Tag: Life

Day #74 8/21/11: Straight laced normal…

Posted on by anele25
From left to right (2003): My two cousins, My aunt's husband and herself, my other cousin, her mom, my two uncles, my grandma and my mom, my other two aunts and one of their husbands, and last but not least me and brother

As we were driving down to L.A., I felt emotional but a good emotional as we greeted my aunt and her husband and as well as her kids who all remarked that I was normal after not doing things that you would expect from a 23 year old guy. I chatted with my cousins for a bit and I saw that they are quite different from people I know down here. I can understand why they are different so there isn’t much to note there.  We also happened to have a party that night for my aunt and the party was on indeed as much alcohol was drank that night and pretty from what I could tell, everybody drank except for my mom,myself, and the kids. We didn’t go to sleep till around 11 that night and I was very tired that night anyway so I went to sleep expecting to get a rude awakening but the next day, Mexico was locked loaded and ready to go…

Day #73 8/20/11: Pour me a corona when you get there…

Posted on by anele25

A picture of me watching WWE Smackdown after a night where I said goodbye to my friend Ricky on my way to Mexico and that morning I had to take my dog to get groomed as she was very hairy. My brother, myself, and my dad also headed to the airport to rent a car for the drive and it was pretty funny seeing my dad asking so much questions regarding the drive down there but that’s life. When I was getting ready for work, I realized that I just wanted to go in and have a great close so I can leave a lasting mark on my area where I work at the Big Red Machine before I left. Needless to say, it was a homerun out of the park and I did just what I set out to do as I felt positive and optimistic about my night at work. One manager asked me if I was driving down to Los Angeles where I would be catching my flight but I would not be necessarily driving myself but rather my brother was. I also had a request from another supervisor to pour him a corona when I got there and yes I did that. It was a great day as I got that feeling of that time off running around my head as I felt this nostalgia coming along.

Day #69 8/16/11: Hell of a hand…

Posted on by anele25

I helped my brother out this morning to take his rental car to the San Jose airport and needless to say it was an adventure as we both got lost big time and it was a story that can take many hours to explain. I took this picture to remind me that things were so much simpler back then and you didn’t need to really worry about anything but that night as well, I once again started helping again to cook as it has become quite a hobby of mine to find recipes online or in magazines for food as I want to keep the creativity going and I can’t emphasize this enough. But needless to say, a fun night where the A’s magically bust out for a crazy amount of runs and I thought that maybe the next day they would be doomed…

Day #67 8/14/11: The last hurrah…

Posted on by anele25

I don’t say this often but sometimes there are those days where you wish you hadn’t predicted it ending so suddenly. I took this picture to remind me of the good old days of when I would go out with friends and just talk about life, sports, work, and many other things. The same night I hung out with my old friends from work and I knew that night that one era had ended and another one had already begun. I had gone from eating out, spending money anxiously not wanting to look less fortunate in the eyes of my friends, and being this guy who hung around outside of work to something simple. Now, I either go home or I go the gym after work where my money is well spent. I rarely go out after work as it is a little more friendly on the wallet but I enjoy that sheer enjoyment of enjoying life and paying my dues. Thank you Carrows for the great memories I’ll never forget you.

Day #24 7/2/11: Summer Book(s)…

Posted on by anele25

A friend once told me that if I enjoy what I study then read a book about it or even write about it and I have taken that opportunity here. This is the book I picked up back on Thursday and I’m pretty happy that I did so. The day was pretty basic as my dad and myself went to the bank to deposit money and get cash as well and we got some lunch from Chavez supermarket to get ready for wrestling which was actually better than usual as the wrestling world is a buzzing over CM Punk’s latest promo. Needless to say, the best angles in wrestling are those that mirror real life and this is what kind of draws an audience as I saw this promo as sort of a good thing to bigger and better things. I was surprised that not many angles that WWE does these days pay off anymore but this one can’t miss it because when you have that kind of guy with that sense of urgency then you can build off the themes of appreciation and being able to work hard. The rest of the day was pretty fun as I continued reading this amazing book and I am just about ready to dwell into the personality types portion which should be interesting as I am curious as to what type I am as well as my friends as well. Now, it may not be 100% accurate but I’ll take more as a “the more you get to know a person, the more you’ll see this type come out”. Work sucked but it was also pretty cool to work with a good co-worker of mine as we tried our best to piece everything together. I also said goodbye to a good friend/supervisor of mine who is heading out to greater pastures and his advice to me was to go and finish school so I can get my degree and not work where I work. I was happy when he said “doors will open up for you because you have a good head on your shoulders”. This kept me motivated and I know that I am a very smart guy as all I need is to get some outside sources and I should be all right. Otherwise, a very mellow day despite a few mishaps.

