Tag: Christmas

What happened when… Jose went to Tampa Bay Florida

Posted on by anele25

About two weeks, I wrote that I wanted to cover my trip to Tampa Bay in long form. The story as to why I went is simple. I had two weeks off from work and I’m also a huge fan of the hockey team the Tampa Bay Lightning. The goal was to catch two games from the Lightning on a Tuesday and Thursday. Last year around this time, I started planning out the trip and lo and behold, this is what happened when I went to Tampa Bay Florida.

 

The day of the trip is usually the most anticipated because you have to everything in order. First, you have that damn itinerary ready just in case you forget which airline you’re flying and which terminal you’re going to. Second, you have to have all your necessary items that you’re going to carry with you. The day of the trip I had everything ready. The night of December 19th 2016 I left wheels up for Tampa. I remember the majority of the flight I slept because it was a red eye and I was listening to the now highly acclaimed Something to Wrestle with… Bruce Prichard. We landed early that morning and I also had a connecting flight from Atlanta. The connecting flight, (known little to my knowledge) was on final boarding and I now rushed over. I just missed the flight and I felt rather devastated. I had never been in this situation and I was lost as to what I should do. I asked around and someone pointed me to services from Delta. I was gladly handed a new boarding pass and there I was on my way to Tampa Bay. I landed about 1 hour later than my original time. Once again, when I’m in a new city I try to look for new things to do and see. I’ve found that planning out a trip detail by detail beforehand can end up backfiring on you. Built on spontaneity, a trip can have so much more adventures and elusive stories.

 

Nevertheless, I went over to my rental counter for my car and asked which kind of car I had reserved. Knowing me, I said yes to upgrade a sports car. I ended up driving a Ford Mustang and that thing at first was hard to navigate. I grabbed my car and eventually went exploring around the city. The first thing I did was grab some food and I went shopping for some groceries as well to have for the next few days. I did that and also explored a little around the city. The city had some nice harbors and the beaches were wonderful to look at from afar (more about this in a bit). I ended up checking in later that day to my hotel. Whenever, I go to hotels I make sure that they are a Days Inn because usually they are pretty reliable. After some relaxation, I ended up making my way towards my first game of the trip. The first game was against the Detroit Red Wings and the atmosphere from Amalie Arena was quite interesting. I had heard that perhaps Tampa wasn’t a hockey town but it was quite a fun experience. I saw the passion in the fans and the amazing amount of support for the team was awesome. I went by myself on this trip and I was practically up on the top of the rafters. I was able to observe the game more closely and able to appreciate how shifts are happening and how the defensemen are able to guide the game for their team.  I had some Red Wings fans seated next to me and even there I said that hockey has the ability to bring fans from anywhere. This makes Hockey one of the premier sports for me because of the excitement, competiveness, and grit in the players. I had fun at my first hockey game in Tampa and we ended up winning 4-1 after some crazy plays happened involving the goalies going down for both teams. Afterwards, I came with the idea in my to head down to Miami. The Miami idea came about from the fact that I wouldn’t know when I would come back. I woke up the next day at 7AM ready to head out by 8AM. Once I headed out, I had little idea about the famous tolls in Florida.

 

As I went about on I-75, I had no cash and I saw the signs for the tolls. The drive itself was rather relaxing because I saw the swamps, could feel the humidity in the air, and was surprised that it was not raining as much as I thought. As I was going along paying my tolls, I wondered about what I would do on the way to Miami. I told myself I would probably catch a movie because the drive was quite long (about 4 hours to be exact). I ended up seeing Assassins Creed and the movie was great because I was curious as to how they would adapt a video game into a movie. The movies (if you have not seen it) had to do with Michael Fassbender’s retrieving the Apple of Eden which is being researched by a scientist because he wants to see wars and what not continue into the 21st century. It was panned by critics but I rather enjoyed it because it took the idea that revolutionaries can be created by going up against the system. After that was over, I decided to sit in traffic for a bit to head to Miami beach. Previously, I had been in South Miami but the trip to Miami Beach was worth it. I stopped by Miami Beach for a few hours and just sat on the beach taking in the time and effort I had put into making the trip happen. Everything that happened and everything that was to happen in the next few months had not come into my head. I think that’s what we forget sometimes is that we have to breath everything in. The ocean air and the sound of the ocean are enough to send me into a frenzy because that’s where I become one with the Earth. I sat on the beach for close to 20 minutes and afterwards headed back to where I was parked. Little did I know, it started raining and I said what the heck I’ll walk around in the rain. I just stopped by and saw all the little shops that were around. These shops give me the idea that someone will shill out enough money for a Miami Beach towel or a Miami Beach surfboard. The destination cities do a remarkable job at marketing these products and you can say they do well deserve it.

