but if you’ve worked at all these less than stellar jobs, how can you afford to do so? Ricardo has gotten me to think differently of JB and I still admire him for who he is but now I see him differently than I did before. JB states that he wants his friends to be a reflection of him but the truth is, I want to be me instead of being “JB’s friend”. JB crictiques me for looking fat but the truth is, I’ve been trying to lose weight and it is working but somehow someway I have to look like him which makes me sad in perception. If girls are going to like you cause you look like a bodybuilder, then maybe this girl doesn’t really like you for who are but rather what you look like. After the discussion of JB, I told Ricardo something I’ve never really told anybody: I try to create this character wherever I go in order for people to recognize me and in order to be set apart. What JB calls the “hardwalk” (a tribute to one of my favorite wrestlers Chris Jericho) is something I do that satisfies me and when you end up having to impress people by doing the opposite of what is you then you have failed miserably. I have many different aspects of my personality and when I’m somewhere or in an environment you have to be who you are not just be someone you not. For example, when I may be at school I pay attention and if I don’t talk then oh well but when I do talk, I speak my true feelings on the subjects not something the professor wants to hear. So, I want people overall to know me for me and not be someone who is being the puppet or at least in the worst case scenario, the puppeteer. I had a great time telling Ricardo that because he is one of the only people that knows that and it is something that I enjoy doing because people can tell who you are after a while and they will be able to distinguish you from the rest of the crowd. August 30th 2010 will go down as one of the days where I just had fun and now I just can’t wait for school and who knows, maybe I’ll blog about many adventures along the way, until next time, oh and always remember be proud of who you are not of who you could be and here’s a tribute to one of the best wrestlers in the world: AJ Styles

Negativity…

Posted on by anele25

Lord only knows what provokes this phenomenon that’s known as negativity but I know for sure that people like to point out the negative things first instead of actually looking at things that are good and are worthwhile. I know after having a very good conversation with Ricardo this past week that I try to be as positive now because I think you have to move on from events that just happened to you. For example, if I like a girl and she happens to not be as interested in me as I’m into her then I shouldn’t worry about it. The reason I think this is is because just like JB said you swing and swing until you get a hit which is how people should think in life. It isn’t always going to be all bad and I don’t think it should be. For example, my family is constantly working to provide a better lifestyle for myself and for my brother but what we forget is that parents are complaining that they are overworked and burnt out. I always try to encourage my parents that things are better if they work and if we all work collectively to put food on the table and keep a roof on our heads. I can see the difference when I tell them this and we all try a little harder when we are encouraged and told that we are using our money in a better way. Things happen for a reason and sometimes I think it is better that our family doesn’t have that much money because we never brag about how rich we are because the three things I believe you need in life to survive are food, clothes, and family. Essentially, friends can become so important that they can become family which I think is always essential in life. I know one thing I’m negative about sometimes is my favorite team the Oakland A’s. I rag on them because they have a very average offense at best and how they can never score but I never point out the positives such as their excellent starting pitching which is leading the American league in ERA with a 3.52 mark. What I find amazing is that I do it sometimes to joke about it but I should tone it down because I have to be positive about my team which is very hard to do sometimes. I don’t know what or how I can tone down my negative side of myself but I will keep trying.

