2016

We’re 1/4 of the way into 2016 and I have to say it’s been one of the best years in a long time. So much has happened and I’m excited for what’s to come.

I’ve lost contact with some friends, made some new friendships and have even reconnected with friends from my past. 

I’m a tad nervous and scared for a few things, but can’t let those feelings take over and run my life. Gotta just see where the rest of this ride will take me. 

Raging Waters

I can’t swim. When deciding what I was going to do this past Saturday, we originally planned for the beach. People couldn’t (and some didn’t want to) go. Debating what to do Pedro and I decided on a theme park. He chose Raging Waters, and I was hesitant. I’ve never been there, and I can’t swim, so I was nervous about going. I mentioned Six Flags and Knotts, but in the end I caved and said yes to the water park, where I believed I would meet my end. 

  
We stopped by a Ralph’s for some liquid courage and to enjoy the park a lot more.  Google took us to the back end of the park, and we had to find our way around until we spotted the entrance. 

 

On The Raging Waters Tram

As nervous as I was, Pedro told me that all the drops are into about 4 feet of water, so that eased my nerves a bit. The booze and some (as kidvic calls it) Good Stuff! also helped a lot in calming me down.  We ended up going with one of his friends, Nathaniel, and we all got a season pass for this year and next year, so I know we will be going back!

 
There was a point where we went back to the car to meet up with Ryan and load his luggage in my car. During this time we wanted another Good Stuff! Break, but the fucking lighter gave out. We were upset, but back into the park we went. At one point we found some chairs under the shade and knocked out for a bit while Ryan and Nathaniel went on more slides.

Overall a fun trip and adventure for me. Thank you Pedro for convincing me to go. Sorry for pushing you into the waterfall in the Amazonian River. You deserved it tho! 😜

DTLA Adventures

So last week I ended up going out to bars 5 out of 7 days. Suffice to say, I had plenty of fun this past week. To call each outing an adventure is an understatement. 

So many memories were made and I got to meet some new people, which was super fun. This is my favorite thing on my phone from the past week:
  

Thanks guys for helping me make this past week one of the best so far this year. 

Last Minute Vegas Trip

Jessica asked if I was up for going to Vegas about 3 days before the planned takeoff date. It was Valentine’s Day weekend, and it’s not like I had any plans, so of course I said yes.

We booked a room, rented a car and we’re off on Friday evening. It took us about 5 hours to get there due to some very bad traffic, but we made it and started drinking right away. Breakfast at like 5am, then bed, then up to drinking and a buffet before more drinking and then Tao nightclub.

Tao was a blast because I met Jamie, who took us to his private VIP booth and offered us all as much of the bottle service as we wanted. I can’t complain about the night cos I ended up meeting some cool new people.

Bday Shenanigans

Ended up celebrating my bday at The Monty in DTLA. Not much to say to describe the outing, but here is photographic evidence of the nights debauchery:

The hangover, luckily, wasn’t too bad. Although I was told that I threatened people. In my defense it was more of a warning to make sure my friend got home in one piece. Next year is a big one…. Gonna have to top every year I’ve celebrated thus far.

49ers vs. Chargers

About 2 month ago I made a comment about going to catch a Raider game with my brother in December, but it never happened. This brought up going up north to catch the 49ers vs Chargers game when I was at a friends Bday. I’ve been wanting to go see a game and Check out Levi’s Stadium, so I said yeah I’m down, not thinking it would actually happen. Two weeks went by and the talks became reality. The next thing I know the tickets were bought and hotel was paid for. Fuck it, I thought, a mini getaway to end 2014.

We were supposed to take off Friday night after work, but Richard couldn’t get off work until 6pm. Off we went in the 6 hour trek to Santa Clara. I was in charge of the tickets, and even though it had this warning, people should know not to boss me around.

We stopped by target to pick up snacks, cups and some beer to put in the cooler. (Shoutout to KidVic for lending me the awesome cooler that got us through Comic Con. Thanks dude!!! Nachos on me!!)

6 hours later we reached our destination. We changed into our PJs and began with a 4am game of beer pong.

Vanessa, and Manny fell asleep, while Richard and I tried to stay up to watch the sun rise. I knocked out on the edge of the bed near Vanessa’s feet and got up and tried to go to the couch. I must have slept in an awkward position cos my feet were numb and I fell straight to the floor. I tried to get up but fell again. I made it to the couch and knocked the fuck out.

The next morning we went out for breakfast and to pick up more booze, steaks, and all the necessities for the Tailgate. We tried to look for parking but it was packed. We found a lot and went in only to find that they did not let people tailgate. We were told the lot across the street allowed tailgating so off we went. We set camp, and took out a few tables for beer pong and a Ginormous sized jenga set that was made by Manny’s old man.

Once people saw the jenga and beer pong table they were drawn in to us and competitions began. Game after game after game was played of beer pong, Jenga and Flip Cup as booze and shots were downed nonstop! Some people from back home were also in the same lot and they joined our company.

The game was about to begin so at this point we packed up and headed out towards the stadium. This tech-ed out stadium was awesome! Never seen anything like it. Somehow Manny managed to get us prime seating for an unbelievable price.

Drunk was not even a word I would use to describe our state towards the end of the game. When we realized the game went to overtime we were trying to locate everyone as people scattered. We did not know who won until the next morning when we saw the highlights. =\

As scattered as we were, one of the boys got jumped twice, and luckily no harm was done. He was alone and nothing could have been done at that point. It took us over an hour to gather everyone together and then another hour to get back to the hotel (which was less than 2 miles from the stadium) where we semi continued drinking and just chatting the night/morning away.

The next morning some of the group thought I took of to Frisco with the other people but I was knocked out in the couch. We packed up, and headed straight to grub at Pizza My Heart then headed to the Winchester Mystery House.

I’ve been here prior so don’t feel the need to write about it. Off south we now went, destination: home!

I know the way back on a trip is normally shorter than traveling there, but for sown reason this trek back lasted for what seemed ages!! After a few pit stops we finally arrived home, and this concluded my eventful weekend. I will now be making my own Enormous Jenga and I plan on attending more Tailgates after this!

The Loss of a Mother

Two years ago today, one of my dearest and closest friends lost her mother. Two years…. It’s strange how quick time has gone by.

I can’t even begin to imagine the feeling of losing a mother. Or father. I would be devastated and wouldn’t know how to function. The thought scares me because I know that my parents won’t be here with me forever. I know I will have to face that one day and it doesn’t ever get easier. More for me because my father has been ill for many years and has been in and out of the hospital with a couple of scares along the way.

I cried earlier, as I wrote in a card I will give to my friend and her family. I can’t remember the last time I cried, but all the memories I had with her mother just came flooding in and out poured the tears.

RIP Anita. I know that heaven has gained one of its most beautiful angels I’ve had the pleasure of meeting on this Earth.

Friendships

I miss the days of being young and carefree. No texting. No twitter. No Facebook. And yes….. even no Myspace. Back during a time where actual phone conversions were considered the norm. Back in a time where I had to memorize phone numbers to contact people. As much as I love social media, it changed things. It makes me sad for many of the young kids today as they live in a world where technology is so advanced that they have begun to lose their imaginations.

Thinking of the past made me think of some old friends. I sometimes wonder how different things would be if I still maintained certain friendships I have lost. I’m happy where I am, but once in a while, my mind slips away thinking of how things could have been.

Friends come and go, and It’s not necessarily a bad thing since we are always growing. Life happens, and when it does, we are all forced to make choices. These choices affect our relationships and certain people just sometimes begin to slip through the cracks, or are just completely cut out.

I have always wanted to be someone who had a ton of friends. For some reason, I’ve always associated having lots of friends with being content in life. It took some time, but I finally realized that it became less important to have a ton of friends, and more important to have real ones.