 

Afterwards, I headed back to Tampa around 6:30 in the evening. I found this drive to be much more adventurous than the first one. When I was driving back, I drove with the top down for a part of the drive. I just let the breeze blow through what hair I had left. I remember from some of the drive I had a semi-truck in front of me and I could feel the breeze getting colder. I wanted to drive with the top up again but the breeze was just too tempting to resist. I also remember when I was driving earlier in the drive that I was just zooming in and out of the lanes just trying to stay awake from all the driving that was happening. Once I got close to Tampa, I got a little bit more relaxed because I had done my driving and was ready for the next day’s adventure. The next day, I asked myself what else I could do? On this day, I decided to head up to St. Pete beach. Of course, the drive once again was wonderful and once I arrived I just laid on the beach for a few hours reading a book called ‘The Arm’. The book deals with Tommy John Surgery and what pitchers go through during the process. One pitcher in particular I remember they talked about in the book was Jon Lester. Lester himself talked about the mechanics of having to recover from Tommy John and what kinds of recovery that pitchers have to go through. I also found Todd Coffey’s comeback from Tommy John to be one of the most compelling pieces because of how he tried to come back and got hurt right away when he threw and he felt pain up his elbow. The author himself details how much money and how much stock into how these pitchers are developed from a young age into sensations at 19-20 and it all depends whether or not they can throw a 90 mile per hour fastball. I also found it fascinating while reading this that pitchers go out there every 5th day and are depended on for a 1 win or one quality start. It kind of reminds me of when a horse may just be gearing up for some races but he comes back on that day to run and he wins the big one.  If you’re not familiar with a quality start it’s usually 6 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, and maybe 5 or 6 strikeouts. I remember in particular on how kids in high school or in high school are scouted at a young age and eventually they are drafted into an organization. The development from these pitchers is worth looking into and I would be interested to see if another book such as this one dealing with maybe infielders or outfielders. The position players I feel can have just as a compelling story with pitchers because they understand what it takes to succeed. What I mean by this is that they have to have a good arm to throw out a runner or maybe even be willing to hit for power.

 

Anyway back to Florida. After I finished reading a good chunk of this book, I headed to look for some pizza and chicken. I settled on something and headed once more over to the hotel. I waited for a bit until the next game was to start. I headed out a bit early to check out the awesome downtown and see the arena and see a bit more. Once I was finished with that, I headed to the game ready for another showdown. This time we were playing the St. Louis Blues. This game I felt was a bigger challenge than the first one. The team of the Blues was much more talented and I was ready to see this one go down. After going down two goals, I said to myself ok we gotta find a way to come back. I also said once again I did not come all this way to see my boys lose. I had also that night bought a Lightning jacket which I really enjoy wearing these days as well.  After that, we never looked back and ended scoring up 5 unanswered goals (something about me and 5 unanswered goals really goes a long way). After the game was over, there is no doubt I felt there was definitely a sense that I would be back. I was planning to go back this year for my Christmas break but at this juncture it doesn’t look like it is going to happen because I have some surgery going on. I’m telling myself at this point that life is extensive and I do want to go back soon enough. I got back on the plan one day later and I sat there watching Jason Bourne and Dogs of War. I told myself there, ‘Life is Good’. I landed just in time for Christmas Day and had a very nice and relaxing rest of my break.

 

Now that I’ve written about my experience about traveling, I want to go back to something I haven’t written about in a while and that is wrestling. Recently, I listened to the Bret Hart 96/97 podcast with Bruce Prichard of Something to wrestle with fame. I am going to go ahead and write down some of my thoughts on one of my heroes and what he meant to me during that time almost 20 years ago. I’ll also take some snippets from the podcast and what I remember during that time. Hasta luego! (A little thing to remember this trip down below). IMG_2793

Day #199 12/25/11: My brother and me…

Posted on by anele25

A picture taken with my brother as he wasn’t in the best of conditions combined with exhaustion and other obvious reasons. The day was great as I went to church for the first time in a while as the father had a good quote which said “We are accustomed to suffering” which I think is somewhat true. I like listening to him speak because of the experience and truth that can be applied to our own lives and as I’ve said before there is a reason for everything that happens. After this, I went to sleep for a bit and then my brother came over for a while. Of course, his daughter came over and she watched her favorite cartoon character Caillou and I couldn’t play my new PS3 which I had been waiting for a while for. I did eventually play it but not till long after she left so a good day nonetheless.