Inception… and the ever growing answers

Posted on by anele25

Christopher Nolan has made very few films in his career including The Prestige, Memento, The Dark Knight, and most recently the masterpiece Inception. This is a film that has a superb cast in Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Ellen Page, and Ken Watanabe. I enjoyed Memento, The Dark Knight, and the Prestige. All these movies made you think differently about the lives that we lead and also he toys with our emotions because he doesn’t make his films that simple to figure out. For example, in The Dark Knight he made it a priority to make Batman not only seem like a superhero but also someone who has a human side to him as well and also who can forget the great performance that Heath Ledger put on as the Joker because he made such a great character come to real life. In Memento, you had a character that has memory loss and he has to keep writing things on his body in order to keep memories alive which makes the film seem more like the viewer is following what is happening to him. Inception, however, might be the one film that I would recommend as the best film of the year because it has everything you want in a film: Great acting, simple but not overbearing themes, great story, great ideas, and an almost perfect movie from start to finish. The one thing I loved about the film was that it touched on the idea of dreams and how they may seem almost real because we make them up and not anybody else. You always remember the most important parts of a dream but you never remember the beginning which is something that I love to hear because it is so true. I was thinking that if people were to make up there dreams, how would they be able to distinguish from what was real and what was fake? I don’t think anybody can really tell because how do we know anything isn’t a dream at all? It would be incredible to be able to come up with things that are hidden within our subconscious but it would be strange to be able to come up with stuff that was hidden away in our memories. All I must say was that I was impressed with every aspect of the film and it would be amazing if there was a second one made. Hopefully, this week I can see it once again with one of my best buddies Ricardo but thanks for listening

The Big Red Machine loses a good “Deputy”…

Posted on by anele25

What I guess is breaking news is now reality and it just sunk in. The machine has lost another good one in one of our most trusted and likable deputies in Phillip East. Words can’t describe the shock when I heard that he was transferring to a different store because I had gotten so used to him being there on a frequent basis. I remember on my first day at the Machine, I had no idea where to go or what to do at the moment because I was new and I still had no clue as to what I would do. So, one of the operators call Phillip over to our clerical area and he directs me and I remember clearly asking him if it was always this busy on a Saturday and he said on weekends it always this way. He seemed to have a really cool and laid back tone when he said it and I felt relieved that he wasn’t some arrogant jerk that was just out for himself. Right away he put me with the right people to work with and I was happy that he was one of the first people there to greet me. Ever since then, he has been the level headed person among our deputies and he handles himself seriously but at the same time he knows how to get along with most people. He gets to know people and he gives himself just enough space so that people know that he has to do his job in a timely manner. I can honestly say him transferring is sort of the end of an era because the Machine had been riding high for a while but I’m guessing his decision to leave might have been because he felt the place was just crumbling at the seams. Who knows, maybe somebody didn’t care for the guy at our store but it’s amazing that the only deputies at our store still left from when I started are Jenny and Anele. I told Phillip when he told me one on one that he was leaving that he will be missed and I would still visit him at the Cupertino store because you never forget people like that. I am still grateful for him because he was the one that took over for the Grocery section in our store and he came up to me personally and offered me a position over in that area and right away I thought it would be better for my well being and my sanity(which of course it has been!) It was something new and it gave me an opportunity to do what I wanted to do: Work with people in one specific area instead of having to worry if they were going to stay consistent across the board. Once I got put there, I knew I had made the right choice and I told Phillip that this was sort of a peaceful setting and now I’m thinking this could be my last hurrah at the Big Red Machine. Let’s just say, I want to go out with a bang and his departure makes me think more about finding another job but for now I think I’ll settle for this till after Christmas… There is still one more mission left to accomplish.

