Tag: Good times

300 Writing Prompts #12: What is the best Compliment you have ever received?

Posted on by anele25

What is a compliment? I see a compliment as someone who comes up to you and tells you something courteous. I grew up and we would often tell each other thank you or we would Complement each other on our clothing. As I have grown older, I have started to hear them more. I never thought much of compliments until a few years ago when I started hearing them often and in around my college life. You hear the occasional compliment “good job”, “good choices”, and “you’re a great person”. However, there was a period of my life when I had a good friend of mine (I would even say best friend) was going through a recent break up and he was down on himself. We go out and we have our life talks every now and then but at this time we were having even more talks because he just needed someone to talk to. I remember one time in particular we were texting back and forth and there was one phrase in particular that still sticks with me “you’re the most legit human being ever”. I think what may have happened was that he was thinking at that time of moving out to Chicago because he was looking for a change of scenery. He gave himself enough time and he was able to see where home was and I for one would not be where I am had he stayed over in Chicago. At first, I thought nothing of the comment but as the years have gone on I can be honest in saying that comment meant a lot to me. Yes, people can say that it sounds cheesy and unnecessary but I have my personality quirks that probably drive people crazy but coming from that one friend meant a lot to me. For one, there are billions of people on this earth and from day one we had this connection which couldn’t be denied. As I have detailed before, it’s been about 8 years since I started this blog and he was the one who helped me start this blog.

 

The personal struggles we took to get where we were at that point definitely made it more special. I would ask myself sometimes, “am I ever going to get out of this funk I’m in”. He would help me get out of this funk “you’re going to be stuck at a certain place in your life forever”. At that point, I was one semester away from graduating from San Jose State University and I thought I probably would not be here if it was not for him. Yes, I accomplished those tasks on my own but I had his help along the way. He would encourage me, vouch for me at certain points, and he would give me pointers on how to better achieve success. The thing about compliments is that we as people can say them but for this one phrase to be said, it got me even more motivated to reach higher for the stars. The best compliment of “you’re the most legit human being ever” also meant a lot because I got the feeling that through our years of friendship we got to see the best and worst of each other. I remember we went a few months without talking to each other. This all spans back to when he made a comment about a financial situation of mine and I turned a cold shoulder towards him.

 

Little did I know, this was one those friends that would not give up on me. We saw each other not too long after that and it felt like old times. He even helped me on a few homework assignments during my time at Community College. The one class I struggled at was Statistics in the Fall of 2012 and we had an occasion where he helped me out with an assignment and that was another occasion where I was grateful for him. All those times where we were there for each other led to that moment when he gave me that compliment. One I hadn’t even thought about what was next but he gave me the motivation to keep on moving and to keep reaching even higher. Even it’s just small progress, it’s still progress no matter how far it goes. Humans have these qualities which can be grown and driven to be better and from that moment on, I have not taken much for granted. I can count compliments as some of the most wonderful things in the world.

 

To add onto this, I have always been told that I have a positive attitude even going back to my retail days at Target. One of my managers would occasionally tell me how much they appreciated the hustle and the effort and also the positive attitude. Even now at my current position, I get told that on a constant basis and it’s something else I don’t take for granted because of how much I do it from day to day. Another time I got one of the best compliments was when I was still working in retail and one of my managers had nominated me for one of her top performers and she made the comment that “thank you for giving your top effort and for putting one hundred percent”. The other managers had written something along the lines of “good job” “keep it going” but I felt that comment stood out from the rest. In a sense, these compliments made it possible for me to see that good people still exist in this world. I agree that not everybody may enjoy the spotlight but when you get those compliments it feels a helluva lot better than not getting them. I urge everyone that no matter how you may feel on a certain day giving a compliment can make someone’s day and you may not even know it. That is the one thing I enjoy about compliments is that yes they are just words but putting some meaning behind it is even better. You can just feel it when you say such words and having that other person hear them from you matter more. Compliments in general, are there to lift the human spirit.

