Tag: I-5

One year ago was March 29th 2011. One year ago, I was coming back from Anaheim with my brother, his wife, his wife’s sister, and his mother in law. I was tired and frankly I felt bad because I had gained so much weight. I knew I was going to pig out a bit but looking back it wasn’t that bad because I was on vacation and it was the first one that I had taken in some time. The day started off with noisy kids and that was because my niece and her cousin were ready to go telling by there whining and crying. That was understandable as the sun was hot that day in Anaheim and we were all getting ready to hit the road. I remember my IPOD Touch was dying as I had no battery left almost from three days of travel and it sucked that I had no charger with me. My phone charger for my primary phone had also recently stopped working on that trip because the wire got messed up somehow and I wasn’t too pleased with that either. I wondered then, do I really need technology to survive? That whole weekend was filled was filled with fun and excitement as our buddy down here in Mountain View got married and that was the main reason why we originally went down to San Diego and then to Anaheim. That whole weekend was also the weekend of Wrestlemania 26 (currently playing on WWE 24/7). I remember waiting anxiously to get home because of the fact that one of the greatest careers ever had come to an end. Shawn Michaels had decided he wanted to hang em up and he went out with a bang. The night before (on sunday), I anxiously hoped that my IPOD would not die and I waited constantly to see if and how the card of Wrestlemania was going. I waited so long for the main event of Shawn/Undertaker because of how much those two had an impact on my childhood. I saw them so much on TV that they were almost of iconic status to me and I was afraid for Shawn now that he was putting his career on the line. Waking up was no easy task either as I dragged my stuff to the rental truck we had as my brother tried his hardest to tie all the bags on top and he also had to tend to his “family’s” needs. My brother is quiet, helpful, willing to say words that have meaning when needed, and he also is very passive aggressive at times. I saw this while he was tying the bags and all the luggage. This made me kind of sad because as the older brother you are supposed to be the role model and also the one people look up to. But, here I saw how much he gets crap by his secondary family and he has no real comeback for much of what they say. For example, I see how sometimes he gets these lectures from his wife and he has nothing to really counteract her sayings or her demands. I can see how sometimes my brother may demand too much or has too much of an old school macho mentality but if people like that hassle him so much, why doesn’t he stand up for himself once in a while? I can see situations where he wants to please his girlfriends family or maybe he doesn’t want to cause any trouble but I see something inside him that makes me want to be like him. Even here, I saw how much he was willing to show his love for everybody traveling with us. He did almost 90 % of the driving in this case on the trip as he wouldn’t let anybody else near the wheel. That right there showed his willingness to be able to take care of those close to him. As we were driving off towards our reality I realized how much harder my brother has it than I did at the time. He didn’t do it for personal gain to start a family but he wanted others to be happy as well. He wanted my mom and dad to be happy as well as his girlfriend in this case as well. What got me was how much he tried to hold his anger in and he never ever resorts to violent tactics in any sort of way. I thought about how much this vacation was for the better anyway because I was so burnt out on life, school, and work. I had never given myself the chance to breathe and take every little detail in on what was going on around me. I was going so fast and I had little chance to stop and think that a little relaxation and rest does the body really well in times of need. On my way back, I tried my best to keep chatter going with my brother because I knew at some point that this new family of his must have been driving him insane at this point. We talked about wrestling, sports, our dog, plans when we got back, life, and the epic I-5 which is no easy task unto itself. I thought about also the ever impending classes that I was going to take with an old friend of mine and how much I was going to have fun. To tell the honest truth, that quarter at school gave me hope that my friend and I would ultimately be friends forever. As it got closer, I was amazed at the fact that this friend of mine was willing to take these exciting classes with me for the sheer joy of accompanying me towards “being ready”. I don’t know what that meant at the time but as that time got closer I was convinced that my friend and I would excel essentially at the promises of being in the same classes together. He would constantly talk about how much girls would talk to him and I. I was saying to myself dude that sounds great, I can’t wait! Looking back, the hype to taking classes with him was more exciting than the actual classes but that’s another story. Anyways, I remember on the way back, my brother’s technical mother in law realized when we stopped at a gas station that she might have left her wallet there which was confusing as to why she would leave it there. We were already on our way back when she told my brother to pull back and go back to see if it was there. She looked through the trash, through the gas pumps, and other things as well. But then, my brother’s girlfriend saw that she had left the wallet under her seat which left me dumbfounded and made me feel stupid. One for the fact that this lady wasn’t really looking for her wallet for any real purpose, and two, all she had in there was a blockbuster card and her ID. From that time till we got home, I kinda stayed quiet because I realized then that my brother’s new family wasn’t very keen on keeping their priorities straight and do things how they want to do them. They always have to be right which disappoints me anytime I hear them having conversations with others. Once we got home, I waited for my brother to unload my stuff and then I saw how one of my brother’s compadre was treating him. This compadre of his was yelling at him and giving him instructions on what to do after wards which really upset me because my brother had no chance in this situation. My aunt from Mexico had also recently come to visit us from Mexico and they were already at our house when we got home. I saw my dog was in a room all by herself and I was so happy to see her when I did see her. I gave my greetings to all my aunt’s family but after I had to leave to go and accompany my brother to take the rental truck back to the airport. It was a long drawn out process because my brother was still getting crap from his family and I just went home wondering how does he handle all that? I sat down and watched maybe the last time that I got to watch Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Undertaker on the same show. I had nostalgia that night as I saw Shawn Michaels show real emotion to wrestling fans and wrestling pros alike as he poured his heart out to everyone that came to see him that night. I was a little saddened too as I sat there thinking this is the end of one of the greatest careers ever. Then, I just sat back and relaxed the rest of the night. It was one of those days where you don’t think about anything and you saw a lot of good unraveling around you. I got to see what human relationships do to people, how well others treat each other, and most of all I got to see real people saying real things that they meant. I also felt that this was one of my favorite days in my life as I saw what it meant to be living and to be free amongst myself. Till Next Time!