Camping…

Posted on by anele25

What a nice break that was! I just got back yesterday from Yosemite and man it felt awesome to just be out there in the outdoors and chatting with friends. There were seven of us which were myself, Evelin, my brother Jesus, Jazmin, and our friends Moises, Yvette, and Enrique. We left around 9 AM on Tuesday and I knew it was going to be a long journey so I took a few naps along the way and they were worth it because I didn’t get much sleep the night before. Once we got there, over at Hogdon Meadows Campgrounds, we put the two tents where we were going to sleep and we put up a canopy as well. To all of us, time didn’t matter and we just sat around for countless hours talking about sports and movies which is always a fun thing to talk about. Enrique, Moises, and Jesus are the drinking type but I just watch and listen because they are my friends but I would never want to touch alcohol in my life because so many people in my life drink and I just want to stay who I am. The funniest part of that night was hearing Moises talk aboout the relationship he has with his girlfriend, Claudia, and hearing him, it seems like being in that type of relationship where one person holds the power, it sounded unfair and unethical to me. We all banded together and tried to get as much wood onto our fire as possible and we all on a diet of hamburgers and hot dogs. Yesterday however was fun, we got to go to Yosemite falls after we had cleaned up the camp site and we got lost a few times. The saddest part of all this, was in course of our trying to find charcoal, we saw a dead cub on the side of the road which is still a mystery to me. We made it up to Yosemite falls and even though Evelin and Jazmin stayed behind, I still had a fun time climbing with Enrique, Jesus, Yvette, and Moises. It wasn’t easy because I kept telling myself that the key was to keep my hands on the rocks and use every part of my body. There were many different ways to get to the waterfall but what I remember most is the journey of us getting to the big rocks and trying to get over but we finally did. Moises, Jesus, and myself decided to get into the water as we saw that everybody else did and the swimming across that water had to be one of the most peaceful moments I’ve ever had in my life. It felt like Lake Berryesa in 2004 after school had gotten out and I was swimming in some water which had finally relieved all my stress that I was feeling that week of finals. Even though at Yosemite, it didn’t feel as long, it still felt like, wow nothing else matters. However, the craziest part was Moises and Jesus deciding to keep climbing up and eventually reaching the waterfall but they kept going higher which in my mind was just crazy (mind us with no shoes on!) So they kept going up with the walk ending at a wall that had an opening behind it which surprised me because they had gone so far up with no hesistation. After they had come down, I asked Moises, “what made you do that?” He said that he’ll never know if he’ll ever do that again and maybe some day I’ll do it but Moises has always been the daredevil of the group. I praised my brother, Jesus, because he has always been the one to take chances and he did which made me proud of him. Afterwards, we headed off into a long journey back home which was peaceful because it was so beautiful up there with all the trees and the sunshine heading down. The trip was memorable and next time hopefully, I can clumb higher. Here are some pictures:

Enrique, Moises, Yvette, Jesus, and Myself

The discovery of Music…

Posted on by anele25

Music, all I gotta say is that it’s amazing discovering new kinds of music that you’ve never heard of before. When I was younger, I really had little to no taste in actual music as I just heard the occasional song on the radio or watching a music video on TV. I can remember watching and hearing the Rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony a lot when I was younger and I think the first song I heard by them was Thuggish Ruggish Bone which to this day is still one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. They had a fast rhyme and a different style than the East Coast or the West Coast. I realized after hearing them a few years later that there were a lot more artists out there who had a rhyming style which was real and authentic. For a couple of years before I bought his album, Nas seemed like a nobody to me but after reading that Illmatic was a five star album, I decided to check it out. I was shocked to hear something that had style and it was great because Nas had something on his album that is rare these days, it had no guest appearances. This to me is very important for an album to be good because he sold it based on his own style and he had very little help in doing so. My favorite songs off the album were Halftime, New York State of Mind, Represent, The World is Yours, and Life’s a bitch. I was convinced after hearing this album that Nas had a great voice and it can only get better after hearing his great debut. Another artist that I discovered about 2 years ago was a Mexican Banda by the name of Cuisillos. I got interested in this banda after hearing one of their songs that my brother downloaded from itunes which was named “Extrana Manera”. The Song was awesome due to the fact that it was a traditional Ranchera and it had one of the original singers from the band who had a funny name, Bruno. After I heard the song, I launched out and tried to find some of their CD’s at the San Jose Flea Market on Berryessa. Truth be told, I got lucky in finding their first three albums because I doubt these CD’s are out in stores these days and I was surprised to hear something different and music that was not too over the top. The thing that I enjoy about their music is that they make music seem so smooth and it sounds so catchy as well. My favorite album by them was probably this one they came out in 1997 which was named “Te Amo.” They sing love songs most of the time and the way they sang them on this song was surprising. They sang sad songs, songs that make you happy, and songs that made you want to dance. Some of the best songs they have sang have been Mil Heridas, Ya no me Mires Asi, Eres Imposible de Olvidar, Linea Ocupuda, and A Veces Lloro. This banda made me proud to be a fan of traditional Mexican music because it comes in all types of variety and that’s what they brought to the table which was sad songs, happy songs, and songs that made you feel good. Recently however, my two best buddies, JB and Ricardo, introduced me to The Clash and 98 Degrees. Don’t get me wrong my other friends have introduced me to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bay Area Rap, and also Mariachi music but these two music acts sound cool and innovative. The Clash has this sound to them like they don’t care what people think of their music and they just want to have a fun time making music that will appeal to people’s emotions. There music has political themes to it as well as social issues as well which is something that is good to hear in today’s world. A song by them is that I like is the Magnificent Seven which is a song about making money and just doing the same thing over and over again on the day. I found the double disc of Sandnista to be decent but I still need to hear London Calling and their other albums but otherwise hearing bits and pieces of their music they seem to be an excellent band. 98 degrees, how can I even begin on this one? JB was the one that got me into them because they melody and their voices seem to blend well together which nice to know. I remember years ago hearing “I do” and I thought the song was pretty good because it sounds like the perfect wedding song but besides that I never really got into them because I was never really into their type of music. What I noticed with them however, was that they weren’t really a boy band but they sounded more like a R&B group. Their songs were good and I’ve heard most of their songs already which is awesome because I enjoy hearing every kind of music. I have to give different types of music a chance because you never know if you are going to like it or not. Anyway, enjoy your sunday everybody! oh and I’m going camping bye.

