Life in the Fast Lane

Last friday, as i stood in jamba juice catching up with friends, at 11:20 PM, a 2004 Ford Mustang traveling east on Petaluma Rd. going 80 mph. lost control, hit a ditch, flipped over onto its roof and skid 80 feet before finally coming to rest. the driver, a 16 yr. old star runningback for my old highschool's football team. there were 3 other passengers in the car. all between the ages of 15 and 16. another boy and 2 girls. all 4 survived the crash... so far. the driver suffered colapsed lungs and was released monday. the front passenger suffered a broken shoulder and other bumps and bruises. one rear passenger suffered severe lacerations to the face. she underwent reconstructive surgeory and MAY fully recover. the other rear passenger wasnt as lucky. he suffered a broken vertebrae that doesnt apear to be causing any paralysis, but he also suffered a bruise to the brain which has left him unconscious and clinging for his life. he was also a star athlete.. on the basketball team. this accident has really chaken up the city. my brother knew the guuy in the back. our neighbor knew both the girls. and they have caused a bottleneck at both of the hospitols they were taken to. anyways, where the accident took place, i have driven down maybe 6 times. i must admit, i too would drive a hair over the limit in the area.. as it is often deserted and a nice drive. i dont think i will drive there quite the same from now on.. just cuz. not because i think its cursed.. but just because i will always know what happened there. i just hope they all pull through ok.

on a similar note... the city seems to have moved on, driving wise... i drove a co-worker home and on our way, at 5 consecutive intersections, we saw some of the worst examples of driving. ever. lets start at the top... first, as i made a left turn i was almost hit by an explorer aproaching the intersection FAR TO QUIKLY and over shot the crosswalk by a few feet. which had i been a few seconds behind, would have taken him straight into my rear fender. on the next intersection we came across a riced out Volvo... yeah thats right a Volvo wagon that was lowered, tinted, modded and with black racing wheels and tires. and this particular one aproached the intersection in a cloud of smoke. he then proceeded to speed past me and weave in and out of both lanes. and continues on his antics through the next intersection. after making a left onto another street we then aproached another intersection where the car in front of us almost ran head on into an on coming car that decided they could make a left turn in front of him. luckily he stopped and avoided the collision. my co-worker and i were in utter disbelief. then, as we aproached another intersection, a VW Beetle 2 cars in front of us made a left turn and almost hit 3 pedestrians who were trying to cross the street. it was freakin weird. never have a seen such an utter disregard for the law. i was actually getting scared... there was no telling what brainless driver i would encounter at the next intersection. luckily i through fait a loop by arriving at my co-workers house and pulling out of traffic. at long last. i made it home with out incedent. but boy was that 6 block endeaver weird.

All Things Must Pass

moving on...

i got nuthin.

geez! did i do anything interesting today?
lets see.... i hoke up, showered, had lunch, wne to work, came home, retrieved some sign riders for work from a property way out in the middle of no where. but it was a nice housae with lots of acreage. it is being sold for over 3 million dollars. i guess that was the highlight of the day. cuz when we got back we went to staples and then to K Mart in search of stuff for my posters. i bought some spray adhesive at staples and some thumb tacks at kmart. what i really need are some of those plastic tabs found on the backs of foam board posters so that they can be ponted on a single tack. hey i know, i'll tell you about sunday...

on sunday, we decided to check out ARF Tony LaRussa's animal rescue center in walnut creek. my sister has been wanting a dog (puppy) for some time now. it was quite a place. the dog and cat "cages" were more like rooms. each ccat room housed 2 cats, 2 little house thingsd and a litter box and a glass door. these animals probably never had it so good. the dogs' digs were a bit more sparce, but they still had good sized rooms with their own beds. it was pretty sweet. unfortunately the dogs my sister was inetersted in were all adopted already. but we now know where it is, how to get there and they have our profile on file. on the way back we drove through berkley and decided to check out their animal shelter and The Art Store. the shelter gave promise as there were a pair of Chihuahua mix puppies who were currently under quarantine. we plan on calling tomorow (tuesday) to find out what their status is. at the art store i picked up some foam board to mount my posters on (which i did today. i mounted my Led Zep black light poster. it came out really nice. pics to follow as soon as i can get it on the wall... now only the Grateful Dead psoetr remains.) and some glow-in-the dark paint to do some artowrk on my walls. (pics of that will follow as well as soon as my freakin printer starts working so i can print out some stencils) my ultimate goal is to make a "dark side of the moon" black light poster. but thats gonna be quite a task.

wow. that was much longer than i first anticipated. who'da thunk.

Moore's Code

yesterday, i saw Fahrenheit 9/11. for those of you who don't know it is Michael Moore's (Bowling for Columbine) latest contraversial documentary. in his film he criticizes the president's decision to invade Iraq after 9/11. his primary reasoning is that Iraq and the attack on the WTC were completely unrelated. also, he questions the president's loyalties with evidence that the president has finantial ties to the taliban through his oil ventures and other coporations. it was extremely interesting, and disturbing, how everything seemed to connect. even more disturbing was how much evidence there was to prove that everything was connected. but most disturbing, were the images of the war. the raw, uncensored images of actual war.

watching soldiers in iraq and watching the aftermath of what we did. it was.... indescribable. the movie portrayed soldiers when they first arived, and what their spirits were like. and as the movie progressed, you saw the difference in the soldiers quite obviously. looking at them, i couldnt help putting myself in their shoes. and that alone scared the shit out of me. i began to see the faces of my friends. and what it would be like to have to watch one of them die. or to have to leave them behind and go off to war. or to recieve their last letter after having heard that they were killed in combat. needless to say, the images and thoughts that went with them were, for lack of a better word, devastating. to watch the proud mother of an army soldier transform into the grieving mother of casualty of war. and to watch her visit washington d.c. and nearly colapse in utter anguish at the sight of the white house. that was difficult to watch.

anyways, in conclusion, i highly recomend everyone who symble upon this go out and watch this documentary. whether or not you agree with moore and his postion and/or his actions, you must see this movie; if only to get another perspective on events. the perspective not spoon fed to you by the media..... or worse, FOX.


P.S. for those of you who don't know the title "Fahrenheit 9/11" is in reference to Fahrenheit 451 a book by Ray Bradbury about a totalitarian government that uses fear through filtered media and false information to control society. The written word is outlawed and books are systematicaly burned. (451 degrees fahrenheit is the temperature at which books burn.)

Day Tripper

i left work at about 12:45 and drove from there straight down to the city. first stop was arash's. i had bought him a model at Wal Mart that i had to drop off. i got to his house at around... 3:00. so... descent time when you consider i hit a patch of traffic. we hung out for a couple hours talking about suff. he showed me his new car. his precious '85 porsche 944.

at around five i finally headed over to nathan's to help build his computer. i got a message about halfway there that he forgot to order the MOTHERBOARD. yes. its as important as it sounds. it is the ONE thing that EVERYTHING plugs into. of all pieces..... he forgot the motherboard. thats like... thats like...... trying to build a car without a chasis. so we basicly left a mess of parts in his livingroom while we went into his room to do stupid random stuff. like watch TV and the end of kill bill. once that was done i took nathan and C.J. to DNA comics in Pacifica.

after that i gave jessica a call and she was at a friends house in Daly City and prepairing to go "clubbin." great. so.... she invited me over to hangout for a bit... but i was in pacifica, and i relaly wanted to just hang out and like grab some coffee and talk and catch up and stuff.... not sit there on a couch in a strange house with strange people until they decide to leave. that didnt sound like fun to me. so i decided to pass and i instead headed to jamba juice to see what rene was up to. and much to my surprise, she was making smoothies. another interesting thing was that johnny was there. now, i know he works there, but it seems everytime i go there, he is there. its weird. i guess. or not. i dunno. anyways, i stood around talking to johnny and watching rene franticly make smoothies for almost 2 hours. i didnt get to talk to rene much, but it was still fun to watch things go on and stuff. it was good times. i'll be back soon. i promise.

San Franciscan Nights

so ive set plans in motion to be able to visit the city tomorow. i moved work to the morning. arash wants me to pick up a part for his precious car. and i even got ahold of jessica and maybe we can get together and hang out and do something. i told rene that i may drop by her place of business, jamba juice, if i make it down. and ken is helping nathan build his computer. wow. if things go right i may see ALL my friends in one big shot. that would be cool. no. that would be fucking awesome.

but no. my mom has to complicate things by saying that she told me since before that i could NOT go into the city this weekend. thats great, i thought, since i am going friday. but suddenly, according to the roman catholic calender of MY MOTHER friday is now a weekend. so... if i dont go to the city, i dont go to work. as i dont work on weekends. if she thinks she can keep me from squandering my careful planning of going into the city to see friends, some of wich i havent seen in over a year, she is mistaken. i dont give a flying fuck what she threatens to do to whatever she comes up with. (she tends to threaten my belongings for some weird mexican reason) so, fuckit. i'm gone. i'll see you guys tomorow.

Gimme Shelter

< political >
How many heads does it take to change a Bush? GODDAMNIT! how many will it take? first 2 americans, now a S. Korean. I'd like to see Bush explain that one. damnit i'm so pissed. such senseless death. why?!? i guess the fact that its senseless implies that there is no reason why. no logical reason anyway. some say for democracy. some say for god. but in my opinion, there is no REASON to KILL anyone. blinded by political poppycock.
< /political >

Ruby Tuesday

freakin weird. I was about to start cleaning my room. I started at my table, where sits a Manila envelope box (from work) full of various papers. On top, in a corner are a bunch of post cards. I immediately remember that Melissa said she was gonna send me a postcard if she got the chance. I pondered that for a second or two. I then started to flip through the post cards. About 80-90% of them are from Portugal. WHOA. Most of them are not written on, which tells me they are prolly from my uncle, who travels a lot. He prolly bought a bunch and brought them to me after he got back from wherever he was (which was apparently Portugal). Some of them look pretty old. Anyways, I then hear the sound of the mailman and his reckless driving outside my bedroom window. I go out. And there is a postcard in the mail that looks STRIKINGLY similar to those on my desk. Just really weirded me out.

Sweet Emotion

HOLY SHIT! not only did i get A's in Speech, Sociology and Art.... but io managed a B in Humanities... a class in wich i thought i was in danger of failing. W00T!!!!! AND i got "deans highest honor" in my speech class... i think. finally. some good fricking news! YAY ME! ok... i'm done.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

ever since i have been out of school, life has been rather.. lonely. i assumed the lack of human interaction that i have had to endure would bother just about anyone. i was wrong...

Can you imagine how much i love the internet? It eliminates the need for 90% of daily interaction.
- Arash

i really dont know what to say to that. except maybe.... wanna trade houses?

Black Dog

after a failed attempt last night, i took my cousins over to a local coffee place called Deaf Dog for a morning hang out. there was a garage sale by our house, more of a moving sale really, and they had a bunch of good stuff. icluding a meditation mat and cusion. the color matched my cousin's bedroom so i messaged her while i was there and she seemed interested, so i bought it for her, it was 10 bucks for the pair, and took over to her house. we then left from there to Deaf Dog and eventually Jungle Vibes, a really cool toy/import store (think disovery channel store meets pier 1) but way cooler. anyways, they had a cusion/mat combo that looked exactly like the one she just got.. only they were a different color. the cusion was 75 and the mat 60. dollars. she waas really happy about her purchase then. anyways, we browsed a bit, then drove back to my house to check out the sale again. they didnt see anything else they wanted so we came back here to hang out. it was really good times.

unfortunatley, that was several hours ago. and now im bored as all hell. i played splinter cell for a while, but i suck. i guess i need to practice. oh well... back to doing what i was doing before.

nothing at all.

Here Comes The Sun

after coming home i decided to go up to rohnert park for some In N Out. this is the view i had while eating. cool huh? (it wasnt that dark, its just that the sun was so bright compared to the clouds and ground and stuff.)

I Can See For Miles

this is where i was a few days ago. just chillin, enjoying the weather, the view and the company (online). it was good times indeed. this picture says it all. both the 2 lots in the foreground will soon be houses and the spot where i am standing is already a mini-col de sac for 4 houses that will eventually be built right there. construction is almost done on a fifth nearbye. and it will all be gated off upod completion so the residents can enjoy it in piece. the bastards.

Good Times, Bad Times

work was dead. only worked for like an hour and a half before there was nothing left to do. and after that, there was nothing. didn't want to go home. so, instead, i went home, grabbed my camera, and left. i had the intention of setting out for a nice view where i could park, snap a few pics and sit and use my sidekick. but of course, i could decide on a place, and the more i looked, the more i kept mobing on. i ended up circumnavigating the city. it was something. but mostly, a waste of gas.

when i got home from that little adventure my cousin showed up and eventually needed a ride home. so, i took him homw and my family eventually joined me there and we stayed for sime dinner and stuff. i got to hang out with my other cousins and it was generally good time. we tried to head out for coffee about 3 1/2 hours ago, but everywhere was closed. o well.

thats all i got. sorry.

turn off the window, its getting loud in here!!!!

over heard last night:

my brother to my mom: I cant hear you"

he then proceeds to turn on a light. somehow his twisted little mind decided that the extra light would improve his chances of hearing her....

my mom in response to the blinding light: "TURN OFF THE WINDOW!"

WOW... JUST WOW.

i am now stupider having been here to experience that.

look over there ->

id like to direct your attention to the side bar. under the links section you will find a new name. everyone go welcome my friend christina to the blogging community. the more the merrier!!!

mmm... free food

i had this punch card for panda express for a little over a year. getting it punched whenevr i got a "2 item combo" so that i can unlock special free food. today, was redeeming day. i saved up all the free stuff for one complete meal. so today, for lunch, i had a 2 item combo of sweet and sour pork and orange chicken with chowmein and steamed rice, a veggy spring roll and a 220z. Dr. Pepper. and it was all free. w00t!

it was wuite a bit of food and i wasnt particularly hungry... so i only ate about half, planning to eat the rest tomorow. but as luck should have it, my mom decided it was too hot for cooking and made tuna sandwiches for dinner. i HATE tuna. no.. wait. i HATE canned tuna. i'll eat tuna steak, or tuna in sushi, but i cant eat canned tuna. and so there stood what was left of my lunch. so while my family sucked down what is usually a mediocre lunch, i had chinese food.

a not-so-ancient proverb:
in the land of tuna sandwiches, the man with half a 2 item combo from Panda Express is king.

parting is such sweet sorrow

my best friend leaves tomorow for Portugal. i saw her for the last time today. ill talk to her, i hope, online tonight. damnit. what am i gonna do at 2 am for the next month?!?!?

not looking forward to the next month at all. something better come up that piques my interest. otherwise. ill be bored.

here is a pic from last year. the theme was michaelangelo and this is the center piece: the cieling of the sistine chapel.

a bunch of different pieces from one side 

several works in progress 

this one was also very beautiful. unfortunatley it was smudged by.. something. too bad. 

this one was very beautiful. one of my favorites. 

this one was very interesting. using coins to add some sparkle 

and yet another. also quite good 

another unfinished 

an unfinished, but very good so far. 

and of course.... it wouldnt be Da Vinci without her. 

Part 4 

Part 3 

Part 2 

part 1 of the cantral piece. Da Vinci was the theme this year btw. 

Another very nice one. 

this was probably one of the most impressive ones at the fair.. aside from the central piece. 

Name that myth! 

a Georgia O'Keefe on the left, and unknown on the right. but i liked it, so i took a pic of that one too. 

This one was quite nice. anyone recognize it? 

so begins the San Rafeal Italian Youth Street Painting Album of 2004. This is one of the first ones i came across and it was quite colorful and stuff. so i took a pic. 

Haary Pawtuh

decided on harry potter. not a bad flick. it was a nice departure from the usual. after the movie we went to borders. i didnt get anything because there was no way i could decide on just one thing. so many CDs, movies, books and not enough money and/or time in the world. well i supose all the money in the world would have made it quite a bit less time consuming.... w/e.

really looking forward to the street art though. i'll prolly blog while im there. if only i had a camera thing for the old sidekick. HINT HINT!!!!!!!!

good times are on the horizon

today i think my dad is gonna take us to the movies. harry potter 3 or shrek 2? i'm not all that excited about either of them at the moment... but its something. and it should prove entertaining.

tomorow we will go down to san rafael for the italian street artists thing. i forget exactly what its called, but basicly they close off downtowd san rafael and grid up the street and volunteer artists do this amayzing street art with chalk. this year's thjeme is Da Vinci as it is suposedly the 500th birthday of the Mona Lisa (give er take) so there will prolly be alot of de vinci pieces including what i imagine will be a huge representation of the mona lisa. last year they did the Sistine Chapel cieling at full scale. it was incredible. this time, i'll take my camera.

anyone have any ideas on how i can share said pictures?

lets have a moment of music

in honor of the great ray charles.

WHOA!

holy crap. i just checked my Gmail... and i am already using up 6 MBs. that is the size of my entire Yahoo Acct. HOLY CRAP!!!! i love this thing.

in other news, one of my best friends is leaving next tuesday for portugal. she'll be gone for a month. thomas is sad. i'm thinking of making a CD for her to take with her. any ideas guys?

now accepting requests...

not a bad weekend overall

family came up for my mom's bday. friday i took her out to applebee's. saturday: barbecue at my uncles. sunday: brunch at IHOP and apetizers at McNear's (local restaurant thats freakin great.) good times all around were had. i really have not much to complain about, for a change. how was your people's weekends?

btw... anyone have/or have seen those glow-in-the dark ceiling star stickers. well i took a couple planets off my sisters cieling and stuck em to my glasses. i then closed my blinds and turned on my 48 inch blacklight. BOOM! instant freaky eyes.

arent you guys sick?

arent you guys sick of looking at my ass over there -> ? i know i am. who wants to buy me a camera attachment for my sidekick. anyone? anyone?

now recieving donations.

The Blog Review

Here is a blog that defies logic. It is a blog designed to criticize other blogs on trivial characteristics like font color and literary skill. This is not a forum of scholars discussing the latest takes on Aristotle and Da Vinci. Blogs are meant to serve as whatever the author wishes it to. Whether it be an online journal, a forum for a particular topic, or a collection of links and captions. Anything. But they are not meant to satisfy the palette of a critical web surfer who's identity is shrouded behind an un-inspired alias and who's comments are worth no more than the fecal matter from which his cruel mind was wrought.

and now for best drama...

So the van is MIA so I am driving my mom to and from work for the while.
I drive my sister to school every morning and have been since school
began last fall. As you may know I drive a 2001 dodge dakota with a 4.7
liter V8. It makes impressive power and has great performance.... With
one downside. It gets about 15 Mpg.
So anyway, we just got back from a trip up north that put somewhere in
the neighborhood of 100 miles on the truck. Also, last thursday my mom
helped drive my sister's class to their fieldtrip in the city. So that's
a good 200 miles on the truck that frankly I had nothing to do with. Not
to mention the 1 mile-or-so a day trips to my sis's school as well as
the regular trips to my uncles house, the store and any other place we
have to go. All said and done I get paid 80-120 dollars a month to drive
for work. It costs me about 45 dollars to fill up and I have to do that
about every week. So, I'm gettin reimbursed for a little over half of
the miles driven on the truck. While the other half, the half that
usually has to do with crap I have nothing to do with, comes out of my
pocket.
It seemed fairly reasonable to me to request that my mom fill up the
truck this time around. She saw it differently. She proceded to rant
about insurance and car payments that she thinks she should be charging
me. And even mentioned rent. Now, I get paid 10 bucks an hour for a job
that I do only about 3 hrs of work a day. I can barely afford the damn
gas and she thinks I should pay for more stuff? With all due respect,
its her name on the car purchase, I didn't get it. And I WOULD pay for
insurance if she would only pay for her share of the gas. As long as I
am the only one paying for gas, she won't see any insurance money. Which
is a bargain for her since insurance is like 35 a month and I have to
pay for about 80 bucks of gas out of pocket. BLAH! Damn it all.

i"m back...

well i spent the weekend camping. if you wanna call it that. this so called "camp site" was really no more than a ;arg field adjascent to the parkinglot of a vacational trailor park... which happened to be next to a river. it was also clearly viseable by the road that passes by not 50 feet away. camping. so anyways, we were there to meet my mom's co-workers who freaquent the site. when we got there, we were greeted relatively warmly and were assisted in putting up our tent. i pretty much imediately went to bed... some of the people were acting a little strange.

as it turned out, most of the people there WERE strange. RC, my mom's co worker, and his girlfriend along with his brother were a little loud... especially when they had a few drinks in em. their friends, a couple who were really nice and enjoyable, brought their daughter. a 15 yr old who thought she was twenty....... one. she got so wasted it wasnt even funny. RC, the wonderful example he was, even passed her a joint. the next mnorning she flaunted how she threw up and was suffering from a hang over. who she waa trying to impress is beyond me.

all in all, it sucked. every moment that i wasnt either listening to my iPod or asleep, i wished that i was there with MY friends... instead of my mom's weird co-worker and his band of merry men. there was a group in the site next to ours who was about my age. at night, while our group was belting out show tunes with the skill of a clubbed seal, they were having actual inteligent interaction. good times. the only ray of light all weekend came from the kick ass flashlight i had. and i mean that literally and figuratively.