Day #13 6/21/11: The truth shall set you free…

Posted on by anele25

This was taken around 1:50 in the morning at 24 hour fitness in San Jose off of Hillsdale which will actually be closing down soon to remodel as this was the beginning of the day for me. I decided to come here for my workout of the night because I hadn’t been there for some time. I felt tired but I felt good after because I know I had done a good job. I thought afterwards that I remembered talking to an old friend of mine right here about some issue that I was having with another friend of mine at the time and how it wasn’t good that I had done that. It was strange because I remembered how much drama that was going on almost 2 years ago. It had been started by me and I was also the one that would continue with it because I felt this friend of mine was a liar, a hypocrite, and also just not flat out not a good friend. I thought later to myself that I had been convinced by other outside sources that this guy was not a good friend and I was listening to them instead of to myself. I ended up making up with this friend of mine not long after this which was almost two weeks later which is when we started having these talks about work, life, other drama which was happening, and those talks really opened my eyes to the world I lived in. I may have thought that the truth shall set you free but this is where at the gym that the truth by my old friend was being told to me about life, problems, and other issues. I believed what I wanted to at the time and this will probably be one of the few times I will head out to the gym because in my case it is too far after to head home. Good memories and good times either way as these were once in a lifetime happenings. I also had the opportunity to BBQ with my family after debating whether to cook inside or not because of how hot it was a week ago. We had chicken, hamburgers, and a little bit of steak which capped off a good night which included me and my mom taking my niece to walk the dog.

It’s like that…what Big Red has given me…

Posted on by anele25

If you really think about it times aren’t that bad
The one that stretches for success will make you glad
Stop playing start praying, you won’t be sad
It’s like that (what?) and that’s the way it is
Huh!-

“It’s like that” by Run-DMC

I say it, I do it, and therefore I am it. I am amazed that for the past three years, I have worked for the Big Red Machine and it has been quite the ride. This past Monday, I watched one of the best wrestlers ever, Triple H, come out and say that he’s seen them all come and go but he’s outlasted them all. I kind of feel like a Triple H as I see no challenges but I still try my best to pass on the knowledge that I have gathered while being there. Whether they like it or not, the more mistakes you make the more experience you’ll gain. I still make my share of mistakes but I try the best to minimize them. I now think back that these past three years I have been with this company and I love the fact that I have learned so much from this place. When I first started working there, I was shy and really moody when it came to work. I believe the reason that I was like this was because I hadn’t really been in a working environment and I was trying my best to impress my peers and bosses. I tried my best to interact with people but I could see that only one guy would give me my chance. This guy was cool and sort of cocky but he took me under his wing. After a few months, I changed my tone and my working style as well. I tried my best to become less stressed and focus on becoming friendlier with people as well. The best gift that the Big Red Machine gave me was the ability to interact with a good pool of talent and observe anywhere from 20-50 different personalities in my time there. I’ve seen guys that love sports and when they love sports, I discuss sports with them as we did our best to get our work done as well as being able to discuss life problems, issues, pay, work, and gossip. I interacted with personalities that taught me a lot and I am thankful for that. I have had my mentors, my brother types, my buddies, and people I am indifferent towards. I am most thankful for the brother types and also my mentors. What I learned from each of these people was that no matter the circumstances, never change. Sometimes, it is necessary to have to change your personality for certain people but whenever I talk to somebody at Big Red, I have learned that it is best to stay relaxed and not to lose your cool. I have given the best I could almost every night, and it doesn’t matter who is working or who I’m working with, I have given it the best no matter the circumstances. Even though I do it less so now, I used to complain a lot that I didn’t have enough money to go hang out with my co-workers and my friends after work and I did end up spending tons of money on food, far trips away to cities here in the bay area, bowling, pool, crazy driving around to these random places, and so forth. I don’t regret many of those trips because I got to understand that some people are sent here to us for a reason, whether it be good or bad. I would get paid and then go deposit my check the next day, which would result on me spending anywhere from 10-40 dollars in one night or multiple nights. I would spend my money because my buddies had the money, so why shouldn’t I have the money. Other times, I would do so to fit in. I gave every last penny just so I could feel good about sharing food with somebody or compromising with a few co-workers in order to play poker or play monopoly. There is something about sharing food with somebody or playing a game with somebody that brings it together that is hard to imagine. I remember numerous times, I would share food with a co-worker of mine and early on when we were getting to know each other, we would go out to eat every night. That is one of the strongest gifts, big red has given me and I miss it at times but  nothing is meant to last forever. Even playing poker taught me that these games are seen as nothing more than a money driven game, with the strive to be the best. I am glad I got to do these things because nothing beats learning and making mistakes. Working with older people, I gave them the benefit the doubt about who they were or what they were about. Two of my mentors there, one of whom still works there, I particularly saw them as sharp and very quick witted. I remember talking to both of them very much and I saw them as wise for the age that they were both doing the job. Here I am, at 20, 21, and 22 and I am hanging with this guy in his mid-30’s and another turning 50, learning every little thing I could. I learned that these guys had years of experience and the relationships I established with these guys had me feeling that human communication is essential in life. Nobody learns this world of experience from just sitting in a room as my friend said a month or two ago. I learned from the guy in his mid-30’s that no matter how old you are, it is never too late to get a new start in life and staying optimistic is a key to staying young and looking young. I learned from my other mentor that we were like father and son in another life (at least from my point of view). He told me how he had lost everything, his family, his daughters, his jobs, his flooded house here in this area, and most of all he told me some of the biggest mistakes I was making at work were serving as a lesson. We got along so well and we still do, as we are so alike in so many things as he still gives me advice, gives me his opinions, and we treat it like no other. Most of all I have learned about success and failure. My Economics teacher in high school said something that still sticks out in my mind and that is you have to realize when you have been beaten. My failures have ranged from failed attempts at trying to get with a number of women there, feuding with co-workers over petty issues, being cited for not performing for how I should have, being called out for small things, and many other things. What I learned from each of these experiences was that it matters a great deal how others perceive you but reaching out to others and asking for feedback is the most important thing you can do as it allows for a test of what you can do in the next time. I would ask people as to why I wouldn’t be recognized enough or why I wasn’t getting the accolades I thought I deserved at the time and I would never get a clear answer. But I asked myself, is it really worth it to keep asking why I wasn’t getting enough love at work? The first time I got my review there, I was discouraged easily as I didn’t get the raise I thought I deserved. I kept my head up and then I realized that giving all this effort had to involve me putting talent over, helping others, being a better communicator, being more of an asset, and also being there when I was needed. I was glad that I did this because working with all this new talent after about a year made me realize that teaching people is something we should all strive for. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Chris Jericho once said that if you teach somebody ten things and they take one of those and implement one of those then you’ve done your job. I’ve given advice to people, worked with people on different work styles, given motivation, and the energy has to be there for there to be any sort of interaction. I can say that is the one that I’ll take the most with me as I head into my time remaining at Big Red. To end this, I want to give a special shout out to my niece Jazmin as she gave me reason for hope as she is growing pretty fast and I recently saw that she has started doing some walking as she went walking towards my mom.

Stay tuned for the Next blog:

The Elimination Chamber from Oakland this past February 20, 2011

with Pictures:)



One year ago…On this date

Posted on by anele25

“Stay far from timid
Only make moves when ya heart’s in it
And live the phrase Sky’s The Limit”

-Notorious B.I.G. on “Sky’s the Limit”

December 30th 2009, I remember this date for a couple of reasons.

(1) It was a Wednesday and my one time friend C.J. and I would always try to hang out on Wednesday and we knew we had to end the year on a bang.

(2) I have a vivid image in my head of myself raking leaves and texting my good friend Rick while he was work asking if I was going to the famous “Dave and Buster’s” here in the Bay Area.

and #3

We had a small reunion of “Big Red Machine” employees (current and former) at Dave Buster’s, which believe it or not probably was just about timing.

I remember on this one time adventure, my buddy C.J., was out with foot tendinitis and he wasn’t in the best of conditions to move around so I was sympathetic to his cause. I remember a little after myself and Rick were texting each other, I felt the wanting of getting us three back together to hanging out once again. I enjoyed the company of both of them and I especially wanted Rick there because he was and is an all around great friend. So, as I’m sitting at home anticipating reading about the wrestling rumors, I get a text from Rick asking if we were doing anything later that night and I replied that we were thinking of hitting up Dave and Buster’s. I went outside sometime afterward and started raking leaves. It was a little chilly but I got through it by being warmed up with a heavy sweater and a beanie. I remember waiting for my friend Rick to text me back about what the plan was and I was excited because the year had been so up and down in terms of work, school, and life. He told me that he was off at seven and I told him we could do him the favor (meaning myself and C.J.) of picking him up from work. He worked at a local mall and C.J. lived really close to the mall so it was really convenient for everybody. I waited anxiously to see if C.J. would come through and join us as well and low and behold he called me at about 5 P.M. that day and I told him that Rick was “free” and “back”. I sounded gitty and excited from what my voice was saying over the telephone, yet I knew that I was justified in what I was saying. These two got to know me and I got to know them which felt better than ever because each stage of my life I have found that I find new friends that I can share things with. Some I have kept, others I don’t ever hear from again for various reasons. As I went to pick up my mom, I got a call from Rick and he to was waiting for what was to come so I told him what was going on. I waited till seven so that we can all go together but Rick let me know just as I was getting closer to C.J.’s house that he was going to stay to work for another hour or so and he would meet us there at Dave and Buster’s. I felt a bit disappointed but I felt that as long as he went everything would be cool. I picked up C.J. and I told him the sort of shocking news but on the way there we just discussed football, which at that point in time took up a majority of our conversations. I was excited that my year was coming to this sort of end and it was almost like it was meant to be as I was trying to look my best with a green sweater and Lee jeans. We went around playing monopoly, the fishing game, and a few arcades till rick got there. I waited till he got there and I was a little anxious as he was nowhere to be seen for close to an hour. I finally spotted him passing by with his girlfriend. I didn’t think that he would be coming with her but I didn’t mind that he did so because he was trying to provide a comfortable setting for himself. I started chatting with him a bit but it felt out of place because it was so loud with so many people there just chatting away about nothing. He and I always used to have a running gag whereby one of us or both of us would tell each other that we needed to talk, which depending on the circumstances, would be serious or not serious. He told me that he needed to talk and I didn’t take him that serious yet I understood if he really did want to talk. We went around a little bit passing by all the games and then all of a sudden we saw one of our co-workers drunk which surprised me because she didn’t seem like the type to drink. She gave Rick’s girlfriend a hug because they are good friends and I thought to myself who in the world is that at first. I then saw that it was her and I was shocked. She asked us if I still worked at night and I remember she was talking about she had to work at 6 the next day and I thought in my head a bit after wards that I couldn’t imagined how she can go into work after a night like this. I also remember my friend Rick remarking that this is like a “Big Red Machine reunion” which made me chuckle because it really was but it was strange because it took place on one of the last days of the year and we all seemed like smart, ambitious college students. I knew each of us were really smart and we had so much more to offer the world. I knew that Rick, myself, and C.J. were smart and I knew that Rick’s girlfriend and her friend were in school excelling at high levels. We said our goodbyes that night and myself and C.J. went to grab some In-N-Out Burger which was nearby and we just gossiped like a bunch of women about football and the crazy night. I was happy that we got to experience hanging out one last time for the year was close to ending. My heart was into it that night and I wasn’t shy about getting the “big 3” back together again and I felt like we each had a lot to offer the world. We had a mixture of experience, sociology, history, philosophy, psychology, politics, and we were still learning. I think to myself, and I see how much things have changed and I’m glad I got to do that at that time. I have no regrets and I see that the “Sky is the Limit:. We’ve all grown immensely this year and some have gone onto future endeavors but that is there personal decision, Life changes and people change, some for the better some for the worse:

I’ll be back with another commentary for the last post of the year but until then here’s something I discovered last night:

Remembering VCR’s and VHS’s…

Posted on by anele25

“In a New York Minute, everything can change, In a New York minute, things can get really strange.”

-Don Henley on New York Minute

This past week, I decided to dig up some old tapes that I had. Now, these tapes ranged from this TV show I used to watch that was called El Chavo Del Ocho, Vicente Fernandez concerts, as well as Alejandro Fernandez concerts, and also old wrestling tapes. What was surprising was that I also dug up some old Christmas tapes as well. I was thinking in my head that this was everything was simple and technology had not advanced. The reason we use the technology we have now is because it is convenient and accessible. Everything is so different than it was 3 or 4 years ago when I was still taping things on a VCR. I was surprised when I especially found the old wrestling tapes and the amount of wrestling I had on there was stupendous even to me. I found stuff I don’t even recall taping such as this street fight between two very accomplished wrestlers in Edge and Shawn Michaels. I thought about what was going on in my life at that time. I remember I was still in my Junior in High School and I was engaged in reading Catcher in The Rye. I was also busy trying to get ready to pass my license test that I prepared for at least 3 months in advance (taking into account that this was in February. I was astonished that watching the Christmas tape as well as to how much of a spoiled little kid I was. I wasn’t proud of what I saw on the tape because I was trying to get all my presents first before anyone else. I was hogging the camera spotlight trying to be something I wasn’t. I also saw myself in the tape speaking English and Spanish, yet Spanish was not as advanced as English. I look back on that and see how much things have changed since we had that Christmas in 1997. That was one of my favorite years in my life as many great things happened that year to make my life a pleasure. I had my mom, my dad, my brother, my uncle, my aunt’s husband, my uncle’s wife and his kid, my other uncle, his wife, and their daughter, and also our next door neighbors there as well. That was one of the last times that we were all together as we have kind of drifted apart to different parts of the the San Jose area, and/ or moved away to Mexico due to economic circumstances. I was also happy to watch some parts of a El Chavo del Ocho tape I found too. When I started watching El Chavo in 2003, I had just moved to the West part of San Jose and I had little to any hope of actually staying in contact with my old friends from the old apartments. I completed my first year of high school at Homestead High School and that was the only time I got to see them. However, when I would take the ride home it was fun and exhausting  because most of the time I would take two buses to my house and I remember being a little tired from starting at 7:30 in the morning to almost 3 P.M. I didn’t have anybody to talk to when I got home but I just remember the year before, my mom and I went to Mexico in August of 2001 and this show came on that was both funny and educational. My Grandma, myself, my mom, and my grandma’s brother would watch the show when it would come on at night for about a week or tow before we had to leave. I always laughed the hardest when Chavo would would say something dumb to Don Ramon and Don Ramon would hit him on the head. I also laughed a lot whenever the kids (Chavo, Quico, Chilindriana, and Nono) would cry for whatever reason. I was amazed watching the show because it taught me a lot about comedy and how it doesn’t need to involved sick,crude jokes, and it doesn’t need to involve cuss words to bring about humor as well. I was a little sad when we had to leave to come back home because I didn’t know if I would ever watch the show again. Well, one day I was flipping through the channels and I saw El Chavo on and I started watching it a bit. There wasn’t much of a choice as to what I could do because my friends had were now away from me. I thought to myself ‘hey this is pretty funny’ and then I had the idea of taping the show which low and behold I ended up with 12 tapes of El Chavo del Ocho, which, I told my dad were for sort of a time capsule from a period in my life. I can say that recording those episodes were apart of what got me through the early part of high school because I looked forward to see what the antics would be Don Ramon, Dona Florinda, El Chavo, Quico, and the rest of characters as well. Watching the concerts a bit also surprised me because I forget I had even recorded some of Don Vicente and Alejandro Fernandez. But, above all the wrestling still shocked me when I found some stuff that I don’t recall taping at all. For example, I found a match with the legendary Ric Flair against a guy that was supposed to be one of WWE’s future stars in Carlito. Now, granted Carlito never made it huge, and rightfully so being a wrestler with a “bright future” does not guarantee anything and yet he still managed to have a wonderful match with Flair. I still get a bit of nostalgia when I think of a live event I went to here in San Jose where these two put on almost a similar match yet the one on TV went a bit longer. After watching a few matches, I realized that taping stuff (whatever it may be and NOT on a DVR) really makes you think back and say: I remember that or ‘I taped that, really’? I felt better watching those because I realized even with stuff we have now, it is simpler, yet our kids will never know that we actually had to sit in front of a TV to wait for something to come on. It feels better to wait for something to come on because it is that much sweeter and much more satisfying. We have everything at the touch of a button now, or we have phones that can bring food to your house, and we also have the ability to pay things electronically instead of actually paying it in person. It’s not at all bad, yet some things were better when we had the ability when we could actually do things in person. It goes back to the whole Facebook argument in that we don’t have to see these people face to face we just have to send them a message and then they’re our friends. I’d like to end this by adding that if “Life wasn’t a challenge it wouldn’t be fun” good day to all (Go A’s):

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:)