The Great White Hope… or should I say Hype?

Posted on by anele25

I saw this underrated, really thought provoking movie that asks the question about sports and racism and the name of this movie is the Great White Hype. I had been wanting to watch this movie for a few years now and recently my brother got Netflix and we ordered this one and thus last night we sat down and watched it. What really attracted me to this movie was the cast which has countless great actors which includes Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson, Damon Wayans, Cheech Marin, and Jamie Foxx. The theme of the movie, which is emphasized throughout, is racism and how it is ever prevelant in boxing and in other sports. For example, I read the other day that Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Chicago White Sox, believed that Latin players are not treated as well as Japanese players which sounds absurd but it I can see some of that in the way that broadcasters and journalists describe latin players as being “hot headed” and having little ability to speak the English language.

Anyways, back to the movie, the way that Jackson’s character is portrayed is so surreal because he plays the part of promoter so well. He is tired of having to see Wayans’s character, Roeper, going through countless contenders and most of these guys are black but Jackson’s character sets out to find a contender for him. Sultan, played by Jackson seems intent on finding someone who is white to play the race card and it is unbelievable how close it is to real life. I’m not the biggest boxing fan, but I’ve seen a few boxing matches where and Oscar De La Hoya would go against Pernell Whitaker and it would divide races by someone being on one side and another person standing by their race. Throughout the movie, Sultan finds Terry Conklin, who is played Peter Berg isn’t even close to being a legitmate fighter but what sells it is the race card. In between all this, Goldblum’s character, Kane, is a journalist trying to find dirt on Sultan but he has his limitations due to not having any real access to Sultan himself.

The way that Roeper takes the fight is very chill, because all the guy does is smoke and eat jello, not worrying at all about the potential fight that is coming up. I forgot to mention a little subplot in this movie, and that is Jamie Foxx’s character, Hassan, trying to get his fighter, Shabazz, a fight against Roeper but they won’t move on it because it would be too boring of a fight and once again it would be black vs. black. I found the movie to be funny due to the rib that it was pulling on boxing and how they present their fights. For one race to get behind one fighter is one thing, but to have a promoter preparing a guy that had barely only won a few amateur matches and believe that he can really take him down, that right there is straight up stealing money. The movie, alltogether, is a good experience because it makes you think twice about how some tactics are used into getting people that they are getting a raw deal but in the end all they get to do is just pack their bags and go home. A short movie, but it got my attention quickly due to the theme and ideas behind the actual fight which will surprise some people in the end.

