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.

loungin'

(if you haven't read this post about san ignacio, read it now)

back in belize city and once again, waiting at the water taxi station for our boat to leave. unfortunately, there was no random encounter with a group of girls this time. now we're on our way to caye caulker, which is another island, and for the most part, exactly the same as ambergris caye ... but less. less people, smaller island, less tourists, much more chill. there did seem to be a lot of belizean tourists though, and i'm not sure if that was because it was easter weekend or if belizeans regularly came here on weekends. ambergris caye had few cars; this place had none. the only transportation consisted of golf carts (once again, where's sidney when you need him ... probably at the block). most people walked from place to place. our hotel here was much more ghetto than the other places we stayed at (but cheaper). there's no real fresh water on caye caulker, aside from bottled water. water coming out of the taps is desalinated water, and you could definitely still smell/test the salt in it (we learned our lesson the first time we tried brushing our teeth). by this time, shawn and i had pretty much done all we had wanted to do in terms of tours and activities (plus we were running low on funds). we had planned our time on caye caulker to be really chill ... and that's exactly what it was. we didn't do much the first day. we swam a bit for the first time (not counting snorkeling and in the cave). actually, you don't see people swimming much in belize in general. that probably stems from the fact that belizean beaches aren't san diego/miami/hawaii type of beaches. the majority of belize is protected by a barrier reef (i believe the largest living barrier reef in the world), and because of the reef, there aren't any waves on the shore. it's really odd looking out to the horizon and seeing waves crashing off in the distance in what appears to be an arbitrary line in the water. the lack of waves allow for sea grass to grow underwater on the shore, and the grass makes swimming not very pleasant. however, caye caulker got hit hard by some hurricane in the mid90s, which split the island in two. this area is now appropriately called 'The Split.' at the split, there's a decent current running from one side to the other, getting rid of most of the sea grass. here, there was a good amount of people swimming, hanging out, and laying out on the shore. the hurricane also destroyed the dock in this area, and it was strange to see people hanging out on the remains of this broken dock. locals would dive and do flips. tourists would lay out and tan. some book or website described it best, calling it post-apocalyptic looking.

we didn't do much that night. we actually spent a lot of time (here and at ambergris caye) on the beach at nights with my ipod and portable speakers (which were key) and just hanging out and talking. of course, it helped that we still had our bottle of 1 barrel that we picked up in san pedro. 1 barrel is belizean rum that the guy at the liquor store recommended. really good ... has a hint of chocolate to it. i brought a bottle home with me, and you can have some if you come over to my place.

the next day, once again with nothing to do, shawn and i decided to rent bikes for the day. our first quest: bike around the island. imagine our dismay when we accomplished this feat in around 30 minutes. we had fun following two young local boys in hopes that they would lead us to something exciting. i think the younger one was terrified of us. we head to the split for another swim, and this time, shawn and i swim across the split (the other side doesn't have any building or housing and is pretty much all mangroves and plants). once there, we decide to follow some dirt path into the forestation. big mistake. next thing you know, we can feel ourselves being eaten alive. we had been getting mosquito bites off and on throughout our trip, but we never actually felt them biting us. we'd simply feel the bites itching the next day. different story here, we felt them biting. we quickly decide it's time to get back in the water. as we turn around and i see shawn back, he has like five of em on him. we had to deal with those annoying mosquito bites for the next few days.

caye caulker didn't have much of a nightlife ... or at least, we didn't know about it. shawn and i found some outside patio during happy hour and grabbed some drinks. by this time, shawn and i have nothing to say to each other. any conversation that there was to be had between the two of us had already been had in the past week ... and we've been with each other 24/7 since, which means there was nothing new to talk about. a deck of cards and pasoi (sp?) came in handy. so here we are at this outdoor bar, playing cards when a group of girls walk in. i didn't really pay much attention, but one of em comes up to us and is like, "one of you is brian, right?" hey, it's maryland girl (now find out her name is brittany) with four friends (emily1, emily2, lauren, and sarah). we teach sarah and lauren how to play pasoi, which is good because i needed better competition than shawn. all of them besides lauren are studying abroad; although, apparently there is little studying involved. lauren, brittany's friend from college, teaches in honduras and is in town for the weekend. brittany wants to shoot some pool (what can i say she likes playing), and we go with them to some ghetto place with a couple tables. the girls are all pretty nice, and when they've had their fill of pool, they invite us back to their place 'to hang out and drink some rum' .... which is exactly what we did. we sat on their porch, passing around a bottle of 1 barrel, and talking about random stuff from movies to music to traveling (these girls didn't go as deep as the sd girls did). eventually, it got late and we parted ways.

the next day was our last full day in belize. shawn had a laundry list of things to bring back for friends and coworkers and we figured it was about time to do any souvenir shopping that needed to be done. i didn't buy much, though i did bring home a cuban cigar (which i was able to get home without a problem) and some spices to make belizean jerk chicken (which i think i may prepare and leave to marinade tonight and cook sometime in the next day or two ... if you ask nice enough, you can come over and experience my cooking expertise ... sorry veggies, you're outta luck). we ran into the girls again (considering the size of the island, it was inevitable) and hung out on the beach with them. i had my speakers and ipod with me and decided to play some music. now it may not be for most people, but this is a big deal for me. you have to take into consideration the crowd, atmosphere, time, etc in choosing the ideal music to play. i failed. they groaned 'more reggae' when i started playing some bob marley. i asked them what they liked to listen, to which they replied, "well what do you have?" brittany kinda groaned again when i said lotsa hip hop. she said she liked 80s stuff, and i broke out with some police (yes, i had police on my ipod). after playing some more cards with emily2 while the other girls tanned and read, shawn decided it was time for a switch in the music. he told me to play some j5. i'm thinking that's not the best idea judging from brittany's reaction to my hip hop comment. however, emily2 was like, "you got j5 ... yeah, play that." now you know me ... j5 isn't a hugely popular group, and anyone that has heard of em, and more so excited to hear their stuff, gets major brownie points in my book. so i put some j5 on. apparently one of the girls had commented on shawn's j5 shirt the day before and that's why he suggested it. brittany looks up from her book. i'm thinking, ohh no ... she's gunna complain. you can imagine my shock when she asks if i have any mos def. umm ... is this the same girl that winced at the idea of hip hop ... now i'm thinking (hoping) maybe she expected me to have the type of hip hop you hear on the radios nowadays and winced at the thought of that. i put on mos's new album, and everyone goes back to what they were doing before ... contently. after a few songs, brittany looks up again, "did i miss 'sex, love, and money'?" i like this girl. i put that song on and she's feeling it (can i take her home). we grabbed some lunch with the girls and then went our separate ways again.

shawn and i knew we wouldn't have time to go to easter mass tomorrow, which meant we had to go to easter vigil mass tonight. longest mass EVER! and seeing that it started at 9pm, we were getting antsy midway through. we managed to sit through the whole thing. we had seen a bunch of flyers for easter parties tonight, but shawn wants to head back to the room for a bit first. while he's changing, i decide to take a peek into the bar downstairs. the girls are all in there. after shawn's ready, we head down there and grab some drinks (we killed the bottle of 1 barrel in the room before). all five of the girls were there. there were also a group of the british army (belize used to be a british colony and although it's completely autonomous now, the british army still does jungle training exercises in the country) there too. enter peter (more like pee taaah). this was one big dude. he kept trying to tell us jokes, but we couldn't understand a word the guy was saying because of his accent. it was comedy. this guy was a character ... and that was with barely being able to understand what he could say. at one point someone asked where emily2 was ... "up against the back wall dancing with one of the british guys." hahah. we hung out with the rest of the girls and drank, danced, chatted. at the end of the night, emily2 was nowhere to be found. i offered to walk emily1 home. she was staying with emily2 but didn't have a key to the place. of course, when we get to the place, emily2 isn't there. we hang out on the porch steps for awhile talking. eventually emily2 shows up the british guy, and obviously not happy about the fact that we there. she came up, handed us the keys, then walked back down to the guy. they walked off a bit and started making out (they probably should have walked farther). not wanting to interrupt anything, i hung out with emily1 some more. sooner or later, emily2 came back in, mumbled something about something being ironic, empathically stated she needed to take a shower, and proceeded to do so. i said bye to emily1 and made my way home.

... and that pretty much ended our trip. my journey back was uneventful. shawn and i ended up being on different flights back because he couldn't get on my flight for some reason (even though it was only half full when we took off). shawn's return was more exciting. he has a knack for being interrogated by customs (... and it probably doesn't help that he started kinda mouthing back). by this time, he's glad he didn't buy a cuban too. eventually they let him go on his way. i got into lax around 1030, by the time i got my baggage, waited for my parents to show up, and got back to bp, it was 1130. i had work the next morning and didn't want to deal with traffic then, so i headed back to sd that night. here i am at midnight, thinking which of my friends will be awake ... and sadly, the only ones i could think of that would be awake at this time were jay and sueellen. and just my luck, neither pick up.



home again =)

all in all, the trip was great. like i said before, i would recommend to belize to anyone. in the words of shawn, "it's funny how we had a plan for what we wanted to do in each area, but we really didn't plan for that plan ... but still everything went as planned." my lonely planet book was a huge help (terence swears by these things ... and now i know why). great time all around ... from the jungle hikes to boat tours to mayan ruins to snorkeling to meeting fun random people.

where to next? ecuador?

welcome to the jungle

(if you haven't read this post about ambergris caye, read it now)

now we're on our way to san ignacio. from talking with other people, the vast majority of tourists didn't stray far from ambergris caye. after seeing san ignacio and experiencing what it had to offer, i don't think people who only stayed on ambergris caye got a good picture of what belize is like. san ignacio was very different from ambergris. much more diversity (we saw groups of local asian and indians), much different atmosphere, and definitely not as touristy. we had to take a two and a half hour bus ride to get to san ignacio from belize city. the ride was like riding a bus in india, except the BO probably wasn't as bad. i ended up sleeping most of the way. actually, we technically weren't staying in san ignacio. we were staying in a little town called santa elena just outside of san ignacio. when we got into san ignacio, we decided to take care of booking some tours before heading to our hotel.

we post up on a city bench in some park-like area and were trying to figure out where to go when this guy approaches us. he introduces himself as jerry, and he looks like he's high or drunk or both. he tells us he works for a tour guide company and asked if we wanted to book a tour. from research in my lonely planet book, i had a good idea of which tour operators we wanted to use, and we told the guy we weren't interested. he then shows us this jade pendant he has and asks if we want to buy any (even claimed to make them himself). we say no again and move on our way. we eventually find one of the places we were looking for and book that tour. we still have one other tour to book and decide to give the place jerry was talking about a try (lonely planet said it was reputable enough). we run into him again and talk to him a bit before book that one. then we headed to our hotel.

the hotel was nice, the staff was really friendly ... but if we had to do it again, we would have stayed in san ignacio itself. not only was where we were staying not in san ignacio, it wasn't even really walkable, which meant every time we went back and forth, we had to grab a taxi. so after settling into our room and just hanging out a bit, we head back to san ignacio for some dinner. there's actually a good amount of tourists here, but they were all european ... very very few americans. since it's a monday and we don't really know what to do, we end up hanging out the majority of the night on a patio of one of the restaurants on the main street. we sat and people watched ... and drank some beliken, of course. jerry came by again and chatted with us for a bit. he even tried to sell us some weed. some other local came by. he said he was a tour guide and there was this meeting they had to go to tonight. he made the meeting seem really boring and said he had to grab a few drinks before the meeting to make it bearable. jerry came by again, and this time said he had half a joint he saved for us. we declined again, and he was more than happy to smoke it himself then wander off again. shawn and i tracked down a pool table (one of the crappiest tables ever with no 9 ball and chalk everywhere) in the restaurant across the street and played a couple rounds there before moving back to the patio, where a now very drunk/high jerry was dancing in the middle of the street and would every once in awhile yell, "buck buck buck!" while shooting with his hand in the air. very amusing. it was also funny how quickly he would nonchalantly duck behind a pillar whenever the police drove by.

ACTUN TUNICHIL MUKNAL (ATM):

this day was probably my favorite of the whole trip. we got picked up from our hotel around 9am by this afro-mayan guy named patrick. patrick was our tour guide for the day. this guy was awesome. funny, extremely knowledgeable, and light-hearted in general. there was a couple from wyoming that owned a dog sledding business, honeymooners from vancouver, and a girl from san francisco (whose brother goes to cal) in our group. patrick referred to the girl from san francisco as 'san francisco' for the rest of the day. we had a two hour drive to get to know each other. sf told us how she fell in love with this local soccer player on the bus over to san ignacio and had plans to meet him later in san pedro. patrick actually knew the guy and teased her nonstop.

once we got the to where we were going. we hiked for a couple hours through the jungle. we were wet the entire day from wading waist deep through rivers to cross them. patrick, an apprentice to the shaman in his village, would point out all kinds of plants and would tell us how to use them to cure different ailments. very fascinating. we even stopped to swim in one of the rivers, which was nicely cool and refreshing. at the end of our hike through the jungle, we reached the opening of a cave (ATM) that had a river running out of it. the next few hours consisted of us exploring the cave. we even had to don helmets with lights attached to them. to get into the cave, we had to swim a few feet to the other side. once again, we were constantly in water, whether be to our ankles, knees, waists, or even swimming. it was incredible seeing large stalactites, stalagmites, and calcium formations. we had to maneuver through some tight crevices between rocks at many points. eventually we got to a point where we had to climb two large boulders. now we were in the dry half of the cave. patrick's demeanor immediately changed. you could tell he treated this place with a sense of reverence. there were remains of mayan life all over the place. there were pots (broken and whole), some tools, and other stuff. there was this stalagmite that had been carved in such a way that when someone held a torch in front of it, it cast a shadow of a man walking on the opposite cave wall. a little farther into the cave, patrick pointed out evidence of human sacrifices. at the end of the cave, there was an almost entirely visible full skeleton. pretty creepy when you think about what was happening at this very spot ages ago. then we did the whole thing in reverse. more of the same, except for the large tree limb that almost fell on the wyoming lady.

that night, after grabbing some dinner, we were wandering around san ignacio looking for something to do when a random local guy started talking to us. we asked him what there was to do around here on a tuesday night. he was like, "here, i'll show you." ludwig aka charles first took us to some bar, and there was no one in there. after talking to a couple people, charles came back and was like, "let's go somewhere else. no one's here." then he took us to cocopele's. we never would have found this place on our own. it was a small place with a single pool table but a decent crowd. as soon as we get in, charles starts talking to some girl. actually, let me first tell you a bit about charles. charles is the type of guy who talks a lot of game, but obviously has none (i at least accept the fact that i have none). on the entire walk to cocopele's, he was telling us how he was going to take home some girl tonight and this and that. he even said that shawn and i could easily pass for belizeans and was worried we were going to take his girls. so yeah ... he starts talking to this girl. we find out that she's from maryland studying abroad in belzie. upon hearing that this girl is from maryland, charles starts cracking up. he says his gf is from maryland. she asked what part of maryland, and he answers, "uhh ... west maryland ... you know ... maryland." uh huh, riiiight ... you have don't have a gf. charles then starts talking to maryland girl's (didn't quite catch her name) rather large friend hannah. shawn and i shot some pool and ran the table for a few games. we met another american guy named dominic from virginia doing peace corp work in belize. charles comes back, tells us he just got weeded downstairs, and is now making even less sense than he was before, which was very funny (though not too fun shooting pool when he's on your team). he's amazed by the fact that shawn and i drank gin and tonics. he even seemed a little nervous about drinking one when i bought one for him (he went back to belikens after that). maryland girl and hannah leave, we chat with dominic a bit more, charles is now trying to hit on two rather hot locals, and we decide to call it a night.

CAVES BRANCH RIVER:

the next day was much more chill and less strenuous than the hiking/climbing/swimming of the day before. after another long van ride, we reach the caves branch river. each of us (the two of us, a couple, and our guide) are handed a large inner tube, and we start through the jungle. there were many more people here than there were at ATM. apparently this area was a hotspot for daytrippers coming off the cruise ships. our guide decides to take us further upstream than all the other groups. 20 minutes into our hike through the jungle, it starts POURING! it seriously starts coming down hard. shawn and i are like, "cool ... true rain forest experience." (inexplicably, the pictures we took with the waterproof camera in the jungle while it was pouring are nowhere to be found. no prints, not in the negatives. no idea what happened there). 10 minutes before we reach the point of the river where our hike ended, the rain stops and clouds disappear. talk about great timing. now that our hike was done, we hop in the river on our inner tubes and float back. talk about relaxing. the river went through a few caves, and it was pretty tight floating in almost complete darkness and quiet. really relaxing ... till we got to where the cruise boat people jump in. now the river is completely filled with people on inner tubes. little kids are screaming and splashing. so much for the serene cave experience. we decide to get out of the river, grab some sun, hang out, and wait for the crowds to subside. while we were hanging out, we find out that some guy lost his passport in the river. why would you bring your passport with you?!? to make it better, they were searching for it in the area of the river where the current was the fastest. it doesn't take a genius to realize it won't still be there. while out of the river, shawn had a great time trying to figure out what shape rock sounded the best when he threw it into the inlet nearby (*plop* vs *thwiiiip*). we get back in the river and float down some more. somehow, our guide finds the passport at the bottom of the river inside of one of the caves. of course, he didn't mention he also found a $20. after we got out of the caves, we floated for another hour or so under sunny skies.

that night, we tracked down an indian restaurant that some cabby recommended (that cabby was awesome ... really nice old guy that basically gave us the life story of him and his family). my chicken tikka masala wasn't what i was expecting, but shawn loved his food. the staff at our hotel told us there was a big soccer match in town, and we decided to check it out ... and we're definitely glad we did. not so much because of the game, but because there was some creole guy in the audience sitting next to us who took it upon himself to add play by play commentary to the game. this guy was comedy ... constantly complaining about the 'fuckin refs fixing the game,' going nuts when his team took a shot on goal, and we even got to hear a "gooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!!!." and all of this is in creole, which is basically english, just faster and jumbled together. good times ... especially since the home team won. then we went back to cocopele's (dominic said he's there every night for the most part). once again, shot some pool, drank some beers, talked to some locals (one of which was helping patrick on our tour of ATM and was convinced we were professional pool players in cali ... uhh, we're not that good).

that was it for our time in san ignacio. the next morning we headed back to the bus stop for our long trek back to belize city. in the commotion to get a seat on the bus, i ended up sitting down next to charles. we talk for a bit, and i decide to ask him which girl he took home that night. he smiles big, "the big one ... she was gooooood." in my head, i'm thinking, "she left before us, there's no way he took her home. she also didn't seem like the type that would do that." i decided to be nice and not call him on it. when i asked why he was heading to belize city, he said he had to check on his visa. when i asked where he was going, "maryland ... to visit my girl." hahha ... maybe he wasn't lying about that one.

ring, ring, ring

i just got a new cell phone number. if i know you and you want it, let me know and i'll give it to you. even if i know you and you don't want it, i'll give to you. actually, if i don't know you and you ask nice enough, i might bless you with my digits anyway.

la isla bonita

(if you haven't read this post yet, read it now)

weary after sitting on planes for most of the day, shawn and i grab a cab to belize city (the airport is about 20 minutes outside of it). ambergris caye is an island (it's actually what madonna's "la isla bonita" is about), and we need to catch a boat to get there. since we have about an hour and a half before the next boat leaves and since we didn't plan on ever staying in belize city, shawn and i decide to walk around a bit and catch whatever sights there are to be seen. yeah, they weren't any. it was your run of the mill poor city. that combined with the fact that shawn and i are tired and still hauling around our luggage, we decide to wait out our time for the boat at the water taxi station. shawn and i are hanging out and just finish talking about how we should try meeting some other travelers around our age since it'd be cool to have people to kick it with but at the same time not be tied to. right on cue, three girls walk in. they're obviously tourists too, judging by their bags, but also because one is asian, and i think she's the first asian person i've seen since i've entered the country. they end up sitting down right next to us. we get to talking and sooner or later, i ask, "so where you girls from?" "ohh, we're from california." i kinda laugh, "really? i'm from san diego." "we are too." what a small world. two are from north park and one is from encinitas. eventually we get on the boat (it's about an hour and a half ride) and get to ambergris caye. talking to those girls (mimo, wendy, and marty) made the ride go quicker. once we got to the island, stupid us parted ways with the girls without making plans to meet back up.

our hotel was a short walk from the water taxi pier. often times with things like this, websites and pictures make the place look/sound better than it actually is. not the case here. the room was simple: two beds and a bathroom, pretty much, but the view from our deck was amazing. it was right on the beach and pretty much in middle of town. we settle in a bit and wander around. the island is pretty small. there are very few cars. actually, the majority of people got around the island in golf carts (where's sidney when you need him?!). after grabbing some dinner and killing some more time wandering around, we make our way to fidos, which we had seen numerous advertisements for in belize city ... "the place where singles come to mingle." there's a band playing 80s songs and some people dancing. it was mostly an older crowd, but we decide to grab a table and a few beers anyway. **side note** there's basically only one beer in belize, called beliken. they have their regular and a stout, which is darker and more alcoholic ... for the same price. we also caught word of a premium, which was supposedly an amber beer, but we were never able to track it down. US$1.50-2.00 each **end side note** shawn and i are hanging out at this place for a bit, when in walks the three girls from sd. they join us, and the five us entertain ourselves by making fun of the people dancing. san pedro (the main ... i mean, only ... town on ambergris caye) has a few clubs. the five of us decide to check out some place called jaguars, mainly because it was nearby and because it looked cool from the outside (the entrance is the mouth of a jaguar ... i should have taken a picture of it). on the inside, it looked like many clubs here, maybe just not as nice. the majority of people there were locals with a handful of tourists. the place was pretty packed because there was a dj battle going on that night. apparently it had been the talk to the town amongst the locals our age for awhile now. now shawn and i are a little excited ... foreign dj battle ... sounds good to us. unfortunately, it wasn't what we were expecting. belize dj's don't really use vinyl. actually shawn had done some research into this area (would you expect any less from shawn?), and the country in general didn't really sell/use/produce music on wax. belize's version of a dj battle was simply the two djs playing/mixing music off the cds they had. the first guy was pretty bad ... no continuity to his set, beats were running into each other all over the place. the five of us were pretty annoyed because it made it very difficult to dance to. mimo and marty don't drink (still not sure why) but all three of them went off to the bar. they came back with five drinks (two were diet cokes). they handed shawn and me a drink even though we still have the drinks we bought ourselves. shawn looks at me, smiles, and says "terence would be proud." i was like, "why." he holds up both drinks, "double fisting, baby." i laugh, then responded, "actually he be proud because we're double fisting, and they bought us drinks." the next dj (obviously the crowd favorite) was considerably better, but for whatever reason, after his set, they go into a round two runoff. this round consisted of each dj playing a song that dissed the other dj, with each dj getting five songs. once again, this made it very difficult to dance to the music. once they announced they were going into round three, we decided we had had enough. plus since it was past 3am, we called it a night ... but this time shawn and i had the sense to make plans to meet up with the girls the next night.

LAMANAI:

the next day we had to be up around 6am for a tour that was leaving at 7am. we get picked from one of the docks and head across the water towards the mainland with about 20 other tourists. on the way over, we see some dolphins and manatees swimming around. our guide steers the boat toward the bank, which is completely covered with mangroves. i have no idea where he is heading at this point because it seems like we're heading straight toward a mangrove covered bank. all of sudden, he makes a slight turn, and we see an opening in the mangroves ... basically a small river inlet covered all over by plants (even above). we travel up this river for a few minutes then stop for breakfast. there were five or six manatees hanging out where we were stopped. i definitely understand why these animals are called the cows of the sea. we head off again, and the rest of trip upriver was pretty awesome. think disney's jungle boat road, but real. we saw all kinds of stuff: crocodiles, iguanas, lizards, bats, hawks, vultures (circling around something), and many many other types of birds. the most amazing part was our guide would be manuevering the boat through the river at about 20 mph, then stop all of sudden, turn the boat around, and point out some animal. however, even when we're stopped and he's pointing out where it is, half the time half of us couldn't see it ... or least, it took us 5-10 minutes to find it finally. how this guy would see this stuff while driving the boat at 20 mph is unimaginable to me. check out this picture. see the iguana? do you think you could see it while driving a boat 20 mph. nuts, huh? after about a few hours on the boat, we get off the boat. shawn reminds me that we have yet to be in the country for 24 hours yet, which is crazy considering how much we've done and seen. now we're at lamanai, which is ancient mayan for 'submerged crocodile' (kinda). we walked around the site, seeing all kinds of ancient mayan building, structures, etchings, etc. we even got to climb up a very large one. supposedly, from the top, you can se both mexico and guatamala (in opposite directions). great view, but i must say, it was HOT up there. you could feel the heat coming off the stones. after some more wandering around, we did the whole river in reverse and headed home.

later that night, we met up the girls at some random bar. we ended up talking to some local who gaves us a hilarious recount of his ex-wife and their divorce. eventually the five of us ended up having some pretty intense conversations about relationships, culture, religion, etc. it was then that i found out more about our new friends. mimo, late 20s, has been in a relationship for about 4 years now (once rocky but now going really well). she kept relating her experiences to mine with sue ellen. wendy, turning 30 soon, is dating a 42 year old ... woman. marty, early 30s, is an ex-marine who's just little off her rocker (i already knew that one actually). we ended up heading back to jaguars that night, which is apparently the thing to do on sat nights. it was more of the same but with decent music this time.

HOL CHAN MARINE RESERVE AND SHARK RAY ALLEY:

the next morning we went snorkeling. i had never been snorkeling and i must say it was pretty cool. we saw all kinds of fish, a buncha sting rays, a few sharks, and one large sea turtle. the pictures of the sea turtle do it no justice. it was much larger than it appears to be in the pictures. i would guess at least 2' wide. at one point, i thought it was going to run into me, and, luckily for me, it turned before it did. i easily could have touched it. i did touch a sting ray that our guide picked up.

we knew where the girls were going to be for lunch and met them there. we ate some good bbq and drank some more beer. we parted ways with the girls again, and shawn and i needed to get some laundry done. we both ended up passing out near the laundry machines because of the afternoon heat (but only shawn got his picture taken). since it was sunday, we had planned on going to church that evening. the girls decided to join us. all three were raised catholic and none practiced anymore. the mass had to be one of the most entertaining/interesting masses that i've ever sat through. it was supposed to be a spanish mass, but for some reason, the regular priest wasn't there, but the priest that was there didn't speak spanish (worked for us). he grabbed some guy from the crowd to translate for him, but it was obvious the guy wasn't doing a very good job. during the priest's homily, he breaks out with some story about a donkey. when he looks to the guy to translate, the guy just looks at him with a "are you seriously preaching about a donkey and expect me to translate" look. the priest was like, "go ahead ... you know, burrrro." from then on, the priest stopped using the word 'donkey' from then on and only used 'burro.' funny stuff. i completely missed the point the priest was trying to make. the homily was topped off when at the end, he said something about being jesus's burro, and then used his hands to make donkey ears on himself. i couldn't help but laugh ... luckily, i wasn't the only one.

we grabbed dinner with the girls and decided to take the night easy tonight (after two straight nights at 3am+). there seemed to be a lot of creepy old men on the island (i felt like they were preying on the younger female tourists). while walking around, marty sees some old guy that was talking to her the first night at fidos. he sees her and says, "hey, i know you." to which, she responds, "i know you too." then he said, "not as well i'd like." the normally loud and outspoken marty was speechless and walked away. hilarious ... but like i said, creepy considering the guy had to be twice her age. we ended up at a bar on one of the docks and caught a live 'punta rock' (kinda reggae-ish) band play and just hung out there all night.

the next morning, we packed up and caught a boat back to the mainland. coincidentally, when the boat stopped at caye caulker to pick up more passengers, an indian girl got on. shawn thought i was just staring because she was cute and indian, but i was like, i know that girl. it ended up being poulina (sp?) from cal. she was in the raas i did for culture show my sophomore year, lived a floor below me in my apt on hillegass, and graduated a couple years before i did. talk about random.

once we got back to belize city, we found this hole in the wall joint that had really good food and friendly people, then headed to the bus station ...

I'm a travelin' man ...

... goin through places, bags in hand.

even before we got to belize, this trip was getting exciting. for those of you who know my mom, you know she stresses ... a LOT. it's what she does (i obviously got my genes in this area from my dad). we get to the airport around 10, and when she finds out that shawn is still in van nuys (about 30 min from lax), naturally, she starts worrying. let me get one thing straight first, our flight is at 1210. it's still only 10ish. even if shawn gets here in 30 minutes, it's still more than an hour before our flight. yeah, we're going to belize, which is international, but the flight is a domestic one, since we have to go through dallas and miami first. nevertheless, mom is freaking out. of course, shawn gets to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and mom can finally rest easy (well as easy as she ever does). shawn and i make our way to the security line with about an hour left before our flight is scheduled to leave. and guess who's in line behind us ... vivica fox. shawn tries to get a video of her using his phone, but she's facing the other way, and he only manages to get a clip of her from the back (which is fine by me because she has a nice ass). in shawn's words, "i hope she's going where we're going." unfortunately, we're not that lucky. actually our luck got worse ... flight's delayed. like i said before, we have to go through dallas and miami before getting to belize, and our connection time in dallas was tight to begin with. if we miss the connection in dallas, we'll easily miss our flight out of miami too. i'm thinking, "i've already missed one flight this week, i don't want to miss two (maybe three)." it turns out that there were about 20-30 other people in the same boat (plane?) as us. we ended up making our connection in dallas (and consequently, in miami); although, it was pretty close. picture 20-30 people filing out of one plane and then rushing to the gate where our other plane was departing out of. in the end, we got to belize on time and with no real problems. let the vacation begin!! our trip was broken up into three segments. we spent three nights in each of ambergris caye, san ignacio, and caye caulker. i'll probably blog separately for each, but a few words about belize in general first. great place. shawn and i had a really good time. the three places we stayed were each very different from the other two. from talking to other tourists and other people that have been to belize, it sounded like most people (especially americans) only visit ambergris caye. after visiting san ignacio, i think those people missed out on a good picture of the rest of belize. too bad for them. belizeans, on a whole, were very friendly and helpful. their currency has been tied to ours for awhile now ($1 of ours = $2 of theirs), and you could use US money everywhere. i actually didn't exchange any money (did have to hit up their atm a few times though). we also met a good amount of interesting people (locals and other tourists). it was cool talking with random people and hearing everyone's story. like i said, we had a really good time, and i would definitely recommend a visit to belize to anyone based on my experiences there.

posts on each of the three areas will be coming shortly (and may even be here by the time you read this), but until then check out these pictures from the trip

back again

ap (7:04:23 PM): just wanted to let you know that you're not well liked by me

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Auto response from bmasc123 (7:04:23 PM): church
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ap (7:04:53 PM): everyday I log onto the net, and go to your blog, waiting, hoping for something exciting
ap (7:05:09 PM): but alas that is not the case
ap (7:05:12 PM): no new update
ap (7:05:15 PM): no pictures
ap (7:05:30 PM): no detailed accounts reliving your recent vacation
ap (7:05:39 PM): how am i supposed to distract myself?
ap (7:05:45 PM): what is a poor girl to do?
ap (7:05:57 PM): anyhow, i've decided, i'm done with you
ap (7:06:13 PM): i cant live in anticipation and have such high expectations
ap (7:06:21 PM): i should just except the truth
ap (7:06:36 PM): you're lousy at this blogging thing, and there's nothing I can do about it
ap (7:06:46 PM): thanks for that realization
ap (7:06:47 PM): thanks

i know, i know ... i've been lagging on blogging on belize. unfortunately, when i got back from belize, work kicked my ass. basically, a coworker was supposed to take over the parts of the project that i was working on before i left. not only did he not finish that work, he didn't even TOUCH it. so what do i get welcomed with upcome returning from my vacation? 10-12 hour days at work. normally i'd take that as being part of the job, but what pissed me off is that the coworker that was supposed to take over my work and who was also on the project would leave everyday at 530. not cool. at least my project manager recognized the situation wasn't my fault. i worked until about 1030 thursday night, and the only reason i stopped working was because it dynamite time. dynamite's welcome back was more better than work's. like usual, bypassed the line and didn't pay cover, and more importantly, i got the same great service from my bartender. she even remembered that i was going on vacation. i love that place. and on that note, here's belize.

i'm leaving on a jetplane ...

... don't know when i'll be back again. actually i do. i'll be in belize for the next 10 days coming back easter sunday night. i can't wait. and now that all the work shit i had to get done with this week is done with (or at least, i'm done with it), i'm starting to get really excited about the trip. i'm all packed. shawn is all packed and driving down from palmdale. in less than 24 hours, i'll be chillin in belize. maybe i'll stop by here and post if i get to an internet cafe or something. i can't wait to be there already. unfortunately, i got to go through dallas and miami to get there. oh well ... BELIZE BABY!

JFK to LAX

i'm at work waiting for two coworkers to integrate their code, which needs to happen before i can integrate my code with both of theirs. i figured with this short span of dead time, i'd try taking the chance to blog about my new york trip, especially since i wanted to get it done before i left for belize (which is tonight!!!). so yeah ... new york. i actually didn't fly into JFK nor did i fly out of LAX, but i've always wanted to say that (*see footnote or comment later). terence and i got in early morning friday into newark and trained into manhattan. wandered around for awhile before eventually meeting up with yatin around 1pm. commence drinking (which basically doesn't stop for the rest of the weekend). we wind up at some outdoor bar (the weather was beautiful) and, sooner or later, our original party of 3 grows to about 8 or 9. at some point, my brother's friend ronak decides to grill me about my love life. do i have a gf? what's the deal with my ex? etc, etc. let me point out that i have never met this guy before in my life. after it seems he's done with interrogation. he schools me on the 'four pronge approach to getting girls' the four factors are: research, intelligence, listening, and humor. seems reasonable enough. he then proceeds to tell me that i am lacking one: humor. (thanks ass ... although he later gives up on the four pronged approach). yatin had created an itinerary for the weekend, which was comedy in itself. we kept to the itinerary pretty damn well, except for never making it to the p-lounge (which some would argue was the most important part). the key to this itinerary were the scheduled naps. after naptime, we headed to this bar called kanvas. i was pretty drunk/tired at this point (redeye plus little food plus lotsa alcohol probably isn't the best combination). i'm just glad i was able to catch terence dancing with this girl 'who must have had headphones on because she was definitely dancing to a different tune.'

saturday:
yat manages to go to the gym in the morning and get back around noon, when we're all waking up. he proceeds to pour himself some goose. 'hey, i just ran five miles. i deserve it.' commence drinking again. we head to cpk for lunch, and as soon as we get seated, someone orders 11 shots of patron. we end up taking another round later. sadly, the waiter refused to give us a third ... so we headed downstairs to the bar for that one. we went bowling (with beer, of course) after that, and some people stuck around for some entertaining rounds of ddr and air hockey. we head back to yatin's place, and what happens next is STRAIGHT COMEDY. basically, 'it's 7 and smitty is in 4am form.' he was walking around the place in just his boxer, and even those he had trouble keeping on (not a pretty sight). smitty manages to pour beer ALL OVER the new guys couch and get pushed onto (and tip over) the coffee table. people are throwing shit everywhere and seriously, the place is a DISASTER. naptime again. when i wake up from my nap, smitty was asleep with his door locked. anuj still wants to bug him some more and proceeds to take smitty's door off the hinges (smitty wasn't too happy about that one). after some serious indecisiveness, we manage to head to ps450. i'm in much better shape than the night before. terence, ankit, and now sriram once again argue about topgun and who the better wingman is: goose, maverick, or iceman. for much of the night, i end up following around a drunkass sheetal, who is hollering at every girl he can using his 'smile' line. at some point, i end up talking to some girl. average looking, not particular cute, but by no means, ugly. next thing i know we've been talking for about 45 minutes. then teesha comes up to me, and tells me we gotta go because anuj got kicked out. i talk about a bit more and tell her i gotta. she asks for my number when i leave, and i give it to her. we end up back at yat's place, still drinking. at like 430, she calls. she asks if she can come over to where i am. i'm like, uhh, there are like 20 people here and it's not my place so probably not. she then says i can come over to her place even though it's far and her roommate doesn't like when she brings guys home. i'm thinking i'm going to pass, but i tell her i'll call her back. she calls me FOUR MORE TIMES that night (ronak renounces the four pronged approach after hearing this story).

sunday:
brunch at hells kitchen with all you can drink. some entertaining/interesting game of never have i ever. the hostess was cute (and i think catholic, guessing by the cross and rosary she was wearing) and sri thinks she was feeling one of us. to make a long story short, terence and i miss our flight by less than 5 minutes after trekking all the way back to nj because of traffic on one of the tunnels. the worst part is that if we had checked in online at home, we would have been fine. we go back to the city where half the group is still drinking and the other half is napping (sri decided he take the bus back to boston in the morning, and anuj and sheetal missed their flight too, but only because their idiots). after more deliberation, we grab dinner and head a small local bar down the street. terence decides we should drink scotch on the rocks (which i normally don't mind, just not in large amounts). ronak even left reena (again) to meet back up with us. next thing i know it's 4am, we're the only people in the place besides the bartender and her maybe boyfriend and basically everyone is dancing on the bar. good times. we end up back at pooh's apt at 5 or so, and we have to be up in less than an to make it to the airport.

all in all, my first time in ny was AWESOME. lotsa drinking. good times chilling with some down guys. interesting conversation/drinking games.

my pics
terence's pics

if i get permission from terence (or smitty), i'll add some links to some hilarious video clips later.

other notables:
- 'good luck having sex tonight'
- 'why don't you .. uhh ... why don't you ... uhh ... heeeey'
- 'smitty is sleeping backwards on his bed. i wish i could take a picture' *said very sadly*
- my momma hits harder than you

** footnote: some of you (and by 'some of you,' i mean terence and shawn) may know why i've always wanted to say i've gone JFK to LAX. and on that notes, i've decide to attempt to make all the titles of my postings refer to a song, lyric, artist, etc. try guessing what each title refers to. this is also the reason i decide to change the title of my first post. if you don't think a title refers to something, call me on it ... maybe i'm slipping.

** UPDATE **
check out my bro's blog for a little more detailed account of things