Merry Christmas everyone…

Posted on by anele25

Remember what Christmas is,we may have thought it was about toys and expensive items when we were younger but it’s about making jokes with your family and remembering old times. I am proud of what happened with my family today because this year we didn’t have as many gifts as past years but we don’t need much to be happy. I have most things I want in life. I have a beautiful pet, great parents who you have disagreements with but you get over it, caring friends, and most of all a very positive and healthy outlook about myself and my future. Remember, if you don’t get what you want at least that person made an effort to at least find you something. If you want it so badly, go out and buy it but ask yourself, do you really need it right away? Be proud of this Christmas and future holidays that lie ahead and look forward to them! Thanks for reading:)

A trip down memory lane…

Posted on by anele25

Don’t be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You’ve done it why can’t someone else?
You should know by now
You’ve been there yourself

-Billy Joel on The Stranger

After an exhausting and yet quite worthwhile week of finals, I’m now able to talk about one trip I took down memory lane about a week ago when I went over to my brother’s place to watch TNA wrestling. After we had watched the wrestling show, I wondered about what I had just watched and I was happy I was able to watch some wrestling with my brother. Of course, back un the day my brother and I would watch every Monday on TNT with WCW coming on at 5 PM and WWE would come on at 9 PM which was actually kind of cool because we wouldn’t be like the people on the East Coast flipping back and forth between both shows. We were able to be amused and entertained by both shows at different times and I was also able to watch it with some buddies from my apartments when they weren’t doing other things. Now, you may ask what does this have to do with memory lane? Well, after my brother and I were through with watching wrestling I brought up the fact that our dog Paloma had not gone on her second walk of the day and I should take her. So, my brother being tired and exhausted from having his daughter with him most of the day, I decided to take Paloma myself and I was just going to take her around the apartments that they lived at at first. But, I remembered that our old apartments weren’t that far away and at most it was a ten minute walk there. So, I first went towards my old Elementary school Vargas and I passed the stop sign my mom would leave me at when I was younger. She would leave me at the stop sign and she would go to work. I couldn’t think much about the present and what I had to do within the next week because I was thinking about all the memories I had when I was younger. I started taking the walk that I would take to school by going straight then I went right on this small street. I remember thinking about all the stupid shit my friends and I would talk about when we were walking on that sidewalk. We would talk about school, girls, Dragon Ball, wrestling, and so much more. I passed all the houses thinking how much they must have changed since I last saw them which was about 8 years ago almost. I passed them thinking were the same people still living there? I remember there used to be this girl in my fourth grade class who would live really close by and I would always see her till about my first year of high school and I always thought she was actually kind of attractive. I passed this one house that had two stories wondering how much had happened since I had last seen it. The house was barely being completed when I was still in fifth grade and that was when people started moving into it. I thought with that nice of a house, I wonder how nice they must have it with a neighborhood that isn’t that bad off? I continued my walk just being in awe of what was before me. I feel I’m a very nostalgic person and when I took that walk I felt happy and upbeat because this is the place where I was raised. If it hadn’t been for that time and place, I wouldn’t have had some of the values I have today. Once I got closer to my old apartments I felt chills up my spine and then I saw this little girl that stated to me, “your dog is on the street.”For a split second I thought Paloma really was on the street but I was hanging onto her pretty good because I wanted her to be there too with me. I crossed the street and I just kept walking down the sidewalk towards my apartments and once I passed the managers office I remembered when my dad’s compadre and his son were asleep on the grass right next to the managers and I just smiled for a minute thinking about that. I kept walking on the side where I didn’t live before and I kept getting closer to my old apartment. I passed the entrance to the second half of the apartments and on that side my friends Ralph and Stephen were the ones who used to occupy a two story apartment with there mom and there brothers and sister. I remembered when we were still young and stupid and myself,Stephen, and my other friend Adrian were at Stephen’s house talking about summer school and the funny stuff that would go on there. Memories were just creeping up in my head as I passed the second apartment that was used as our home for about 6 months or so in 2002 and I remembered when we were first moving into that apartment we locked ourselves out and we decided we were going to go to Carl’s JR. with time to kill till my brother had gotten home from work. We waited for my brother to get home that day and I felt relieved because I wanted to see what this place looked like. I don’t have a lot of memories in that apartment because we stayed for only a little bit there but I do remember coming home during the summer and playing Smackdown 2 with my friend Monty and my other friend Adrian. We would have 40 minute matches that would include all three of us and what was just fun how long these things would go until one of us won. Monty would win sometimes and I would win sometimes and Adrian would win as well. Good times I must say indeed! I then