Toy Story 3…

Posted on by anele25

Man, are you telling me that it’s been ten years since the last Toy Story but Twilight sequels are separated by almost 8 months? T9y Story 3 is a movie that made me cry deep inside, smile, laugh, and sometimes it made me wish for those days when we were younger. It was so much easier back then to be a kid and have little to no worries and as my friend Aldo Charazo said a few months back, “we really didn’t have the cognitive understanding of what are lives really meant back then.” I remember being excited as an 8 year old kid ready to go to my favorite wal-mart back in the day over in Mountain View. I can clearly remember seeing so many copies of the movie on one of those designated attraction boxes where so many of the movies would be able to fit and I got it and I watched it so many times it never got old for me because it was so exciting and new. I haven’t really watched all of the second one but I have it sitting on my shelf. But the third Toy Story was really funny because it brought me back as to how all the toys interacted with each other and how they conquered over adversity that at first seemed to be impossible to overcome. The main plot of the movie was Andy going off to college, which come to think of it, is somewhat of a realistic storyline because at some point in our lives we all have to give up a part of our childhood and just grow up. It is somewhat of a sad tale but when I watched it, it felt as if a chapter of feel good movies had ended as most movies that are like Toy Story hardly ever come around and it is being described as somewhat of a “cult classic”. If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend that you watch it, just because everyone was a kid at one point and we all have that kid inside of us even as we get older.

Eric Chavez and the Oakland A’s…

Posted on by anele25

Eric Chavez, how can I begin to even speak about the 66 million dollar man without first wondering how someone can make so much damn money without doing NOTHING. I mean literally, Chavez has done nothing in his last three years as an A driving literally driving in 25 runs and hitting three homeruns. The funniest thing about this, yes you guessed it folks, Billy “Moneyball” Beane dished out 11 million plus each year which adds up to be almost 35 million dollars for three years and in those three years, he hasn’t done crap.

This guy who at one point had tremedous power and the potential to be the franchise of the team. If you look at his stats from when he debuted to about 2007, the guy literally had star written all over him but it was the same fucking injuries with this guy from his shoulder, his back, and even his neck. Here are his stats which show that the guy was just playing for money and I think he should probably give some of his money back so the A’s can go out and find batters that can actually stay healthy:

CAREER STATS

SEASON▲ TEAM▲ G▼ AB▼ R▼ H▼ TB▼ 2B▼ 3B▼ HR▼ RBI▼ BB▼ IBB▼ SO▼ SB▼ CS▼ AVG▼ OBP▼ SLG▼ OPS▼ GO/AO▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲
1998 OAK 16 45 6 14 20 4 1 0 6 3 1 5 1 1 .311 .354 .444 .799 133
1999 OAK 115 356 47 88 152 21 2 13 50 46 4 56 1 1 .247 .333 .427 .760 1.26 133
2000 OAK 153 501 89 139 248 23 4 26 86 62 8 94 2 2 .277 .355 .495 .850 0.81 133
2001 OAK 151 552 91 159 298 43 0 32 114 41 9 99 8 2 .288 .338 .540 .878 1.12 133
2002 OAK 153 585 87 161 300 31 3 34 109 65 13 119 8 3 .275 .348 .513 .860 0.58 133
2003 OAK 156 588 94 166 302 39 5 29 101 62 10 89 8 3 .282 .350 .514 .864 0.91 133
2004 OAK 125 475 87 131 238 20 0 29 77 95 10 99 6 3 .276 .397 .501 .898 0.81 133
2005 OAK 160 625 92 168 291 40 1 27 101 58 4 129 6 0 .269 .329 .466 .794 0.65 133
2006 OAK 137 485 74 117 211 24 2 22 72 84 6 100 3 0 .241 .351 .435 .786 0.77 133
2007 OAK 90 341 43 82 152 21 2 15 46 34 2 76 4 2 .240 .306 .446 .752 0.67 133
2008 OAK 23 89 10 22 35 7 0 2 14 6 0 18 0 0 .247 .295 .393 .688 1.27 133
2009 OAK 8 30 0 3 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 7 0 0 .100 .129 .133 .262 0.82 133
2010 OAK 33 111 10 26 37 8 0 1 10 8 0 31 0 0 .234 .276 .333 .610 1.48 133
CAREER 1320 4783 730 1276 2288 282 20 230 787 565 67 922 47 17 .267 .343 .478 .821 0.83