Writing Prompts #9: Describe the most beautiful sound you have ever heard

Posted on by anele25

The prompt here got me thinking about what is the most beautiful sound you have ever heard and this one for me is easy as I once ran across a song by Riz Ortolnai when I was younger. The name of the song is called “A Blessed Event”. One thing that stands out for this song is that is so simple and it puts me at ease whenever I hear it. I could be driving, at my job, at the house doing chores, and overall I just enjoy the sounds in the song. I liked the sounds at the beginning as it begins with a horn and a little chelo sound. The sound is beautiful to me because it goes so smoothly without interruption of any other instruments and it just goes along and it makes me happy. It begins with a kind of a “do-do-do” instrument and it keeps going along until it hits this special spot in my heart. I feel as if this song was created with the intention of getting you in a good mood. I could be wrong here but having this beautiful sound full of wonder, awe, and hope is all in this song. I feel like I’m walking through any situation in life and feeling as if I can do it. I remember when I used to live in a condo in San Jose and this song would come on. I didn’t have many friends and this song made me feel this beauty inside. The kind of beauty you or anyone else would never hear again. I get the feeling that Ortolani got the idea to make this song so people can get this big emotion inside of them.  I can come with this song and it feels as if I am working on something greater whether its having a family, accomplishing my goals, or getting fit. It’s funny, because I heard this song when I was younger when I was watching El Chapulin Colorado. If you don’t know who that is he is the Mexican superhero who always comes to the rescue of his people that call for help. Roberto Bolanos really did want to show people his talents by busting out this song at the end of some Chapulin songs. I want this blog also to be aware of some other beautiful sounds I have heard. I sometimes go to the beach and pontificate what is going on in the ocean. There is a mystery that goes beyond the greatest realm of what is there. As I hear the waves, I feel this calmness and this ability to breath in new life inside of me. I can be standing on the edge of a rock or at the side of an ocean and I can just hear myself go with one with the waves. The waves also have these calming effects to them that only certain people would be able to describe.

 

The more I see waves and the more I hear them I just want to live freely within that ocean and wonder what is there. It feels as if the Earth is moving at a slow pace and you can just hear everything slow down for a quick second. One of the best times I have ever had in life was when I was younger and we took a late night trip to the beach and the waves were coming slowly that day. This was at a beach in Sinaloa and the waves were coming in rather slowly that night. I was out with my Aunt and her husband and we just went down to the sand. I walked by the waves several times and as they came in I realized the breath of fresh air was coming in to somehow suspend my belief that this was life. The waves kept coming and I could think about how nice and peaceful that was at that moment. I kept walking until my aunt and her husband stopped for a few minutes and just marveled at several things around them. I could tell that they too also enjoyed the waves that night. There is also nothing better than the ocean waves because of how fast they can change once you get inside for a quick dip. I know that once you get inside the water there is a different feeling as well because they can come on top of you in an instant and it doesn’t feel as fast as it used to. The one last thing I enjoy about the ocean waves is that water in general is a very soothing thing to have around you. One last memory I can remember about the waves and how comforting of a sound they are is when I was at a beach in Monterrey and I was standing on some rocks. The water was coming close to the rocks and I could feel that my body was somehow scared to go inside the water. I was standing against the rocks and once you get passed the water hitting you close it doesn’t get all that scary. I went down and I sat against some rocks and I could feel the water coming towards me as if I were one with the ocean at that very moment. There is no better feeling to be amongst something other than the water that comes towards somebody. The sounds that it makes, the whoosh that it makes as it gets closer, and ultimately the overall good feeling it gives. I hope one day many more people can come to appreciate the ocean waves and the sounds that they make for all of us. They say that beauty comes in many forms and this sound of ocean waves gives me comfort, satisfaction, and a great deal of hope. I know as I grow older I can give others the same feeling by integrating my life with there’s and telling them a little more about the ocean waves.

Something about the Summer (Double post)…

Posted on by anele25

I know it’s been a long time since I posted something on here but what is it about the Summer? I have been busy studying the body, reading on probability, understanding standard deviation, and yet here I am still alive.  I want you to know that it isn’t for lack of trying but finding excuses to not post on here. Oh, I’m too busy with school(which I was) or I have to go with my brother somewhere. Now, those are legitimate reasons for not being able to be on here and talk about something good in life. However, there those times when I had a bit of down of time and really I did nothing. Sometimes, I just get lazy but I want to get started right away. Now what should I write about? Last month, the girl I wrote a post on last year sadly passed away. Death, one day it will hit us all but for me this one hurt just a little more. When one of my good friends told me I couldn’t believe it because of the fact that at my age she was to be put to rest in whichever fashion she chose. I told myself, now I will never get to speak to her again. I believe in God and even though I may not go to church every Sunday I still believe there is a reason for everything. I remember a few years ago when my Grandma passed away, my family was in a state of shock and suddenly everybody started having kids. I don’t know if those are a sign that a new life has given passage to a better life or what but it has made a few people in my family happy. For example, when I see that my mom and her siblings go on about there grandchildren I tell myself I hope that they can be as big an influence as there mom was to us. That’s the thing that surprises me about people’s death and it has hit me that maybe people die to give new life so they can keep learning about the wonderful adventures of life. I know my friend, from the time I spent with her anyway, would not have wanted me moaning and crying over her dying, just celebrate it for what it was. She was a fun loving energy seeking person that I kinda tried to adapt as well.  In my head, that night 6 years ago still stands out because that was the night I made myself known to be a coward because I was afraid that speaking to her again would feel painful and egregious. I knew in my head that talking to her would make it worse but I was always optimistic that maybe time would pass and I would get over it. Truth is, I never got the courage to ask around if anyone knew her number or her email. I have never intended to go and get a facebook simply for the fact that there is so much less of a human connection going there that it would have felt like I was talking to a robot. When I got a job, I said hey maybe I could find out from one of her friends from high school if she knew about her whereabouts? That never happened either because I got put into a position where I was fearful of rejection, failure, misery, and maybe just telling myself her life is better than mine. That last part of the previous sentence is something I hold in my heart because you hear about all the people after high school that have graduated and have kids now. Somehow, I believe the measuring stick is having a family, a dog, and doing something you love. I always tell myself that hanging in there is the best way to live life because I haven’t dated anyone since then to actually consider starting a family. Since I am in the process of finishing at the junior college level, I feel that going to a university will help me find someone special.Anyway, I can get to be a bit overzealous when I see somebody I haven’t seen in a while but that’s something that probably would not have applied here. I always tell myself that I was going to meet her family, tell her my stories and share fun facts about old times, and have some food along the way. If I had seen here one last time I probably would have first apologized and told here just how immature I was for the things I said. Regrets take a person a long way and this one had me reeling for a while. Death does take the young and it is sad to see such a young person that I cared for pass on. Goodbye my friend! I also want to talk about something that has come to my attention and that is the idea that we always play the heroes or victims in our stories. I remember not too long ago I was having a conversation with my friend and he brought this up to me. I hadn’t thought about it until then and something did happen that encouraged this. I remember when I was younger I would be obsessed with watching TRL (aka Total Request Live) on MTV and I don’t know why but we had a project due in Social Studies. We had to do a presentation for some era in the stone ages or 1700’s (right now that doesn’t really matter). One of my buddies, asked each of us when we had time to do the project and we had to either film it on camera or do an in class presentation. I said let’s do it on camera and I remember some group I liked was going to be on TRL that day. I started arguing with him as to which day he wanted to do the project and we went back and forth for a while before we settled on Tuesday but once again we had a problem( my favorite group was going to be on MTV!). Anyways, I had just about had enough of him and I went to punched him in the nose. Of course, he started bleeding and my teacher saw this and sent me to the principal’s office. When the principal called me into her office, I knew I was in trouble. Now, here is where it gets weird. I said to myself, make up something, they won’t know. She asked me what happened and I told her then the statement that sticks out in my head is was it with a closed fist if so I am going to have to call the police. Now, I really don’t remember if it was a closed fist and I just said it wasn’t. Thankfully, she went easy on me and gave me ten days detention which in my head was fine enough because that was the last time I ever got called into the principal’s office. I, in fact played the hero, because I told her that my fist wasn’t closed and I wanted to seem like the good guy by saying it wasn’t my fault or he started it (something along those lines if I remember). I made it seem like I was getting treated poorly and he wasn’t because he and I got into an argument (let’s face facts everybody gets into quarrels). The point I am trying to make is that we play the hero because we want it make it seem like nothing we ever did was wrong. We want to come out looking like a proverbial champion while the other person or people wallows in the sorrow. I played the hero here because I wanted to see my role as a student be greatly looked as being a stand up citizen and good soldier. The other person played the horrible friend who didn’t want to comprise with his friend because he was being mean and egocentric. One other reason we may be the heroes is because we are reluctant to recognize the other person’s pointo of view. For example, when a documentary or news channel covers a story about a sports team that has fought back to win a championship. The form of media hardly recognizes the loser’s efforts because they were just not good enough but yet they were still there. One further reason that we may play the hero is because everyone in one form or another likes to garner attention. Attention is a littel less dramatic but still captures the imagination. I tell stories for a long time before I get to the point because I get to the details as best I can. I remember a few days ago I was talking to a friend that had recently began training to become a firefighter and she really goes into detail about how she has to do so many pushups, situps, and crunches for the whole ordeal. I listen to her amazing story but then I wonder attention is something that almost every human being needs because we all need a filter to shelter out that information.  I remember when the whole deal of detention was over me and my friend patched things up and we played it off like it never happened. The summer has been fun and so has the year so far. At the beginning, there was school and I knew I had to get down to business. Through all the ups and downs (mostly ups and a few downs), I know that I have maintain a positive attitude and be a teacher and a student for myself to keep learning. It was a long spring semester with great conversations, difficult tests, easy quizzes, and some fun homework along the way. I also celebrated my birthday last month with friends and family and I said to myself if only life were this simple but it was good. Summer session is about to end and I couldn’t be happier. Not for the fact that it’s ending but one of the two classes that I took I will be done with and the other(Statistics) I will be retaking in the fall. Statistics was a bit harder than Algebra and even though I didn’t pass I told myself if it were this simple why live life with no problems that have solutions. Last but not least, I can’t forget about my friends that I have met and the ones that I have stuck with me. A few of my friends that I have met at school were a big help and they also encouraged me to not let myself down because I was still going to school at my age. There have also been those that I have gotten to know outside of any school or work. One in particular comes to mind and she has helped me see that life never ends because you’re always meeting new people. They may not appeal to you at first but you get to talk to them and they all have a wonderful story that has no end which I enjoy. In the end, I tell myself it’s good to be alive. I can’t complain because I have a roof over my head, a few dollars, and a great cast of characters that supports me no matter how I do it. I hope to be blogging more in the next week or so because I can’t make up any more excuses because I have whole month before school starts and that should be time aplenty for some blogging, the completion of my uploading of Project 365, and hey maybe even some interesting notes here and there. I’ll be back soon!

Day #262 2/26/12: Oakland A’s baseball in 2007…

Posted on by anele25

I remember 2007 as an odd year and for good reason as I was ending my first year at De Anza College and beginning my second one there some months later. I have a few scattered memories about this year, the 1st being the 1st of the month in January and also some other classic moments such as taking some interesting classes such as mind control, writing classes, and some other good memories. I remember being in class with some good friends laughing and joking at some cool stuff that we found funny but other people didn’t. We made a video game, made speeches about careers, and convinced people of certain things that were not true. Looking back, it kind of reminds me of the TV show Wonder Years where we growing up and having our own personal quests and journeys that we had to embark on. One person went one way and the other people went the other way. I, of course, ended up prolonging my stay at the J.C. known as De Anza and I can’t say I regret it. I had many stages and that first year was one of the funnest times in my life. I hope one day I can once again see those people that I saw in those stages of my first and second years at De Anza.

Day #153 11/9/11: They became the dinosaurs…

Posted on by anele25

A picture of Rasputins music and honestly this picture makes me a little sad because I had gone out this day to buy stuff for me (shaving cream and other food items) but I stopped by to see if they had a CD by Outkast and they did have it. The only problem being, they announced on their doors, going out of business 10% off of everything. I have a lot of memories coming here with family and friends alike and it is very sad to see it go. I am very into buying the whole album instead of just buying the song itself. The days when you would wait for a CD to come out are pretty much dead and I remember when cassettes were being phased out I felt the tone was different because they were almost the same entity. Everything is so compact now that it is virtually impossible not to like it so to that I say if you like it that way, no hard feelings towards you. Either way, a sad day for me and some music lovers alike.