saw a gentleman who was getting out of his car near one of the apartments and I didn’t want him to see my dog because they don’t allow pets in the apartments. I waited until he had gotten the food he had in his car until I could bring Paloma along and then I started passing by one of my friends old apartments who went by the name of Tony Olmos. I passed by the apartment thinking about the many times I would go by his house and play some N64. Usually we would play Goldeneye, racing car games, WCW Revenge, and a whole bunch of other games. What I remember most was how nice his family used to be and they were also very friendly every time I went over. They would always be very courteous and since we were all linked almost we would talk about what was going on with our families and such. I then passed by old room at apartment number 29 and I just remember everything that has changed since I have been in that room. I was last in Eighth grade when I was in that room and all the memories I have are priceless. I remember long summer nights and other times when my brother and I would stay in that room just chilling. I remember I would listen to the radio during the weekday and I would watch movies like crazy in that room during my later years. I also remember when my friend and my brother would have sleepovers and we would just laugh about some stupid stuff that was both hilarious and immature. Our friend, Victor, always would make the best company when he would sleep over with us because he was respectful and he had this coolness factor to him every time he would come over. One of my most memorable days there was when September 11th happened and I remember waking up to this shock and disbelief that my country had been attacked. My brother turned on the TV and he was getting ready for school while I was barely waking up. I was surprised to see the rest of my family kind of dumbfounded because they didn’t know what to think or say. I also remember a few instances where in that apartment we would celebrate Christmas and my best memory of Christmas there was when our neighbors, our two uncles came over, and we just had everybody there just happy and I just remember about just being young not having to worry about anything at that time. Once I passed my old apartment I just felt very emotional because I know I can never bring back all the good times I had there because you only live once and I made the best of it. I did everything I wanted to in that apartment from wrestling in our living room, being able to gather in our kitchen to eat dinner, having my “party” for my birthday in my living room, and also having one of my younger cousins’ birthday party in that apartment. I remember that day we had my uncle and his wife celebrating their daughter’s birthday and I wonder now how happy they must have been for their daughter because she was born here and they were born over in Mexico. So many memories, I thought as I roamed on the outskirts of the apartments. The little kid inside came out for a little bit as Paloma and I passed by some of the spots that we would play tag. Tag was a stupid little game that we would play occasionally and it was fun because we would always make it so that the other team would have ten minutes to get back to the deck near our apartments. We would have simple hiding spots but the strategy was to see what the most common spot was. There was the laundry room on the other side of the apartments, near the bushes, the garbage totes, under the stairs near some apartments. Most of the time, the most difficult part was to see how long it would take for the opposing team to make it back to the basedeck. You could say that the stranger came out inside me because I had never actually even thought of going back to my old apartments but when I did I felt it was worth it even more. I remember when my parents bought me a bike and we brought it with us. We went to Smart and Final with it and it was rejoicing to have my family buy me something that was worthwhile. When I started walking down the little hill that cars go down on I just remember the guys and myself having bike races on there and that’s where we would start and whoever would end up back there first after taking a lap would win. Memories I just thought to myself as I kept walking down the hill. I took a peak inside the small boiler room and I remember my friend used to live near there so I just remember the stairs he would take with his mom. I also remember when I kept getting closer to the exit of the apartments that I would always take this small walk to get to the local liquor store in Stop and Go. Stop and Go was pretty amazing because I always remember seeing the arcade there of Mortal Kombat and everybody would want to play it. My best memory there was when my mom bought me some chips for a field trip that I was going to take and the local clerk asked my mom if it was my birthday and she said yes for some odd reason. I remember buying a lot of fake caps for toy guns there because that was the closest place to buy them so whenever I bought them I was excited to pull the trigger. During my exit, I felt proud that I had taken the trip to my old apartments because I felt I had to go back someday to see what it was like and just to reminisce about what it was like before I matured and I became who I am today. If it hadn’t been for living in that apartment, I wouldn’t have learned about respecting people, the connection I began to have with my brother, the hardships my mom would have to make, my dad being strange yet lovable, and my real friends bickering among themselves and with me. I can say that having that experience can only be better and enchanting. After getting back to my brother, I felt happier about what my life had given me at that point in my life and I told my brother about it and he even cracked a small smile when he heard that. I can say that if you are reading this, go back to some old places that you lived before and see how they have changed, for better or for worse, it will be a burden off your shoulders. Good night everyone, and here’s one of the best songs ever: