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.