Seriously Man how did the A’s even sign this guy for so much money. Ever since we signed this guy to that stupid contract, the A’s have gone downhill every year. The players have gotten worse and we’ve seen some great players leave the A’s but we felt it was in our best interest to keep this loser. We could have kept Andre Either, Carlos Gonzalez,and Nick Swisher but we traded away those players for guys we thought were gonna help out the team. Ok, the Either trade was good for the short term but long term, Beane made a dumb move on this one cause we knew Either was the future and we traded him away and instead Bradley was with the A’s for a year and a half then he just dissed the team later on. Either now, is one of the league’s best hitters hitting .302 and driving 66 runs for the year and instead we’re stuck with that loser of a third baseman who is just stealing money from the A’s. The Swisher trade, I thought was good cause he was only with the White Sox for a year before he was traded and we got two excellent players in Gonzalez and Sweeney. However, the Carlos Gonzalez was dumb for many reasons including the fact that Matt Holliday wasn’t an Oakland A for very long and Gonzalez is one of the Rockie’s hitting leaders but once again we are stuck with Eric Chavez, wow what a freaking mistake that was Beane. I can’t believe how Chavez is a reflection of today’s team with no power and no potential threats in a lineup where the leading homerun hitter is batting .254 with 12 homeruns and every time he stps up the plate he just grooves one to short for a double play.

I realized that the A’s are the team I love and admire but I just ask myself the question, why are they so bad and miserable at the plate? It’s like our pitching staff goes to the ballpark and they pray that the offense will score at least three runs, but what happens most of the time? The offense doesn’t do squat and we usally leave the bases loaded with either Jack “Bust” or Kurt “I’m Not clutch” Suzuki striking out or grounding into a double play. Our picthers go up against some powerhouses and even then they can’t catch a break. Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, Dallas Braden, and Vin Mazzaro,a rotation that is young and just amazing when they have their stuff going but the offense is just so bad. It all relates back to Eric Chavez and the fact that the A’s missed out on so many opportunities to have potential free agents come to Oakland and play with a team that has a decent enough pitching staff and if you score a few runs every night, you can win a handful of games. But what happens we get stuck with an outfield that will probably (actually most likely) hit less than 20 homeruns whereas most teams that are good have a corner outfielder that can be penciled in to have at least 20 homers, case in point most of these guys that play the outfield can hit 20 homers every year:

Nick Swisher: 22 homers this year

Carlos Quentin: 22 homers this year

Josh Hamilton:24 homers this year

Matt Holliday: 21 homers thiis year

Carlos Gonzalez: 25 homers this year

Those guys right there have power but instead we’re stuck with Rajai Davis who has five homers and Coco Crisp who has four. That is pretty sad right there and only time will tell if the A’s will ever have true power threat. Once Eric Chavez and his six gold gloves go away we can actually begin to start spending money instead of having to worry about a baby that gets hurt every year and he complains about his shoulder and all that. We have the pitching we jsut need some real hitters batting third and fourth as we have guys that are batting third and fourth and on any other team they would be way down at the bottom of the order. Don’t get me wrong, the A’s are my favorite team in sports but it gets frustrating when your players keep getting hurt, ok teams have players that get hurt but for us it’s almost laughable as “day to day” usually means that the guy is usually out for the next year. Here’s a messahe to Beane: Start getting guys that can actually hit because you already have guys that can pitch, go get him some bats, ok peace out everybody good night and good morning: