the rap up 2006

i know a lot of people (mostly families) that send a year in review type letter along with annual christmas cards. my cousin shawn even did it one year (last year, i think). my blog is great avenue for me to get out mine. here it is ...

looking back, the year has consistently gotten better as time progressed. the year began in a valley, and i guess there was nowhere to go but up. i was consistenly frustrated, lonely, and generally not content with the way things were. since moving to sd, my circle friends has consisted almost entirely of medical students, and during the beginning of the year (or basically since fall 05), they were engrossed in the demanding schedules of third year. not really knowing anyone else and not sure how to meet new people, i often found myself bored, lonely, and waiting for something better. eventually i realized, i needed to stop waiting and make something happen myself. that resolve led to my two of my three new years resolutions.

1) go out more ... even if by myself
2) go to at least one concert a month ... even if by myself
3) travel more (three trips ... at least one international)

i've done pretty well with those resolutions.

1) my first resolution spawned bar dynamite. seriously, that place is the only thing that kept me sane throughout the first half of the year ... and i truly mean that. i go every thursday like clockwork. this whole year, there have only been five thursdays that i haven't been at dynamite (new york, belize x2, palm springs, thanksgiving) and i'll miss today and next thurs because of canada. when you throw in all the random times i've been there on saturdays and even random tuesdays and sundays, that makes for a whole lot of dynamite. fortunately, my loyalty has not gone unnoticed. no lines, no cover, no waiting for drinks, doubles for the price of singles, and just all around good service. plus there are all the fun regulars i've met (j, paul, alexia, beccah, chivas, and many more) and fun randoms i've met. unfortunately, only one of those, as of now, has the possibility of moving outside the bar. aside from dynamite, at the beginning of the year, i explored a few other places alone, but none of them provided the same experience that dynamite did (mainly, the music wasn't as good).

2) i went to one concert a month for the first ten months of this year. i slacked off nov and dec, but i figure since i went to two concerts in a few months, it works out. i saw a lot of good shows and some average ones. i won't get into all of em, but highlights include dilated people, little brother, defari, the roots, jurassic 5 twice, common, and many many more.

3) traveling this year was filled with good times. new york was an awesome time ... and by awesome, i mean drunken. i definitely came back with some entertaining stories. belize was even better ... met some cool people, did some phenomenal things, and saw some amazing sites. i still find myself often saying," when i was in belize ... ". toronto will be its usual goodness. i can't wait to see all my family, especially my grandparents.

work has been progressing well. there's been the ups and downs, slow times and busy times ... and on a whole, work has been treating well. i still really like my job and the people i work with. i've been getting more and more responsibility, as well as autonomy, which is nice. even moreso, my hard work hasn't gone unnoticed. i was surprised with a nice spot bonus on friday by our office manager ... and that's not in lieu of "normal" bonuses, which should come in march (and hopefully along with a fat raise).

i went to three different weddings this year ... my sister teresa, family friend vesna, and cousin chris. i was one of the groomsmen in teresa's wedding and got to wear this pimp white tux. as her brother, i was also honored with the duties of walking teresa's grandma and mom down the aisle.

the med school kids ended their third year, and things started getting a whole lot better for my social life. but really, i know WAAAY too much about med school and the medical profession. i've done some more exploring of sd but still not nearly enough. unfortunately, most of the med schoolers (if not all) will be leaving sd for the various residency programs, and i'm dreading the impending lack of friends once again. yeah, i'll actually miss most of them.

in july, i spent another drunken weekend with likwit crew in vegas. of course, whenever brian, jay, and vivek get together, madness usually follows. this time was no different. plus labonee tagged along and added her crazy antics to the mix. we had a great time, which just can't be conveyed in writing. where will tha liks invade in 2007? ... and of course, there was the annual family trip to palm springs. that weekend is ALWAYS one of the best weekends of the year. i have one of the greatest families in the world ... and that's all i have to say about that.

the taurus finally died. i was disappointed not to hit the 200k mile mark with that thing, but it served me well for many many years. as its replacement, i picked up a 2003 acura tl-s. it was a VERY nice change from the ford tortoise ... but i miss not having car payments.

... and that was basically my year.

now, i can't wait to get to canada. i know my mom's energetic younger sister, some of m cousins, and my grandma will be waiting for me at the airport. i can't wait to see the smile on my grandma's face. she'll say i'll always be her baba (means "little boy" in konkani) yand hold my hand as we walk (cause i always used to do that as a kid). my grandpa won't be there, but only because they won't let him (he's getting old ... 90+) ... instead he'll be waiting at the door, peaking out the window for our car to arrive. he'll give me one of his grins and mumble something only slightly intelligible to me. i'm also looking forward to the constant teasing and banter that will ensue once all of the cousins get together. and who knows, maybe i'll have a white christmas. new years eve should be fun partying with my cousins and a bunch of other goans, though i wish i'd have someone to kiss once the new year rings in =(

and with that, this is brian signing out till next year. happy holidays everyone!

this morning, i woke up feeling brand new

actually ... quite the opposite. i woke up in a funk ... not necessarily a bad mood, but definitely not a good one. the mood probably stems from a buncha factors ... the amount of work i want to do before i leave (though can you really be behind in work if your project manager hasn't setup a project schedule?!?), the ever-growing list in my head of things i need to do before i leave for toronto and the ever-diminishing amount of time to do it, the fact that it's only tuesday and i feel this week has already been really long, and probably some other junk. the fact that it's abnormally cold right now doesn't help either.

anyway, i get to work and get to my routine, still having been unable to shake the funk. on the drive to work, i knew exactly what would remedy my current situation ... some common. common's be to be exact. unfortunately, i didn't have that album or any of his others on my ipod at the moment ... nor did i have any roots, mos, gang starr, or anything like that. i think i've realized i must have moment of truth on my ipod at ALL TIMES. luckily, i get to work and had be on my computer. that did the trick ... solid album from start to finish. my only real gripe with album is that it's too short and leaves me wanting more.

it's great how music can do this to me.

so yeah ... after popping that album in, i was "feeling brand new and i jumped up / feeling my highs, and my lows in my soul, and my goals / just to stop smokin, and stop drinkin /and i've been thinkin ... i've got my reasons / just to get by ... just to GET BY"

yeah, that's not common, but whatever ... it fits the mood.

i need a pork chop on my plate

the mcrib sandwich is back at mcdonald's for a limited time only ...

why do i care? i don't really. i'm not a fan of mcdonald's, and i don't believe i've ever had the mcrib sandwich, though i do hear it's pretty good. i just thought i would share a tidbit of information.

my company does a lot of work for quick service restaurants (taco bell, starbucks, panda express, etc) modeling process flow, customer satisfication, and labor utilization. a few weeks ago, one of my coworkers was doing some analysis for mcdonald's, and we had a contractor hired by mcdonald's in the office for awhile. he told us that the only reason mcdonald's does not offer the mcrib sandwich year-around is because the demand for it is so high that the world's pork supplies would not be able to keep up ... and ... for times like now, when they are offering, they stagger their purchases of pork throughout the year and freeze them till the planned mcrib season as not to mess the up the pork market during that season. how crazy is that?

okay ... i think that was enough of a distraction from work for now.

g.o.a.t.

over the past few days, i've had a few different discussions with different people about music and people's favorites, including being blasted for not knowing much pearl jam (though that'll change soon thanks to dave passing on five or six of their albums).

but anyway, these talks have gotten me thinking. i say i'm a big fan of stevie wonder. i'd also call myself a fan of the cure, frank sinatra, john denver, and the police. however, i don't actually have any albums by any of those people, except for greatest hits albums. do you guys think someone, like myself, can call themselves a big fan (or even a fan) of an artist or group despite not having ever really listened to one of their albums? i think most people will say people can. and in my defense, all the above mentioned were well before my time and getting old albums would be expensive and a lot of effort.

but i do think there is a lot to say about listening to an album in the way the artist intended. i know many put a lot of time and effort into the arrangement of songs within an album and often that assembly will make the individual pieces better. unfortunately, nowadays singles and radio play are key, and that artform may be dying. for instance, i like the beatles "sgt pepper lonely hearts club band" much much more than their greatest hit "#1" album.

anyway ... i'm ranting ... i'll stop ... what do you guys think?

this year halloween fell on a weekend

it fell on sat to be precise. archana and priyal threw a great party. their place was awesomely decorated. we carved pumpkins, drank a lot, partied, and had a good ol time ... capped off by wandering down the street to my favorite place, bar dynamite.

i ended up dressing up as flava flav. i got a lot of "flava flaaaav"s and "yeah booooooy"s at dynamite, which was pretty funny.

anyway, check out the pics. if you want hi-res copies, let me know.

but what about jermaine? ... f*ck jermaine!

in trying to keep up with what's going on in the hip hop world, i came across this the other day.

Jermaine Dupri Screws Virgin, Leaves Label

you gotta love that headline. straight comedy.

... and then:
da scruffy ONE (11:18:25 PM): cuz when i screw a virgin
da scruffy ONE (11:18:31 PM): i leave a label behind too
da scruffy ONE (11:18:40 PM): its just common courtesy, frankly.
bmasc123 (11:18:55 PM): it's like sticking a flag on the moon
da scruffy ONE (11:18:58 PM): hahahahah
bmasc123 (11:18:59 PM): you're claiming your territory
da scruffy ONE (11:19:03 PM): exaccctly
da scruffy ONE (11:19:17 PM): either leave a label or pee on them . . i'm marking my territory
da scruffy ONE (11:19:23 PM): and at least this way, they can't just move out the way

yes, yes ... jay and i are idiots ... we know.

ahh ... good times ...

the choice is yours

as many of you know, work had been kicking my ass for the past month and a half. well, the weight has been lifted ... as of tuesday, we called the project complete and moved into a support role. i'm sooooo glad this project is finally over. it had been consuming my left for the past month and a half. now that it's over, i feel like i have loads of free time in the evenings and have no clue what do with them (btw, someone suggest a good song to learn to play on the piano).

... and like last time, it's time to get rewarded for all my hard work. last time, my manager and i were given a choice: fancy dinner or day off work. my manager pulled rank, and since he has amassed hours upon hours of vacation time, he chose the dinner. he also promised me that i would be given the choice next time. so now is next time ... BUT i have no choice once again.

why?! because this time, the office manager gave us BOTH! yup, that's right ... a day off AND a fancy dinner. last time, we tallied an almost $200 bill between the two of us. we would have reached the $200 plateau if my manager hadn't somehow convinced them to give us dessert for free. and who knows, maybe this time the two of us won't be losers and will actually have dates to take along with us ... yeah, i know. that's a big IF. unfortunately, i didn't get a choice on the day off (it's tomorrow). long weekends are always nice too, but if i had known a bit in advance, i probably would have taken today off too and made a trip out to the bay.

so ... the choice wasn't mine ... but hey, who's complaining ...

tease me

my friends have been teasing me lately ...

raman sent me this link last night. i CANNOT wait for the nba season and the LAKERS to get back into gear. i'm excited about the new season and seeing the team progress ... and the link just amplifies that feeling.

my old roommate mike sent me two new jay-z tracks. one isn't all that ... but i'm definitely feeling the other. the lyrics aren't anything special but just blaze blessed the track with some HOT production. he tossed in an wrexx n fx sample and some NICE drums. i just hope jay-z's first album after returning from retirement will be as good as the black album was.

but yeah ... talk about teasers.

take that cookie

i went to panda express for lunch today ... good, cheap, quick food. after i finish eating, i crack open my fortune cookie:

"ASK YOUR MOM"

what kinda fortune is that?!!? i mean, come on ... i got jacked ... and why would i ask my mom? she thinks i'm ugly anyway.

super ugly

so i'm sitting at the dining table at my parent's house with my mom and my brother ... i just got finished telling my mom that my cousin angelo wants to go to goa next year. her response, "why ... to get married? ... you know, one of your aunts think one of the cousins should go to india and find a wife there." she won't tell us which aunt said it or about which cousin that aunt said it about (or even if it was actually about a particular one at all). that whole talk brought on a big conversation about dating, which is always a great conversation to have with your mom.

some highlights:
after my brother said something about some girl being really pretty ...
my mom: "you can't date someone just for looks."
terence: "but looks are important"
my mom: "i mean, come on, look at you guys"
me: "she just called us ugly!!"
my mom: "not ugly ... but you know ..."

about my brother and some girl he's dating ...
my mom: "so you're dating ... but she's not your gf ... ???"
terence: "yeah"
my mom: "so make it happen"
terence and i: "HAHAHHA"
my mom: "well ... just don't screw it up"
terence: "wait ... you think i screwed it up with [a] and [t]?!?"
my mom: *silence*

those may not be direct quotes, but that was the basic gist of it. gotta love it.

**UPDATE**
terence made it his personal quest at the wedding to find out which aunt made the above mentioned comments about goa and about which cousin it was direct, if anyway. the first aunt he questioned was his godmother, aunty bushu.
terence: "do you think one of the cousins should go to goa to find a wife"
aunty bushu: "i think that's a great idea."
terence: "but have you said it before?"
aunty bushu: "yeah"
terence: "about which one of us?"
aunty bushu: "you"

after the initial shock, terence is quite pleased to have found out who the comment it was about. he goes to tell my mom that he knows that aunty bushu said it about him. my godmother, aunty mia, overhears, "no, i said that."
terence: "what?"
aunty mia: "yeah, i said that"
terence: "about me??!"
aunty mia: "no"
terence: "then who?"
aunty mia: "shawn"

so it looks like i'm safe from being shipped off to goa by my aunts to find a wife for now ... terence and shawn, not so much.

i'm slippin'

it's now october (happy birthday, lo!). september has come and gone ... but there hasn't been a september concert for brian. yeah, i'm slippin'. i tell myself it's excusable since i went to two concerts in august: billy idol (yes ... you read that correctly) and simple citizens. it evens out, right? i think so. i consider my new years resolution to make it to one concert a month still in tact. for october: zion i, crown city rockers, and the grouch at ucsd on friday the 13th at ucsd. unfortunately, those are the only details i have. i don't know where to buy tickets (if you know, get at me). anyone want to join me?

as for my other new years resolutions ... i've been going out a lot more lately, and now that third year is over for the medschool kids, i've often had company doing so. i've still only missed four thursdays at dynamite all year so far (new york, belize x2, and palm springs). i got this text from my friend's cousin last thurs:

"yo, what're you doing tonight? i'm going to be in sd and we're going to some placed called bar dynamite if you're interested"

i thought that was pretty funny. when i show up there, dom, christine, and others are outside at the gelato place across the street. they already had their hands stamped, so when we're walking in, christine asks, "have you already been inside or do you need to wait in line?"
"nah, i haven't been in, but it's alright"
"huh"
"yeah ... uhh ... i don't wait in line here"
"ohh ... so it's like that ... didn't know you rolled like that, b"
hahah. she's moving down to sd soon, which will be nice cause she's a dope girl.

and the last resolution, i have one more trip to go, and as of now, i'm planning to go to toronto around christmas/new years time to see my grandparents. it's been awhile since i've seen them, and i wanted to visit the rest of my fam out there.

... and yeah ... i'm just posting because it's monday morning, and i can't bring myself to do actual work yet.

don't knock the hustle

the hustle:
1. buy ipod from best buy with extended warranty
2 . enjoy until new ipods are released
3. exchanged the "defected" ipod you have for new or improved ipod
4. buy extended warranty on new ipod
5. go back to step 2.

my brother bought a 4Gb ipod mini awhile back. when the new generation minis came out, he was able to exchange his current one for a 6Gb mini through best buy's replacement plan. when the nanos came out, he grew impatient and flat out bought one. i inherited the old mini. after dropping it a couple times, it stopped working, but i was able to exchange it for a 4Gb nano through best buy's replacement plan (they wouldn't let me do it in store cause the screen was crack, which voids the warranty, but i was able to do it through the mail, which is much less strict). since then, i've been enjoying my nano. it recently stopped turning off (happened before but was fixed with a hard reset). after hearing that new generation was released, i decided it was time to try getting an upgrade. yesterday, i took it into to best buy, and without any hassle, i walked out with a new 8Gb nano. the best part is: since it's been less than a year since i got my nano, the manufacturer warranty was still in place, which allowed me transfer my old replacement plan over to my new ipod for free.

to make a long story short, i got a new ipod with twice the capacity for free.99!!

paid to trade hot stock tips

i wasn't planning on posting about this, but since i have a lot of dead time while my model is compiling/running ... and seriously, there's only so much surfing you can do, i figured i had nothing better to do ... plus i thought it was pretty damn funny (if i do say so myself).

on tuesday, i read about yahoo's stock plummeting 11+%.

tuesday, also happened to be anjali's first day on the job at yahoo, after a day of orientation.

coincidence?!? i think not.

sofa king, we todd, ed

now this would make sense if they did it to cal, but to their own ... i mean, really?!?

The band was suspended in July after some members vandalized the trailer by breaking windows, sledgehammering walls and spray-painting profanities.

sledgehammering your own shit!?!? brilliant, i tell ya.

God bless the dead

today marks the 10 year anniversary of the death of tupac shakur.

ever since last night, i've been thinking about what to write in this post. BLANK. NOTHING.
... or maybe too much.

i could write an essay on tupac (actually, i have). but i don't want to bore all of you with all of that because i'd go on and on.

all i will say is that he was a very talented and passionate individual, and it's unfortunate that he was killed when he was because he had much more creativity to unleash on the world. to say the VERY least, the hip hop community misses his presence, and his death (along with the death of the notorious big) marked the end of an era in hip hop.

... but life goes on ...

and if anyone would like to pour out a little liquor with me in his memory tonight in sd, let me know ... or if you're in sf, i'm sure my brother would be more than happy to have you join his celebration of the life and death of tupac.


**UPDATE**
for a better post on tupac, see my brother's blog.

play me like a game of football

since the end of june, there's been a large void in my life. i'm not talking about a lack of social life or a non-existent love life ... actually those two have been better in the past few months ... well, my love life is still basically non-existent ... anyway, not the point. i digress. ever since d-wade and shaq won the nba finals, there has been no sports in my life. i'm not a baseball fan at all, and yeah, there was those few weeks of world cup action, which was exciting, but other than that, nothing ...

but now ... football has started. i was never much of a football fan before i moved to sd. i did follow some college football, but that was usually limited to things affecting cal's team. many of my coworkers here in sd are big nfl fans, and they (along with an office fantasy football league) got me into the nfl. being in sd, i decided to root for the home team ... the san diego chargers.

so for the next 16 weeks, my sundays will be much less productive, and i won't be staying late at work on mondays.

... and things have started out well for my teams, chargers demolished the raiders behind a very impressive defense (9 sacks and only allowed 9 first downs) and a strong running game. cal also rebounded from an embarrassing loss to defeat minnesota ... and i won some money in the first week in my fantasy league.

PLUS! less than two months before the lakers get back into action.

my stereo on blast

the other day, i was headed out and forgot my ipod upstairs in my condo. normally, i'd go back up and grab it, but since i was in a bit of a rush, i had to make do without it. luckily, it was late, and there were some good slow jams on, but it got me thinking. now that i have my new car, and the 6 disc cd changer that comes with it, why don't i have that thing loaded?!

... which brings me to my question? what 6 cds do you keep loaded in your car (if you don't have a changer, pretend you do)? now, i'm not asking for your 6 favorite cds because it's different than that ... or at least, it is for me. i'd want albums that would fit different moods and mesh with various people. for instance, even though tupac's all eyez on me, biggie's ready to die, and nas's illmatic are some of my favorite albums, i definitely wouldn't have all three.

here's a first pass at my list (and maybe soon, i'll actually get around to putting these in my car):

- stevie wonder's song review: greatest hits disc 1 (or the temptations' the ultimate collection or the beatles' sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band) - for when my mom or someone else who wouldn't appreciate hip hop or anything else that may be laced with profanity.

- gang starr's moment of truth - my favorite album of all time. it fits almost all my moods and can always lift my spirits ... for we all must me our moment of truth.

- crown city rocker's earth tones - i love this album. not many people have heard of them nor their music, but it's the type of music that even people who aren't really into hip hop can appreciate because of the live instrumentation and jazzy feel. and i like spreading the word of good acts.

- tupac's all eyez on me (disc 1) (or his makaveli album or the nas or biggie listed above) - one of the six has to be some hardcore stuff ... and i mean, who doesn't get amped while driving around to pac's ambition az a ridah? these are the kinda albums you turn up your stereo for and bump with the windows down.

these last two are tough

- maybe kanye's late registration - a compromise between pop hip hop and good hip hop. people know his stuff, and it appeals to the masses, but at the same time, it's a good album.

- maybe blink 182's enema of the state or the cure's greatest hits - to appeal to my non-hip hop enthusiasts.

- maybe lauren hill's the miseducation of lauryn hill - for when i want something a little bit slower or perhaps have a girl in the car.

i dunno ... i'll think about it some more.

... but what do you guys think? would your deck be filled with only hip hop? ... some punk maybe?... only hindi film songs? ... old 80s classics? ... ewok songs? ... stones throw jazz remixes? lemme know ...

(and saying burned mix cds is plain cheating)

the legendary roots crew

my order from okayplayer finally came in. i've anxiously been awaiting the new album from the roots. though game theory had been "leaked" onto to the internet awhile ago, i haven't heard any of it besides the lead single, don't feel right. i decided against popping the new album in at work because i felt i wanted to be able to actively listen to it, which doesn't really happen at work. instead i decided to listen to j.period's best of the roots mixtape that was included in the order. oohh ... this thing is HOT! it's not just a compilation of past good roots songs. there's a lot on here that i haven't heard before, including new songs and remixes with zion i, stevie wonder, and rakim ... to name a few. i CANNOT wait to get off work and toss the new album in ... though it'll be difficult to resist the temptation to listen to this mixtape for the rest of the day.

high fidelity

ripping my entire 200+ cd collection has long been on my 'to-do' list, and recently, my current cd rack has been hitting its capacity. i finally got around to buying a couple new shelves for my cds, and i figured now is as good a time as any to get around to getting all those cds on my computer.

yes, i still buy cds. i think the artists deserve to get paid for their work. shit, they give me a lot ... i give a little back. that being said, i have nothing against downloading either. take zion i, for example. i downloaded their first album after a recommendation from a friend. since then, i've bought three of their albums and seen em live a couple times ... and probably more importantly, i recommend them to others. none of that probably would have happened if i hadn't originally downloaded their first album.

anyway, like rob from high fidelity (which is what i settled on), i found great comfort in sorting my music and find great comfort in knowing my musical collection is now organized exactly as i want it to be. since my last rack was almost completely full, i didn't have the free space to keep the cds as i wanted them in there, and i was growing more and more frustrated with not knowing exactly where a particularly cd was. with my new shelves now only being half full, i was able to get them exactly like i want. i don't sort my music chronologically or alphabetically. my grouping probably only makes sense to me and a few others. the cds are grouped by associations. for instance, there is an la underground group, containing j5, dilated, ozo (because of j5), beat junkies, etc ... an okayplayer group, containing the roots, mos, kweli, common, jean grae, etc.

a few thoughts:
- only two groups did not fit in a single section. the gang starr group, which include premier mixtapes and guru solo releases, and the tupac group. i have more than 15 cds in each of those groups, and it's fitting that they are my favorite group and my favorite mc.

- why did i buy the pj soundtrack and the space jam soundtrack???

- who is militia?

- my biggest challenge was figuring out where to put the beastie boys. i eventually settled with grouping them with the ny heavy hitters group, which includes rakim, krs, jay-z, redman, etc.

- despite long discussions over wingmen, i had no idea jerry bruckheimer worked on top gun. i noticed that fact on the soundtrack case, which is a great soundtrack btw.

... and now that i see so much free space on my cd racks, i feel compelled to go out and buy some new stuff. yes, i did preorder j.dilla's the shining and the roots game theory, but who wants to wait for those to come in (even though they should be here any day now). i think i'll stop by best buy today after work and pick up the new cut chemist and the new outkast. it's too bad i couldn't turn my change into a best buy certificate.

a dime and a nickel

actually, a lot whole lotta dimes and nickels ... and quarters and pennies.

like most guys, whenever i get home, i empty the change in my pockets into a container (in my case, a jack daniels tin). the thing was getting close to full, and i finally decided to do something with it. thanks to angelo, i found out that coinstar will waive their 9% fee (that's a serious rip off right there) if you turn your change into a gift card with choices of itunes, borders, linens n things, starbucks, and amazon. i decided to go with borders because i figure i read enough to make it worthwhile. i would have gone with amazon to get some music, but i knew i'd then be wasting money on shipping charges. it's too bad i already picked up the next book for me to read (i went with high fidelity).

but here's the kicker ... my total came out to $106 and change!!

take a look; it's in a book

my last comment in my last post got me thinking that i'm nearing the end of the book i'm currently reading (thomas friedman's the world is flat). what should i read next? i'd like my next book to be less serious and not require as much brain power.

potential next books:
song of susannah by stephen king - the next book for me in the dark tower series. the rest of the series has been pretty good so far.

the voyage of the dawn treader by c.s. lewis - the next book in the chronicles of narnia series

high fidelity by nick hornby - i LOVE the movie, and i hear the book is better.

bringing down the house by ben mezrich - story of mit card counters

any other suggestions?

dumbed down for my audience

no, i didn't dumb myself down for you guys ... although i suppose most of my posts aren't very intelligent. i'm referring to jay-z's verse on his "moment of clarity" off of the black album (which is a great album btw).

since i recently reacquired all of their albums, i've been listening to a lot of jay-z and eminem lately. i think most of this post will be about eminem, but jay-z's verse that i mentioned above speaks to my point well.

i dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars
they criticized me for it yet they all yell "HOLLA!"
if skills sold, truth be told, i'd probably be
lyrically, talib kweli
truthfully i wanna rhyme like common sense
but i did five mill' - i ain't been rhymin like common since

this is jay-z, one of the best mc's ever. if people were to make an all-time top 10 mc list, jay-z almost always would be included. he's the self-proclaimed "ceo of hip hop" ... and he readily admits dumbing down his lyrics in order to sell records.

onto eminem ... eminem is an EXTREMELY talented lyricist. the reason i love pac so much is because of the passion and emotion he conveyed through his rhymes, and anyone who has ever heard a song like"kim," you know eminem is the same way. he is a very gifted mc, and i think some top 10 lists would include him as well. add the fact that he's a pretty good producer and a decent actor, and you have a talented individual. through the course of his career, he's put out some top quality songs. for example, i LOVE "renegade". amazing song ... though nas was right when he said jay-z's verses come nowhere close to eminem's on the track*. to sum up, eminem has put out some of the best songs out there (in my opinion) ...

... but he has also put out some of the SHITTIEST SONGS EVER, like "my name is" and "real slim shady" to name a few. unfortunately, these songs are the ones that the radio decides to play, and they sell well. i often wonder if eminem realizes this (i'm pretty sure/hope he does) and only makes them for the same reason that jay dumbed down his songs. i find it fascinating how eminem puts out songs along all points of the song quality spectrum, from some of the best to some of the worst. luckily, his good songs far outweigh his bad ones.

and that just brings me to the state of the recording industry today. actually, i won't start on that topic because i'm not sure if i'll be able to stop. but i definitely think something needs to happen before the music dies.

what do you guys think?

* i think need to start using footnotes and hence the asterick. although "renegade" was released on jay-z's album, it was produced by eminem, and originally, eminem's long time friend royce da 5'9" was actually suppose to be featured alongside eminem on the song instead of jay-z but record company/contract issues stopped that from happening. i have (had?) a rough version of the song with eminem and royce, and i think it's better than the one with jay-z.

get the jurassic 5 on the microphone ...

... and you know you're going to have a good show on your hands. i've seen j5 four times before last night (most recently a few months ago), but they never cease to amaze me. this group is the epitome of chemistry and harmony. the way the seamlessly pass lines back forth and pick up whether another member left off is very impressive.

for the most part, they put on the same set i've seen from them a few times before, except they switched out some old songs with some of their new ones. although now, the quirky cut chemist is no longer in the group. i'm not sure why, but my guess is confusion of having a group called jurassic five with six members finally took its toll, and they played rock, paper, scissors till cut chemist was left out.

they did their usual mix of new and old songs. nu mark did his whole mini-turntable/beat machine thing, as well as producing some dope beat (sounded like johnny cash on crack) using kiddie toys hooked up to a cross fader. they also did their school desk routine. in the past, all of em would sit down at a school desk. nu mark's would have a beat machine on top, and he'd do a clipse beat with the others pounding on their desks with their fists or palms. they switched it up on me this time, and it was beautiful. this time all five desks had a beat machine built into it. they started with the hyphy tell me where to go beat and then moved into a creation of their own. each member had his own set of sounds, and the fusion was awesome, especially seeing chali 2na go wild everytime he'd hit his funky sample.

at the end of the show, they all stuck around and signed autographs and stuff. as a fan, i really appreciate when the artists make time for us, and everytime i've seen j5 headline, they've always done that.

if you ever get a chance to see jurassic 5, DO IT! you will not be disappointed ... and if i'm nearby, i'll surely roll with you.

... and at the end of the night, not wanting to let a good night end quite yet, i stopped by dynamite for a bit and enjoyed the usual goodness there.

oh yeah ... go pick up their new album feedback. while i don't think it's as good as their ep or quality control, i still think it's pretty damn good ... especially 'gotta understand.'

my favorite mutiny

the coup played at the casbah down here in sd last night. despite having the j5 show to go to tonight, i went to this one as well. i saw the coup sometime back during my sophomore year at cal, but i didn't know who they were then. i picked up their newest album pick a bigger weapon, mostly because it was being hyped by okayplayer a lot. i really like the new album.

anyway, info said the concert started at 9. i didn't know if anyone was opening and decided to get there around 9. as i was walking up to the spot, i see boots (lead mc of the group ... i recognized his huge afro) hanging outside. a few minutes later, he gets in a van with some other guys (who i later find out are the band behind him) and drive off. the venue isn't even open yet despite doors supposed to be open at 830. i end up talking to some other guy in line.

eventually, we get in ... and no one is there. some local sd group called the kneehighs performed. they were decent but nothing special; although, i suppose the fact that there were only 10-15 people inside at the time may have contributed to that. people are slowly starting to trickle in. group called big spiders played. i wasn't feeling them much. after a bit of a delay, iselyfe performs. he's been touring with the coup for the past few weeks. the place is still relatively empty, but he manages to get the crowd hyped. i'm thinking, this guy did a good job upping the energy for the coup.

it's too bad that the coup didn't get on stage for another hour or so, and the energy died. while waiting for the coup to show up, emilio (the guy i was talking to in line and for most of the night until now) decided to go outside. we end up sitting down outside next iselyfe and chatting with him a bit about ... music, politics, apathy in san diego, etc. as we're talking, we see boots and the band roll up. the band goes in and sets up their stuff. meanwhile, boots joins our conversation for a bit, then gets his game face on and starts preparing himself for the show. we end up following him in the side entrance, which is right next to the stage. he hops on stage and we move to the front. since we've been outside, the crowd has grown to a good size and they've all moved to the front of the stage.

these guys put on an awesome show. they did a good job managing the energy level of the crowd. they'd get things hyped, then bring it down a bit for one of their slower songs, then take up a few notches again. boots was rocking out on stage and the band was jamming. they did some of the older stuff, which i wasn't familiar with, and most of the tracks off their newest album.

after the show, i talked to boots a bit more. i decided to pick up one of their older albums party music. outside, i chatted with some of the band members before heading home. really good show ... and it's always nice when the artists are chill enough to hang out and talk with some fans.

next up tonight: j5 ... i know this show is going to be good. i've seen em four times already and they never disappoint. unfortunately, it looks like i'm going to be rolling solo to this show too.

make way for the alkaholik crew

awesome past fews days. most of the stories wouldn't be conveyed well over a blog, which means i won't get into most of em ...

first of all, since thurs night, things have been pretty good. however ... the days before SUCKED. a project deadline was looming, which meant long hours of work. i'm glad to say that the model is now done with only minimal work left to "pretty it up" and i'm confident it's bug free and accurate.

aight ... to the fun. i made sure to have the model done by thurs evening, ensuring i had time to hit up dynamite thurs night. you all know i love this place (it keeps me sane), but this past thurs was my best dynamite night yet. i met SOO many random people, and unlike most nights, i was talking to someone or the other almost the entire night, which includes but isn't limited to:

- my new regular friend who's not as good looking as alexia is but much much more interesting and down to just hang out and talk. i think she's going to come with me to the jurassic 5 show this week. i'm hoping this will move outside the confines of bar dynamite.
- cute indian girl that goes to usc law, whom i met a few months ago there.
- fobby indian dude who's been in the country only a year. he was by himself, and i decided to go talk to him.
- two random guys from vegas. these guys were straight comedy. one of em started talking to me in the line for the bathroom because i was wearing my gang starr shirt. they told not to go to vegas this past weekend and go next weekend because they'd be back there and would be able to hook me up with tables and vip treatment. one of the guys told me to lookup the law firm he helped start next time i'm going to be in vegas.
- martin smith. just graduated from cal and used to play point on the bball team. but seriously though, this guy looked like he had ZERO game (not that i have any) and was having a horrible time ... didn't end up talking to him much.

so yeah, awesome night. what a good opening for a good weekend.

ahh ... vegas. i don't think there's much i'm going to say about vegas because, frankly, unless you were there, you wouldn't understand. one of those 'you had to be there' things. for the most part, we didn't do much but drink and gamble. we ended up going to jet in the mirage sat night, but not much other than that. anyways, to highlight a few.

- jay's flight being delay over FOUR HOURS!
- wyborny B*TCHES
- yeah, that's what she said
- byyyyaaahhhh
- trying to wake up labonee one morning and then having her say she's a light sleeper the next.
- jay and i being horrible shooters on the craps tables. one of the dealers was even like, "uhh ohh .. this guy" when i got the dice and later called told jay "you're slow today." ahh, that chack, good man.
- jay's adventure getting home saturday night.
- labonee's drunken walking
- vivek getting his nipple/shoulder bit on on the dance floor (and having marks to prove it)
- "i like mexican food"
- losing my first nine blackjack hands while labonee is tripling her money next to me.
- hearing about sanjay and viren's drunken exploits

good times. unfortunately i lost about $175 gambling, which means the next vegas trip probably won't be anytime soon (though i can probably be convinced if you try hard enough ... okay, you probably have to try that hard).

... and i miss spending time drankin with tash and ol dirty. get tha liks together and you know it's gunna be a good time.

UPDATE: pictures

luck be a lady ...

... i really hope i spend some time with her this weekend.
off to vegas i go.

b-boy document

i know i've posted a lot about b-boys (and b-girls) recently, but i couldn't pass up on this one. compared to this kid's parents, my parents obviously didn't know how to raise a kid. one of these days, i'll try to expand my breaking repertoire beyond the uprock, a simple six step, and a hand spin (though i doubt i can even do that now).



here's the link.

oh ... and just kidding, mom. you guys did a great job raising us.

i got the williams

- made my first car payment ever the other day, and as much as i like my new car, i liked not having car payments much more ... or at least, i would have liked to been able to delay the purchase a few more months to get some other things in order.

- my stupid self accidentally transferred money out of my checking account instead of transferring money in. imagine my shock when i check online and my account balance is a fat $0. the overdraft charge shows up in my account today. i figure, i've been a good customer for years, and this is the first time i've done this, i'm going to ask if they can waive the fee for me. i call up and the customer service rep says, "i can't do that. we are allowed to waive the overdraft fee the second time it happens, but not the first." how does that make any sense?!? you think they would show leniency the first time but crack down once it starts becoming a repeat occurence.

- today i get my cell phone bill, and i went over my minutes. i NEVER go over my minutes. i don't need more unnecessary expenses like this.

yeah ... i got the williams ...

i need love

i have to echo the sentiment on my brother's last blog entry (even though, 90% of my audience reads his blog too). why can't i find my own b-girl ... and to quote the anonymous commenter, that article is "devasting news."

out of all the girls i know, only one was really down with hip hop, and she shot me down quicker than ... umm ... i dunno, quicker than something really fast. but that's a completely different story, involving school nights and whatnot.

not too long ago, i came close to snagging a b-girl. i mean, come on ... cute chick, down with hip hop, very interesting and seemingly responsible, and get this ... part of hip hop dance troupe. damn ... if only ... but alas, after numerous phone calls back and forth (but not actually seeing each other again), that one fizzled out too.

more recently, i met another regular at dynamite. cute girl, very down, into hip hop ... and get this, she approached me because of my j5 shirt. i was telling jay about this girl the other day, and he was like, "so what's goin on there?"
"i dunno ... i'm not interested."
"dude, why not?"
"uhh ... i dunno. good question."
i'm going to have to reevaluate that decision when i (hopefully) see her tonight.

anyways, i need a b-girl in my life. not that i wouldn't date someone that wasn't into hip hop (sueellen wasn't a huge fan), but it's high up on the list for me. unfortunately, i think the chances of that actually happening are slim-to-none. oh well ... i guess i'll have to compromise on that front.

x-men 'bout to blast off

so i finally got around to seeing x-men: the last stand on friday. i went with my friend krithi who is just about the only person i know, besides my brother and cousins, who would appreciate the movie in the same way i would. after reading reviews and being warned by angelo many times not to waste my money, i was expecting much worse. for an action movie, it wasn't bad at all.

... but the movie REALLY BOTHERED me!

**possible spoiler alert**

i grew up reading many marvel comics, mostly x-men, and i watched the cartoon all the time. the movie diverged from both a LOT ... particularly, the story behind the development of the phoenix. plus the phoenix was scary looking, and in the comics, she's supposed to look the same as, if not better than, jean grey (and it's a shame doing that to famke janssen). she never once was engulfed in fire! then you throw in what happens to cyclops/professor x and magneto/mystique/rogue and i mean, come on. yes, i realize all those things could be reversed or accounted for in a subsequent movie, but that would just be lame. okay ... i'll stop now. i just had to rant about that for a bit. i would have done it earlier, but i was too busy this weekend being lazy.

**end spoiler alert**

oh yeah ... before the movie, they had a preview for the new ghostrider movie, and although it doesn't look particularly bad, it really doesn't look particularly good either. either way, i'll end up watching it ... why? because i feel compelled to watch anything put out by marvel since as a kid, i was so fascianted by the world marvel created. let's just hope they have more x-men/spidermans and less hulk/daredevils.

and hopefully, my shares of marvel stock will actually do something for once.

and thanks to the x-ecutioners, i was able to continue to provide relevant post titles while having the title reference a song, artist, etc.

i love being a b-boy

crown city rockers has been a new favorite of mine since junior year at cal. i would see them perform around campus often. at some point, i picked up their latest album earth tones, which gets heavy rotation by me. if you don't know, crown city rockers is a hip hop band complete with a dope girl on the keyboards, drummer, and bassist (both upright bass and bass guitar). they blend their jazzy sound with hip hop seemlessly. i've seen em live a buncha times and everytime i do, i leave inspired to attempt to teach myself how to play something (the feeling never gets far).


anyway, my favorite track of theirs is easily "b-boy." awhile back, i heard talks somewhere of a remix coming with zion i and the grouch. the track finally came out, and it's HOT. not only are the grouch and zion i on it, but planet asia, mystic, and chali 2na from j5 bless it as well. talk about some of cali's finest. check it out at www.myspace.com/crowncity. and if someone finds somewhere to download it, please let me know.

brasilintime

unfortunately for all you soccer fanatics, this post isn't about brazil's loss on saturday in the world cup (actually, i'm pretty sure no one in my blog audience is a soccer fanatic). this post is about brazil's greatest exports ... brazilian women and brazilian cut bikinis ... and even more so, brazilian women IN brazilian cut bikinis.

last week, i came to the sad realization that june was almost over, and that got me thinking, "what have i done with my summer so far this year?" the answer: absolutely nothing. i resolved to make it to the beach at some point during the weekend ... no matter what. i rolled out of bed around noon on saturday, just in time to watch the brazil/france game. i was rooting for brazil because of sibling-esque tie between brazil and goa, though that guy zidane from france was impressive (go portugal in the next round). the plan was to hit up the beach after the game. normally, i head to mission beach because it's closest to me, but after/during the game, i remembered archana telling me about windansea beach (i thought it was wind and sea, for the longest time). according to arch, this beach is the local hangout for brazilians, and everyone knows brazilians are simply good looking ... and hey, maybe some cutie will need consoling after the game. i get there ... and boy was she right. at least 90% of the people there were brazilians. considering about half of those were female ... in skimpy bikinis ... my eyes were in heaven. i got out the ipod and portable speakers (i immediately regretted not having sergio mendes with his samba soul on my ipod that day), laid down my towel, picked up my book, and just chilled for a couple hours. granted i spent most of the time enjoying the eye candy ... and unfortunately for you guys, my words do those lovely ladies no justice, and i have no pictures. still, i felt compelled to share. maybe i should work on some portuguese for the next time i go.

in other news:
saturday night, i went out with archana and some other medschoolers to the lamplighter (a local kareoke bar). i don't think i've ever done kareoke unless it was with my servite buddies ... and if that's the case, beware! first things first, i immediately thanked archana for the windansea tip. anyways, not the point. at some time during the night, i was hanging out near the pool table with some people, and all of sudden there's ruckus coming from my right. basically two girls were yelling at each, and things were coming to shoves. next thing i know, one of the girls picks up an empty beer, raises it above her head, and is about to start swinging. luckily, i was close enough behind her and able to react quickly to grab it out of her hand from behind her. people separate the two. i manage to get between the two girls and am slowly moving one of them in the opposite direction. of course, it doesn't help when her bf is yelling at me to "stop touching [his] girl." throughout all this commotion, i still have my gin and tonic in one hand. the drunken girl i am ushering away, who is still yelling, notices this and tries to grab the glass out of my hand (probably to throw). luckily, i had a pretty good grip on it, but she didn manage to spill the half i had left out ... mostly on archana. eventually bouncers/bartenders came by (uhh ... what took you guys so long?) and escorted the girl out. umm ... can i get a replacement for my gin and tonic. i later found out that the girl picked up the 7 ball off the pool table and threw that too.

i hadn't been around drunks like that in awhile. in the words of slick rick the ruler, hey girl, walk straight, master your high.

brown sugar

i love hip hop movies. by that, i don't mean the run of the mill black comedies with a hip hop soundtrack ... i'm talking along the lines of scratch, brown sugar, and wild style.

good hip hop movies put me in the best moods ... and even more so, when i'm in bad moods, the feeling will usually passes within the first 5 minutes of a good hip hop movie. today, for whatever reason, i wasn't in the best of moods. i was antsy and wanted to get out and do something, but unfortunately, no one to do something with. toss in some other random stuff, and i wasn't in a good mood (though i knew it'd be gone by the morning). now, i don't like being in bad moods, and when i felt it coming, i turned to one of the things i can always count on. hip hop. i toss in brown sugar, and like that, all smiles. i LOVE the first 5-10 minutes of that movie (i actually didn't watch much passed that). if you haven't watched it, you definitely should. or watch it with me, and you'll see me smiling like a kid in a candy shop.

anyways, here is a list of some good hip hop movies.

1. wave twisters
dj qbert put out an album by the same name in 1998. the whole album was him scratching sounds, samples, and other records to create a story. in 2003, with the help of some producers and animators, qbert released wave twisters the movie. no sounds besides what was on qbert's album were added. the animation was made to match the album. in theory, if you muted the movie and played the album at the right time, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. pretty cool visual effects.



2. wild style
the original hip hop movie. talk about old school. you get to see grandmaster flash, one of the pioneers of hip hop, with his turntables setup in his kitchen scratching.








3. tupac resurrection
i am HUGE tupac fan. i have all his cds, read biographies, read his poetry, seen the movies he's acted in, and even threw a party on the anniversary of his death once (awesome party ... ask me about it some time). this movie is biographical ... but narrated by him. the producers took sound bites of his words and corresponded them to the events in his life ... even his death. very well done.





4. scratch
awesome turntablism documentary with some of the best dj's out there. i still remember the first time i saw it. much like earlier today, i was not in a good mood. people were being flakey and annoying, and quite simply, i got fed up with the bullshit. i walked my ass down to landmark theaters in berkeley and watched the movie by myself (i actually watched brown sugar in the theaters by myself for much the same reason). starting with the first beat, my bad mood vanished. the movie starts with gang starr's 'dj premier in deep concentration,' and anyone that knows me well knows that i LOVE gang starr and i LOVE dj premier (though both aren't what they used to be). i was in heaven.

5. brown sugar
awesome movie about a girl's love of hip hop and about the strange relationship between her and a long time friend. AWESOME AWESOME movie ... especially when you throw in the funny mos def.







i know there are many other good hip hop movies, but these are the ones that i am most familiar it. go see them all. besides scratch, i have all those movies at my place, and you're more than welcome to come over and watch. actually, if you want to see scratch, i'll gladly go out and add it to my collection for you.

been around the world

i wanna be like this man ... except with better dance skills. anyone else think of sidney when they saw this guy dancing.

who wants to go where? considering the short notice and new expenses recently, i don't think peru is going to happen (though i'm not completely counting it out yet).

and thanks to archana for sharing the fruits of her vast time wasting skills.

it's over now

to my ex,

it's over now. i think i'm finally able to let you go. you were my first (unless you count that short fling in hs). we've been through a lot together, but i've finally come to grips with the fact that i need to move on. we were good together ... we were good together for a long time, and nothing will ever be able to change that fact. despite that though, i've realized that i've grown and changed, but you haven't grown and changed with me ... or if you did, it wasn't in the same direction as i did. consequently, our relationship slowly faded. i now consider you and my relationship with you beyond hope ... or at the very least, not worth the effort to try and fix.

i've moved on. you've been replaced. you will always have a place in my heart, and i learned a lot from you, but i know you aren't the one anymore.

and with that ... farewell.

love always, me

ps. i always did think you moved a little too slow for me.

make you feel that way ...

in my preparations for palm springs, i cleared out my entire ipod in order to refill it with songs for the drive and the weekend. i came across blackalicious' make you feel that way. this song is one of the ultimate feel good songs of all time (for me, at least). the lyrics are basically listing out things that ... that you make you feel that way.

palm springs is one of those things that make me feel that way ... and while packing, i've been thinking of other things that make me feel that way. as if one post wasn't enough of a diversion from packing, i've decided to list out other things that make me feel that way ... you know, things i LOVE ... things that make me happy like no other ... simply put, things that make me smile.

here goes:
- palm springs
- drives back from hollywood late at night with terence and shawn, talking about music
- scrabble with my dad and aunty julie ... or any other family members
- three page long emails
- long talks over dinner and wine with a couple of friends at cozy italian restaurants
- long talks in general with friends
- basketball when my shot is falling
- being in a crowd at a concert where everyone's arms are swaying in unison
- meeting people who are as down with hip hop as i am (especially if that person is a cute girl)
- unexpected raises
- pretending like i know something when helping my dad with my car
- drunken times with the servite boys
- parties/kickbacks at my place
- street fighter and beer nights
- sproul
- lakers games (especially at la vals with the homies ... or even better, courtside)
- philosophical discussions (and maybe more so, drunken philosophical discussions)
- playing with little kids
- lazy afternoons with my mom and brother
- dynamite
- goans
- tanqueray 10
- everett and jones ribs ... which has surprisingly good potato salad
- dancing with girl friends that can get down (especially one in particular ... you should know who you are)
- splurging on cds

i could go on and on, but i really should get to packing now. feel free to add things that make you feel that way ... or things you think make me feel that way that i left out.

one day away ...

on any given week, thursday is usually the highlight of my week. thursdays are dynamite nights. at dynamite, i enjoy the bar in the way a bar should be enjoyed. no waiting in lines ... no cover ... no waiting for drinks, which are cheap and strong ... great crowd ... and most of all GREAT music. i don't think a bar experience could get much better. yeah, there's the fact that i usually i roll solo, but i've gotten used to that ... and over time, i've met some randoms whose company i enjoy for a night and some regulars whose company i enjoy weekly ... and of course it helps when the regulars are hot (ie. the one on the right).

even better, every once in awhile, i get lucky and meet some down girl and get her number. so far, those numbers haven't gotten me anywhere ... but i'm keeping some hopes alive.

but i digress ... no dynamite tomorrow. tomorrow marks the first time in 2006 that i'll be in california on a thursday night but not at dynamite.

but my reason for missing it is more than worth it. tomorrow afternoon/evening, i leave for palm springs. every year for father's day weekend, my family (20-30 of us) heads to palm springs for an extended weekend, and we have the times of our lives. we don't really do anything special ... but we're together, and it's awesome. every year after palm springs, we already anticipate the next year's trip. this trip/weekend isn't a family reunion because i see almost all these people at least once a month, but i don't really know what else to call it ... family tradition, i guess.

we have a time share there and get four units for the weekend. the kids takeover one and madness ensues. two tvs, an xbox, a gamecube, a snes, a dreamcast, a ps2, two turnables, beer, junk food, and of course blasting music.

the time is filled with laziness, good food, and most importantly the company of my family.

the high point of the weekend ends up being saturday when everyone piles in the kids' unit and simply spends quaility time together. one of my aunt's always manages to come up with some silly games ... and that mixed with my already crazy family makes for an ENTERTAINING night, to say the least.

of course, the cousins manage to get in our time too. every night, we take over one of the many jacuzzis in the resort, and just chill ... music playing, beers in hand, chatting about anything from relationships to music to religion to lakers ... and there's always a mention of everyone eventually living on the same street when we grow up.

i can't explain it ... but it's GREAT!

one day away ...

diego to the bay

more like, the bay to diego. it's been about two years since i moved to san diego from the bay ... about two years since i graduated from berkeley ... and about two years since i entered the working world. i'd like to take this time to reflect on the past two years. basically, what do i have to show for it?

... in some areas, a lot ... in others, not much at all ...

i moved here for my job. i started off underpaid, but since then i've received two substantial raises. i enjoy my job. the atmosphere is relaxed. the people are nice. the work is interesting and challenging, and i feel i am learning. for the most part, i enjoy working life much more than i did student life.

for the first ten months here, i lived in a tiny studio (i liked to refer to it as cozy). the cheap (or as cheap as sd standards go) rent allowed me to save money ... which enabled me to buy my condo. if you haven't seen it yet, you should come visit. i think the place is pretty sweet. it's very spacious and centrally located to everything (almost everything worth going to is within 20 minutes). the inside is painted very nicely (came that way) and i furnished it well (if i do say so myself). money was tight (maybe an understatement) for awhile, but the aforementioned raises helped. a few months ago, mujtaba, an old roommate from cal, moved in, and his rent makes things MUCH easier. yeah, the fat mortgage payments suck, but having a place to call your own is great.

the ford tortoise is still running. it has its good and bad times (right now, it's on a bad swing). i've been wanting to buy a new car for awhile now, but that purchase keeps being pushed back ... probably because my taste far exceeds my means. the car has around 195,000 miles right now and will probably hit 200,000 around the end of the year. that milestone, along with my 25th birthday, may be the last straw to retire the old thing ... finally. unfortunately, when i pull the trigger, it'll most likely be an acura tl and not the g35 coupe that i really want.

moving to sd and back to so cal has brought me closer to my family again. i LOVE my family. it's great being able to see my family whenever i want on the weekends. i head up to oc/la once or twice a month depending on family gatherings, and being around all of them is sooo nice. i don't think i'd want to leave so cal again since i wouldn't be able to see them all the time anymore.

now i wouldn't say i moved to san diego because sueellen, my girlfriend at the time, lived here. i moved here because the best job offer i received was down here (i looked all over california); however, she probably is the reason i even thought of looking for a job here. unfortunately, a mere two months (she was in india for a month of that) after i moved here we broke up (for reasons i will not get into here). that SUCKED. to make a long story short, we were in a strange intermediate between being together and not for a few months after that. now we're strictly friends; although, i must say it's been (and maybe still is) a difficult adjustment. post-sueellen, my love life has been virtually non-existent. i've been genuinely interested in only one girl during my newly single life (although i guess it's not new anymore), and that interest was pretty much shot down after a single date. i simply don't meet many new girls these day for my love life to get off the ground.

when i moved here, i basically only knew sueellen. since the breakup, i have struggled with difficulty of meeting people while not being in school. i've met a decent amount of good people. unfortunately for me, almost all of these people are med students (i'm tossing rakh and rita into this category for discussion's sake), and med students just do not have time for ... well, for anything. i enjoy going out ... a lot. i'm down to go out during the middle week, even if it's just hanging out at someone's place. throw in the fact that once i leave work, i have nothing to do for the evening/night. i have a lot of free time on my hands. unfortunately, i have no one to kill that time with. there was a good run some months ago when i was spending a lot of time with archana and priyal, and things were good. unfortunately, the rigors of call schedules and whatnot (and maybe boyfriends) swiftly killed that. i still see them more than anyone else here, but i don't think that says much.

my non-existent social life has forced me to change. i've started to become more outgoing and, probably more importantly, willing to go out by myself. i made three new years resolutions in january: 1) go out more ... even if that means by myself, 2) go to one concert a month (also to further the going out more cause) ... and once again, even if it means by myself, and 3) travel more (which isn't relevant to the current topic). my new mindstate brought along bar dynamite. i had been to this place a few times before and loved it, but now it's a regular occurence ... EVERY thursday. and most of the time, i have a good time there, enjoying the hip hop, meeting/talking to people here and there, and drinking ... but sometimes, it seeps into my head that i'm hanging out at a bar by myself, and that realization is a downer. mujtaba came with me a few times, but for whatever reason, that stopped. i continue to go every week, knowing if for nothing else, i can kick back and enjoy the good hip hop. i've met some regulars and other random people there, but those friendships/acquaintances have yet to move outside of dynamite. honestly, i miss having a group of friends at my fingertips that are willing to go out on a moments notice. i'm sure that feeling will be further accentuated with the coming summer and beautiful weather. i'll want to go to the beach, kick back with some beers, play some frisbee/volleyball, and just chill ... but those things require friends to do them things with.

and unfortunately, two years into it, i don't feel like i know san diego well. aside from dynamite, i don't feel like i know what the good bars/clubs are. similarly, aside from taste of thai, i don't have a good feel for good restaurants in the area. i need people to explore with.

to wrap it all up, my life is good ... very good ... except for the holes where my social and love lives should be. do i regret moving to sd, instead of staying in the bay or moving to oc/la? no, not at all ... but i still wish i knew more people here.

are you working?

today's one of those days where i just don't want to be at work ... i just don't want to do work. luckily, i don't have much to do, and the little that i do have is not that complicated and kinda interesting (we're modeling a blockbuster distribution center for their online division).

my lack of motivation reminded me of a picture my friend brian showed me a week or two ago.

that's a picture of him sleeping at work ... taken by his boss! his boss emailed it to him with "Heads down development" as the subject. comedy. brian claims that there was stuff running on his machine, and he couldn't do anything till it finished. not like he cared anyway. they underpay and overwork him, and pretty much just treat him like shit. when this shot was taken, he had already given his two weeks notice in ... with plans to start up a rival company with others that quit too.

i thought the picture is hilarious and had to be shared.

t-bone steak, cheese, eggs and welch's grape

my manager and i basically kicked ass on the last project we worked on, and we made a good sized profit on it (although some of that was due to an inflated budget). as a reward, our office manager offered us dinner at ruth's chris (fancy steak house) or a free day off. i would have preferred the day off, but my manager got the final say and chose the dinner. since we're both losers, it'll probably be just the two of us, but he said dates would be welcome, if we could find them (hmm ... maybe culture shock girl will call back ... how's that for a first date).

anyway, i wanted your opinion on the matter. dinner (for you and a date) at ruth's chris or a day off (of your choosing)? let me know ... i'm curious to see what everyone else thinks. for you veggies, pretend it's a nice vegetarian restaurant and not a steak house.

it's a small world ...

i got this comment on my blog a few days ago:

"hey brian! I am sure you hardly remember me, but I am one of the 5 girls you met on Caye Caulker, Sarah. I typed in "cocopele's belize" on google and got your blog! fancy that. As I read it, I was amazed to find out that I knew you and Shawn, and you even wrote about me, Brit and the two Emily's! I'm glad you made it home safe, and all I have to say is that #1 Earth is a small freakin planet, and #2 Belize is an even smaller freakin country!
Take care,
keep traveling
Sarah"

talk about random! my first thought was, 'did i say anything bad about them?' good thing i didn't ... not that i had anything bad to say that i left out. those girls were fun to chill with and made our time on caye caulker much more enjoyable. sarah (or any of the rest of you girls), if you're ever in san diego, holla at me. but yeah ... small world. and it's nice to know that people other than terence, shawn, and pooja are reading my blog.

on another random note, my mom has been bugging me for ages to clean out my room in buena park and get rid of all the old junk that's accumulating dust there. since i was in town for my boy chris' bday, i finally got around to some of it. in my cleaning, i came across this old prom picture.

notice a couple things: i have facial hair and it says "Prom 2001." those are important because servite (my hs) didn't allow facial hair, and i graduated in 2000. when i first found the picture, i vaguely remembered going to prom my freshmen year at cal, and i remember this girl's face, but i couldn't remember her name or why she would have asked me. my mom sees the picture, and says, "she's cute ... whatever happened to that girl?" uhh ... i dunno, i'm not even sure i know what her name is. after racking my brain (seriously, this came to me hours after... and later confirmed with teresa), her name is lauren f (i'll leave the rest out cause i'm not sure she would want her name out there) and that she was cousins with alina and corin. but i still have no idea why she would have asked me. we had lotsa mutual friends and we were cool with each other, but we weren't particularly good friends ... and i definitely hadn't talked to her in a year while i was at cal. who knows ... maybe she just needed a date and knew i was available and figured i was a safe bet since she knew who/how i was and that i knew a lot of her friends in the group. maybe it was because she had a crush on me (though i doubt that would have lasted a year). i actually hope it's not the latter because then i'd be like, damn ... i should have realized/known earlier. hahha. but lauren, if you ever come across this and are still single, get in touch with me. hahha ... just kidding ... or am i? hahah

the questions and the answers like iverson

my attempt at this ipod shuffle game didn't go too well. mostly because not enough people read my blog but also because the songs were difficult to guess. oh well ...

shawn got 7. terence got 1, but he needed some major help to get it. sidney got 2.

anyway, here are the answers:

1) "i never said i was perfect. i just tried to separate myself from the worthless guys of your past who broke you and made you cry."

lexicon - brokenhearted

i didn't actually expect anyone to get this one. their youth is yours album is really good and has been on rotation on my ipod a lot lately.

2) "so you wanna be hardcore with your hat to the back, talking about your gats in your raps."

notorious big - machine gun funk *dj bozo*

one biggie's first songs, despite puffy wanting him to go a little softer.

3) "just a castaway, an island lost at sea, oh. another lonely day, no one here but me, oh. more loneliness than any man can bear. rescue me before i fall into despair, oh."

police - message in a bottle *sidney*

yes, i'm a police fan. i figured sidney would get this one, since he is the one that 'lent' me this album.

4) "keep on ... keep on ... keep on ... keep on. muthafucka move back, i pursue rap with the pace of new jack."

common - dooinit *dj bozo*

good song by an awesome artist. just saw him put on a good show a few weeks ago

5) "visualizin the realism of life and actuality. fuck who's the baddest, a person's status depends on salary and my mentality is money orientated."

nas - life's a bitch

a little surprised no one got this. like i said in my hint, nas doesn't spit this verse, and i'm not sure who does. still a good flow.

6) "unsure what the balance held, i touched my belly overwhelmed by what i had been chosen to perform."

lauryn hill - to zion *terence*

terence got this one after some serious hand-holding. i thought judging from the content people would be able to guess the artist at least. i thought wrong.

7) "and now, the end is near, and so i face the final curtain. my friend, i'll say it clear, i'll state my case, of which i'm certain. i've lived a life that's full. i've traveled each and every highway. and more, much more than this, i did it my way."

frank sinatra - my way *sidney*

i suppose people just don't know ol blue eyes. i went easy and even had the title in the quote. thank you sidney for coming through.

8) "beatstreet, wildstyle, yo mtv raps, crack, 76, slaps, mics, and soul claps. ass crack, kangos, and baseball caps."

crown city rockers - bboy

terence came so close. i can just imagine how annoying it would have been able to hear the lines but still not get it. i love this song, which is basically a bunch of verses shouting out random things about hip hop and things he loves. these guys put on a good show ... been seeing em since the lower sproul days (i miss sproul). check out the newly released video.

9) "i'm in the eye of the storm where the pressure's on. and mc's are dressed funny like a leprechaun. i chop rappers up like chicken szechuan."

the roots - adrenaline *dj bozo*

another hot song by a great group. you must see these guys live.

10) "how many brothers fell victims to the street. rest in peace, young nigga. there's heaven for a g. be a lie if i told ya i never thought of death. my niggas, we the last ones left."

tupac - life goes on *dj bozo*

i still miss him, but hey ... life goes on.

11) "girl i'm in love with you. this ain't the honeymoon. past the infatuation phase. right in the thick of love. at times we get sick of love. it seems like we argue everyday."

john legend - ordinary people

terence, you've seen him live, right? i like this guy and his album. i particularly like this song for its stevie-wonder-like sound ... which brings us to ...

12) "oh so long for this night i prayed. that a star would guide you my way. to share with me this special day, where a ribbon's in the sky for our love."

stevie wonder - ribbon in the sky

i guess people don't really know stevie wonder either. i was lucky enough to see this guy live once. i thought this was one of his more famous songs, but i guess not. even had the title in this one too.

13) "greg nice!! greg N-I-C-E droppin em basso, ahh oui oui. rock for a fee, not for free. maybe i'll do it for charity."

gang starr ft. nice and smooth - dwyck *dj bozo*

i don't know what i would have done if no one got this one. they played this song at dynamite the other day, and everyone knows the words. gang starr ... still one of the best yet.

14) "yo, this is a lesson in friendship. the depths of a kinship. what women and men begin with, and then slip. my pen drips as i scribble my thoughts on thin strips."

jurassic 5 - thin line *dj bozo*

i love this track. unfortunately j5 didn't play it when i saw them last. i can't wait for their new album. pooja told me she figured there would be at least one j5 song out of the 15. she said she was going to go through all the j5 songs on her ipod (her brother put them on there ... she's not that cool) and find which one. too bad she didn't follow through with that plan.

15) "back when they thought pink polos would hurt the roc, before cam got the shit to pop, the doors was closed. i felt like bad boys street team; i couldn't work the locks/lox."

kanye west - touch the sky *dj bozo*

i love kanye's line to start this one with the locks/lox play on words.

so dj bozo wins but probably just because he got to the post first. you snooze, you lose. maybe i'll do this again later if i know more people are reading, and i'll make sure to go a little easier next time.

word association

stealing this idea from terence, who stole it from someone else. the basic idea: put your ipod on shuffle, write down the first couple of lines from the first 10 or so songs, let people try figuring out which one's they are (artist and song title). googling is cheating ... and if you've been paying attention to some of my past blogs, you may get some clues.

a couple disclaimers here:
- i have random shit on my ipod. i felt obligated to skip ones i figured no one would be able to get. i left one or two in with hopes of someone making me proud.

- a lot of hip hop tracks have a guy talking over the first few bars. in some cases, i skipped that talking, and in others, i didn't.

a drink to whoever gets the most.

let the games begin.

... and don't look at the comments unless you want to see answers people have already guessed.

1) i never said i was perfect. i just tried to separate myself from the worthless guys of your past who broke you and made you cry.

2) so you wanna be hardcore with your hat to the back, talking about your gats in your raps. *dj bozo*

3) just a castaway, an island lost at sea, oh. another lonely day, no one here but me, oh. more loneliness than any man can bear. rescue me before i fall into despair, oh. *sidney*

4) keep on ... keep on ... keep on ... keep on. muthafucka move back, i pursue rap with the pace of new jack. *dj bozo*

5) visualizin the realism of life and actuality. fuck who's the baddest, a person's status depends on salary and my mentality is money orientated.

6) unsure what the balance held, i touched my belly overwhelmed by what i had been chosen to perform *terence*

7) and now, the end is near, and so i face the final curtain. my friend, i'll say it clear, i'll state my case, of which i'm certain. i've lived a life that's full. i've traveled each and every highway. and more, much more than this, i did it my way. *sidney*

8) beatstreet, wildstyle, yo mtv raps, crack, 76, slaps, mics, and soul claps. ass crack, kangos, and baseball caps.

9) i'm in the eye of the storm where the pressure's on. and mc's are dressed funny like a leprechaun. i chop rappers up like chicken szechuan. *dj bozo*

10) how many brothers fell victims to the street. rest in peace, young nigga. there's heaven for a g. be a lie if i told ya i never thought of death. my niggas, we the last ones left. *dj bozo*

11) girl i'm in love with you. this ain't the honeymoon. past the infatuation phase. right in the thick of love. at times we get sick of love. it seems like we argue everyday.

12) oh so long for this night i prayed. that a star would guide you my way. to share with me this special day, where a ribbon's in the sky for our love.

13) greg nice!! greg N-I-C-E droppin em basso, ahh oui oui. rock for a fee, not for free. maybe i'll do it for charity. *dj bozo*

14) yo, this is a lesson in friendship. the depths of a kinship. what women and men begin with, and then slip. my pen drips as i scribble my thoughts on thin strips. *dj bozo*

15) back when they thought pink polos would hurt the roc, before cam got the shit to pop, the doors was closed. i felt like bad boys street team; i couldn't work the locks (lox). *dj bozo*

rock shows with no rehearsal

i saw a j5 and common concert on monday. this concert was my april concert (i'm day late ... deal with it) in my quest for one a month. this show kinda crept up on me ... forgot about it for the most part till saturday night. then i started getting really excited about it. i saw common a few months ago at the HOB SD, but i hadn't seen jurassic 5 in a couple years. the last time i saw them perform was at the axis of justice concert in la where they got a short set amongst a bunch of rock performers. oddly though, j5 hasn't put out new music since before i saw them at cal at one of the spring superb concerts. i've seen both common and jurassic 5 at least three times, and both rock a good show. these two are some of my favorite artists ... i'm excited

like usual, i had planned on rolling solo to this concert. i almost convinced archana (and consequently, priyal) to come, but she passed because she thought i was going with sue ellen ... silly archana, i simply said that sueellen bought my ticket. however, i did have company. teresa's cousin dominic called me saying he had an extra ticket, not knowing i had already planned on going.

the ticket said the concert started at 8. i figured that meant doors opened at 8. the concert was at usd, which is a few minutes away from my place, so i hung around my place watching the clippers game. when i got there, it was around 815. dom, babe, and friends were parking, and i figured i'd just wait for them outside. unfortunately, when i got there, j5 was already on. forget waiting ... i decide to get in. now, i've been to a concert before at usd (maroon 5 back in the day ... okay, a year ago), and i wasn't too thrilled about the venue. the place is just not made for musical performances. also not too thrilled about the energy the usd kids would bring.

so i get to the floor of the arena, and there are a lot of people here (i should have showed up earlier, especially considering all i was doing instead was watching a measly clippers game). i look up and j5 is already rocking it ... but there were only five people on stage. no cut chemist. yes, you heard me ... j5 actually has six members, not five. there was a cute girl next to me who was getting down. i even heard her say "this is my favorite song" when 'quality control' came on. cute girl who knows j5 ... what's not to like (notice a theme). i decide to try talking to her. i asked her if she knew why cut chemist wasn't on stage. she stared back blankly. okay, maybe she doesn't know j5 as well as i would like, but hey, no one's perfect. then this guy steps up to her from behind ... my cue to back off. *sigh* oh well ... j5 continued to rock it. their new album is dropping soon, and they performed a few new tracks. the one that caught my ear had (i believe) an old prince sample. definitely feeling that one. i was still missing the quirky cut chemist though. despite his absence, jurassic 5 rocked a great show.

in between their set and common's, i decided to track down dominic. i soon found them upstairs ... dom, babe, quinn, rommel, one of angela's friends, her bf, and another couple. common came on and rocked it like usual. it's too bad that i saw common a few months ago because he did almost the exact same show as when i saw him with angelo. he came out with a dj, a drummer, and a guy on the keys. not much to say here because it was almost word for word the same show as before. at one point, he started singing, and dom's friend says, "com's beening hanging around mos too much." hahah ... funny shit. during one of his songs, he pulls some girl on stage. he did this last time i saw him too, but this time, he and the girl start getting freaky on stage ... not just freak, but freak DEAKY. soon after that, he asks for a usd mc to come and spit with him. when he performed at cal, my friend kevin got on and spit some rhymes with him. this time, some guy gets on, let's off some wack verses, and then common takes over and rips the guy a new one ... made me reminisce of the "bitch in you" days. i felt bad for the guy. common then did a tribute to j. dilla. his dj, dj dummy, did an awesome set scratching rob base and dj ez rock's 'it takes two.' dom, rommel, and his friend are dj's and getting into to it at this point. he spits some stuff from his upcoming album, which was a little rough but good. i can't wait for these new albums to drop. common does on encore with the dilla produced 'the light,' and i went home a happy man.

like i've sad before, it's something magical being in a crowd just feeling the music. even more, when the artist is rocking 'i used to love h.e.r.' which may be my favorite song of all time. i spent the whole common set up in the seats of the arena, and it was cool seeing the crown below move in unison to the music.

unfortunately, despite the high likelyhood of a cute catholic hip hop head, i went home alone and with no new numbers in my new phone ... always next time, i suppose. that's quite alright, i was there with the love of my life, and that's all i ever need.

... common said i used to love her, but i love her still ...

up next for my may concert:
Soul Position on 5.9
Lyrics Born on 5.27 or
Aceyalone, Ugly Duckling, and The Procussions on 5.30
... like always, i'd love company to one or all of these ... but i'm not counting on it.