the rap up 2006

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

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

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

i've done pretty well with those resolutions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

... and that was basically my year.

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

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

this morning, i woke up feeling brand new

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

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

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

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

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

i need a pork chop on my plate

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

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

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

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

g.o.a.t.

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

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

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

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

this year halloween fell on a weekend

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

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

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

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

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

Jermaine Dupri Screws Virgin, Leaves Label

you gotta love that headline. straight comedy.

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

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

ahh ... good times ...

the choice is yours

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

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

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

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

tease me

my friends have been teasing me lately ...

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

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

but yeah ... talk about teasers.

take that cookie

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

"ASK YOUR MOM"

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

super ugly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

i'm slippin'

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

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

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

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

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

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

don't knock the hustle

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

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

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

paid to trade hot stock tips

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

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

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

coincidence?!? i think not.

sofa king, we todd, ed

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

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

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

God bless the dead

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

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

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

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

... but life goes on ...

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


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

play me like a game of football

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

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

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

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

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

my stereo on blast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

these last two are tough

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

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

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

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

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

(and saying burned mix cds is plain cheating)

the legendary roots crew

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

high fidelity

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

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

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

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

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

- who is militia?

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

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

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

a dime and a nickel

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

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

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