Metalchick

New Years Resolutions

2012-01-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

A little late on this, but better than never! Anyways, I've got some new ones, and unfortunately I have one old one that I was hoping to never make again. So here they are:

1. Get into shape - This is the one that's returning, only this time I didn't say "lose weight" because it turns out that if you build up muscle, you gain weight-but the good kind! But unlike the last time I lost wieght, which was by forgetting to eat while on the computer, I am going to do it right this time. So one of they ways is to cut down on drinking soda & eating junk food and drink more water and eat healthier snaacks instead. Then I am going to be excercising more, and since I've learned the excercises you can do while sitting at the computer, I now have no excuses to not excercise.

2. When I am back in school, I will use the tutoring services offered by my college, especially for math and German! Well actually that's all I would need a tutor for, but I have been at my junior college for too long! and it is time I graduate so I can move on. First so I can get an entry level job in the graphic design field, and then when I can afford it, I can pursue a bachelor's degree.

3. Whenever I have money, try to spend it more wisely instead of wasting it on things like junk food or a bunch of things I want. I shamefully admit to spending half my financial aid on "personal expenses", so this time around, when I get my aid for spring semester, I will use it only for school expenses, then when I have anything left at the end of the semester, then I can buy the personal things I want like CDs and Transformers figures!

4. I will try not to put off any projects if I start new ones. Or in other words, don't start new projects until I have the old ones done! I have a stack of artwork I've been wanting to complete, but they get pushed to the back burner.

5. Try really really hard to tolerate my sister's boyfriend! I can't stand him because he's annoying, he has butted into conversations he doesn't belong in, finds ways to make snide remarks -especially in response to things I've said in the past, and has brainwashed my sister into joining his crazy church whose members speak in tongues (or just babbling non-sense!) it's sad cause she has changed so much! From the way she dresses to what she believed in politics. So why must I learn to tolerate him? Because they're talking about how thye're gonna get married someday and if they do, my family will be stuck with him, especially if they have kids!

OK so that last resolution was pretty bleak, but I at least hope to conquer most of these.

Best of 2011

2011-12-31T19:15:00.000-08:00

Well after I went to check last years posts, I couldn't believe that I had not done this list in 2010 or even 2009! So...the list is back! This time there are three new categories: Best books, Best New band, and Best Comebacks. Although a new things on the list may have come out last year or so, but it is new to me since I got them this year. Without further ado, here it is...

Best New Albums:
Rammstein - Liebe Ist Für Alle Da
Sixx: AM - This is Gonna Hurt

Best New Band:
Volbeat

Best New TV Shows:
Transformers Prime
Metal Evolution

Best Movies:
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2

Best Books:
Ice: A Memoir of Gangsta Life nad Redemption-from South Central to Hollywood by Ice-T
Seven Deadly Sins-Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good by Corey Taylor
This is Gonna Hurt by Nikki Sixx

Best Comebacks:
Seeing Dave Mustaine on the same stage with Metallica at the Big 4 concert in Bulgaria
Season 13 of Law & Order: SVU having the best episodes since pre-season 7!

and that about completes it! Next yeat I shall have this list again.

Happy New Year! Hope 2012 will be better! (and not the apocalypse!)

Christmas in my Hood

2011-12-24T13:48:00.000-08:00

Fröhlich Weihnachtsbaum! Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas! Doesn't matter what language you say it in, a lot of countries celebrate Christmas, but each one in a similar or a different way.

Anyways...I was inspired by my Twitter friend Starscream to do a post like this since he was posting pictures of Christmas decorations around where he lives, I thought I'd do the same too!

These are pictures from a Culdesac in my city that is famously called "Candy Cane Lane" because every single house puts up Christmas lights and they line the entire sidewalks with the lit up paper bags. You can drive around the culdesac to see the lights, but it takes almost an hour just to get in! Though the advantage to viewing them in your car is the heater and the radio or CD player in it. Or...you could park your car in a nearby neighborhood or in the parking lot of my college nearby and then you can walk around the culdesac! The advantage of walking is seeing the lights up close and getting a free cup of hot cocoa.

I used to take my car around, but starting last year, I opted to walk and that is what I prefer to do from now on.

So here's the pictures, I apologize in advance if they do not zoom in, so I hope you guys can see them.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Blitzwing Christmas Comic

2011-12-19T11:11:00.001-08:00

Hello Transformers fans! Here's a little Holiday gift for you all! It was originally just going to be one picture of Blitwing with Christmas lights wrapped around him, but then I decided to include Bumblebee and Starscream. They tried to get Lockdown to join in on the fun, but he didn't want to! Oh well, more fun for them, that is until Megatron shows up!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon sample

2011-12-14T22:54:00.000-08:00

Corey Taylor - X-M@$

2011-12-12T16:27:00.000-08:00

Corey Taylor's hilarious Christmas song, enjoy!

Stone Sour - The Pessimist

2011-12-12T16:13:00.000-08:00

I've decided I'm gonna stop posting in my video blog and just post the videos here instead. Anyway, here's Stone Sour's Pessimist,This song is from the special edition soundtrack of Transformers 3, which I really want to get, but it's one of those things where you can't get just this song, you have to download the whole album! That sucks, especially since all the good songs that I like from the soundtrack are that way, and yet the only ones you can download individually are the ones I don't like much save for Linkin Park's Iridescent.

All Hail Megatron! Comic

2011-11-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

So after I did the Starscream comic, I was reminded that there is a football player named Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions whose nickname is Megatron, so of course I had to do this. I think Megatron is very pleased.

Megatron and Starscream figures are trademarked to Hasbro.

Calvin Johnson is trademarked to the Detroit Lions of the NFL.

The Adventures of Starscream comic #1

2011-11-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

Here it is! I have officially started my own series of Transformers comics! Since this one is about Starscream, and that there's the possibilities of what he could do, I've named it "The Adventures of Starscream". So in this first one, he is on Twitter and sees a Tweet from another Starscream, DJ Starscream, who is actually Sid Wilson of Slipknot. I hope to do more comics, but unfortunately I need to figure out how to do these in GIMP (which is a free software that's like a poor man's Photoshop) and school is coming to an end soon, so I won't be able to do them over in Photoshop in their computer lab for very long. Anyways, don't wanna ramble on, so please enjoy the comic!

OK I checked this post a few times and Unfortunately it's not zooming in to the size it should be, so here's the link to it in my Deviantart: http://http://fav.me/d4fvf33

Video Blog has been Updated!

2011-11-06T00:44:00.001-07:00

After neglecting it for so long, I have now updated my video blog! I have posted a bunch of funny Transformers videos. From the TFA version of Celebrity Jeopardy to a couple of Robot Chicken sketches.

I'll post more videos later, but of music I like (sorry Who fans!) it's gonna be metal music for now.

I need to bring back my link list on here, so for now here it is:

Starscream's Escape

2011-11-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

Yay! My first Transformers comic! It is of Starscream escaping from the cardboard holder he came packaged in.

Funny Transformers Artwork & Pictures

2011-11-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by StarscreamAHS's blog post of his favorite and funny Transformers pictures, so I decided to do my own! So here they are, all of them are from Deviantart and are by different people. Of course each artist is credited, cause I know I'd want my work to be credited as well!

OK now that we have the legal stuff out of the way, and without much further ado, here it is:

"Fear and Loathing on the Nemesis" by Saber28

By SonuMasamune.

By satau02

By Lizkay

By Robohippie

What do you guys think? Thought you'd get a kick out of these! I would've posted more, but it's still a pain to post images here!

A note to the artists, if you don't want your images here, I'll remove them.

World's Most Annoying Songs

2011-10-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

I started this in Twitter thanks to a link I got to a website where they have two different annoying songs. Here's a link to that website: http://http://pigeonsandplanes.com/2011/10/we-made-the-most-annoying-song-in-the-world.html Anyways I started lisitng the songs, but I'm remembering so many now that I've decided to just list them over here. Of course everyone's got different tastes and some people may like these songs or artists, and that's fine! But some of the songs on the list may be universally annoying! So without further ado, and in no particular order, here's my list:

I'll start with the current talentless annoying pop artists in which all their songs count as annoying: Justin Bieber, Ke$sha, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Bros, Nicki Minaj, and that girl who sang the Friday song.

All the jingles from the commercials for a company called "JG Wentworth" the reason is because the songs are sung in Opera style and they get stuck in your head! (I got it stuck in my head right now just tying about it!) For my International friends...if you don't know about this company or see the commercials...consider yourselves lucky! If you feel the need to see them, then Youtube them, but I guarantee you will not be able to finish the video!

"Float On" by Modest Mouse. I first saw them on MTV and the video was weird enough, then my radio station decided to play that song, Which doesn't even classify as rock! thanks goodness that at nighttime, the station gets a nation wide show called Hard Drive XL, which sticks with hard rock and heavy metal, so I don't hear that song there!

Two songs by Paula Cole, one being "Where Have all the Cowboys Gone" because it was on VH1's top 20 for a long time when it first came out (plus you could see her armpit hair in the video!) and the most annoying of all..."I Don't Wanna Wait" which was annoying enough alone, but then a show called Dawson's Creek decided to use it as it's theme song!

Songs I hate because of my friends who are now my ex-friends: "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads, "Do you Really Wanna Hurt Me?" by Boy George, "Beast of Burden" by The Rolling Stones, "Yeah" by Usher. Any song by Teena Marie!

"Smack That" by Akon, speaking of him...that duet he did with Gwen Stefani is annoying too!

Two bads whose songs put me to sleep, make me turn the radio off, or change the station: Kings of Leon and Coldplay. "Clocks" and "Use Somebody" make me yawn!

Since I mentioned Paula Cole...a song from the late 90's that makes me cringe: "Barely Breathing" by Duncan Sheik.

The most boring song of all time: "Long December" by Counting Crows.

Also annoying are any songs by the pop stars: Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, N-Sync, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Christina Aguilera, Hanson, Spice Girls, and the guys who did the macarena song.

Annoying Techno, House, and 90's dance songs: C& C Music Factory, "Pump up the Jam" by Technotronic, (Don't know the names of the rest, so pretty much all the 90's dance songs that are like the song "In A Dream" by Rockell)

Most Annoying Rappers: MC Hammer & Vanilla Ice

Most overplayed Alternative bands that are making me sick of them: Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Offspring, Early 90's Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Nirvana. (don't get me wrong, they're good, but I can't listen to them because the radio overplays their music)

Band I tried to get into but didn't stick: Soundgarden. I only started listening to them because of Audioslave, but the way Chris Cornell left Audioslave left a bitter taste in my mouth, so I don't listen to Soundgarden, never really got into them anyway. I still listen to Audioslave but only because Tom Morello is awesome!

Band I love off and on but now it's off because I overindulged: The Beatles. I first heard them from my dad, who preferred the early Beatles, then when I got into them again while I was in high school, I discovered the late Beatles. But unfortunately I overindulged and got sick of them. Anything whether it be music, movies, or other things related, I get sick of for induging too much of, I call "Beatles syndrome"

OK that about completes this list! I probably didn't get everything, but I do know that this list will have new entries in the future as music is still being made.

Cleaning up this Place

2011-10-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

This blog has seriously been neglected! But I was thinking of reactivating it, but I decided to go through all my post and delete the ones that said "I'm back!", were of things of no importance, things I regretted posting, or posts of bad things that I do not want to remember.

I've also changed my template, unfortuantely I lost my list of links by doing this, so if any of my friends from here are still in existence in Blogger, I'll try to find you guys and get the link list rebuilt.

Though I am still a fan of The Who, I have taken up other interests, one of them being Transformers. Thankfully since it is multiverse, there is plenty enough to indulge in, as long as I pace myself! It's hard to do that, but I remind myself how I got sick ofthe Beatles by listneing to them too much, so I am trying not to do the same with Transformers or Slipknot.

Not sure if I'll be able to keep up in here, after all, I am into Twitter more and I check it every day! But not every hour, it's not that bad! I still get out of the house.

Hopefully I'll have no more posts titled "I'm back!"

Hello Wholigans!!!

2010-09-10T21:52:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I'm back!
I took a break from listening to The Who, not because I got tired of them, but because I didn't want to get tired of their music. I'll explain what I mean: You see, a long time ago when I got back into The Beatles music again, I got my hands on as many of their albums as I could, some I got for Christmas, and some I borrowed from friends and made a recorded copy on cassette. So as soon as I had enough of their albums, I listened to them every single day, listening to a different album each day. I don't think I ever took a break from them by listening to other bands. The result...I got sick of The Beatles! Don't get me wrong, I still love them, but I can only listen to them a bit at a time. I coined my own term for when you get sick of a band that you overindulged in, and that is "Beatles Syndrome"

Anyways...So this is why I took a break from The Who, so that I don't get Beatles Syndrome. Now I am listening to the Who again, but so that I'm not listening to them too much, I am also listening to another band that I love equally as much as The Who, and that band is Slipknot! But so that I don't get sick of either band, I'm listening to other bands inbetween such as Disturbed, Korn, Drowning Pool, Stone Sour, Murderdolls, and more!

So I'll try to get around to your blogs and leave a comment. Hopefully some of you are still here, but I have already gotten in touch with some of you on Facebook. But I now have a Twitter account, so you can find me there too. My username is the same as here.

A New SVU Forum For Non EO Fans

2010-01-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
I'm back! I know I haven't been keeping up with The Who lately, but I am looking forward to their performance at the Superbowl half-time show! Right now I am into Law & Order, but mostly the original. I used to be into Law & Order SVU until it evolved into what I call "The Elliot & Olivia Show." To those who don't know, Elliot & Olivia are two detectives who work with Special Victims Unit, and they work together. There's a bunch of fans who want Elliot & Olivia to get together (they are called EO shippers), but here's the problem, Elliot is a married man who has five children! Plus Elliot and Olivia have a great working relationship, no denying that! So getting involved romantically would spoil that. But enough of that, see my previous posts in my Livejournal for my past rants.

Anyways, there's this website called "SVUfans.net" that was supposed to be a forum for ALL SVU fans, but apparently it is a haven for EO Shippers. Anyone who isn't an EO Shipper has been slammed, flamed, shot at, and made fun of. It's OK for them to make fun of the other ships or the characters like Kathy (Elliot's wife) or Detective Dani Beck (Elliot's temp partner while Olivia was away), but God forbid you make fun of EO! The forum administrator claims that this site isn't an EO forum, she claims that it's for all fans, but that is a lie!

So now it has come down to creating a new forum for the people who are fans of SVU, but not the EO ship. I've been wanting to create a place like this, but I never knew that there were free forums available, I always thought that you had to pay to have one. So finally, a forum like this was just created by DocWarnerfan, who is a big fan of the actress Tamara Tunie who plays the character ME Warner on SVU. We have called it "Unconventional SVU" because it is about the other characters who sadly have been neglected, characters like Fin Tutuola (played by Ice-T) and Sergeant John Munch (Played by Richard Belzer), we'll also be talking about the less popular ships, like Alex/Olivia or even Elliot/Huang.

Anyways, here's the link: http://z10.invisionfree.com/Unconventional_SVU/index.php?act=idx

Hopefully this works out well for us. To those who haven't see nme in a while, I'll try to come back here more often, and I should be able to since I have so much time on my hands.

Phases

2009-05-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm back! Well actually, I've been elsewhere online. But I do try to drop by here every now and then to see how you're all doing. I'm sure that you all have gone through phases in your lives, you get interested in one thing and really dive into it, until something new comes along and you move on to that. For example: I was once really into the movie Men in Black, which got me into Tommy Lee Jones and his movies. I've probably seen MIB 30-40 times until I finally got over that phase and moved on to a new one. I'm not gonna get into what every single phase I have been in, but what I have learned is that when they say that "nothing lasts forever" it really is true. no matter what phase I've been in, at that time I always thought that I was gonna love it forever. I still like the movie MIB, but I haven't seen it in quite a while now.
I have also gone through musical phases. Most of them come and go. I'll listen to one band for a while, then I get in the mood for another, but unfortunately there are some that I have gotten sick of! I was once really into Rage Against the Machine, so much that I got into the left-wing politics of that band. What's ironic is that before Rage, I was a republican because my parents were and I followed their politics blindly. But then after Rage, I re-registered as an independent, but this time I followed the politics of that rock band blindly. That leaves three reasons why I'm not into Rage anymore, one, I've learned that I don't have to agree with the same issues that a band believes in, two, there is a time and place for political music. (Bruce Springsteen & Tom Morello's duet on "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is an exception due to the economy) but because of the crime shows I watch, I have a new respect for cops, which is why I can't listen to Rage's song "Killing in the name of" even though I know that song is about the cops who are dirty and do racial profiling. Third, my ex-boyfriend Richard was so obsessed with that band, and I mean OBSESSED! He was beyond fanatic. He made me sick of them! There are also certain songs that got ruined because of my ex-friends being into them. I can never listen to the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" because my ex-friend Lisa liked that song, but it's OK cause I never liked that song anyways, but when ever it comes on the radio, I have to change the station quickly. Ironically I can still listen to the band Korn because I got into them before I met Lisa, and after our friendship ended for good, Korn comes out with their "Untitled" album, which is the only one I have not listened to with my ex-friend. But I still listen to their other albums, but since I am really into the Law & Order shows, I imagine their songs going along with a lot of the characters, especially SVU. I guess you can say that I have successfully taken my ex-friend out of the picture whenever I listen to Korn. Now if only I could do the same with Rage Against the Machine!
Right now, I am really into two different things: All three Law & Order's, and Metallica! I know that the Metallica part will come and go. But as for Law & Order, I now know that won't last forever, especially since those shows won't be around forever. However, at least I'll enjoy my time as a L&O fan.

One more note before I go. I haven't been able to keep up with Facebook, so I tried to delete the account, but it looks like they won't let you, so I've deactivated it. I didn't like it very much anyways. But I do have a Livejournal account, which I love! My favorite feature is the Friend's page because all new comments by my friends are all in one place. I'll still be here on Blogger, but not very often, but I'm keeping because it has served a good purpose as a diary of my life. I'm considering deleting my MySpace account, but I'm sleeping on that right now.

Well, that's all for now. Take care.

Yes We Can!

2009-01-19T22:45:00.000-08:00

Wow! I cannot believe the Inaugeration is coming up! And the timing is almost perfect! The day after Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday! (Oh if only it were on that day!) But really, I am excited about the inaugeration because it is such a historical one, we are finally getting our first black President!

I really hope I can see it live, unfortunately I have class tomorrow morning, but I really hope our teacher either has us go to the college cafeteria where it will be shown, or look for a live video over the internet. Lucky for me, this is a computer graphics class, so we've got access to the internet.

Seriously though, I do hope that Obama will keep most of his promises and be a good president. But if not...there's always the 2012 election.

New Years Resolutions

2009-01-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad I have this blog, it's become my diary, only I keep up with this one better than a diary you write in. I was looking back at my old entries and in December 2006, I found my New Years Resolution list. I can't believe it was from two years ago! A lot sure has changed since then. One of those resolutions was to practice my guitar more often, but I think I haven't played for about a year! So now that must change.

Another resolution was to keep up with my e-mails and blogs; of course that one I kept very well! I check my e-mail 3-5 times a day, and if I don't check my e-mail for a whole day, I end up with at least 25 e-mails. Of course mopst of them are from the websites fanfiction.net and svufans.net. I read and write fan fiction a lot.

One resolution I will no longer have to add again is having to lose weight. I haven't told you guys this, but I have lost a lot of weight! I should take new pictures of myself and post them up. I went from weighing 180 pounds to 130 pounds. So I've lost about 50 pounds! Unfortunately, the way I lost the weight was due to spending so much time on the computer at school and at home. I would be so absorbed into what I'm doing on the computer that I wouldn't eat until I got off. Also because I wasn't eating often, my stomach shrunk so if I did eat, it would be smaller portions. But this does not mean I'm anorexic, when it got to the point where I realized that I wasn't eating enough, I started working my way back to eating more to get better nutrition, but not too much to where I'd gain the weight back. So now I am eating normally again.

Another resolution on my list was to return the library books in time. Well this one has changed because I haven't been to the library in a while, and I have two books that I have started reading but haven't finished. A while back I started reading "Queen of the Damned" by Anne Rice. I've read the very beginning, but have not gotten to the first chapter yet! And then another book I have started on is "I Am Not A Cop!" by my favorite actor Richard Belzer. I have only read the first page, but haven't quite gotten to the rest of the book. My excuse is that I haven't set aside some time to sit down and read, even though I've got all the time in the world to do so. My sister has been reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I got her book two of the series and she whipped through it in just 2-3 days! Then when she went shopping, she bought the third book and already she's almost done, or I think she's done already. When it comes to reading books, I have to do it in one sitting and continue as soon as I can until the book is finished.

Well, that's about all the old resolutions I can remember. So now here's my new and revised list of this years New Years Resolutions:

Try not to gain the weight back, but maintain my current weight in a healthier way. Now, work on building up some muscle.
Cut down on my time on the computer and reduce my frequency of checking my e-mails.
Make better use of my freetime by playing my guitar and reading more books.
Without spending too much time on the computer, try to keep up with updating my fan fiction more often.

I'll be back to check this list next year to see how I did.

The Best of 2008

2008-12-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well here it is again, my annual Best of list. Unfortunately I did not get to attend any concerts this year, but hopefully that will change next year. So, here's the best in music, TV, and movies.

Best New Album:

Indestructable by Disturbed. This is the first album I downloaded in it's entirety, legally. I used my Pepsi points to get it.
Death Magnetic by Metallica. Fans of Metallica's older albums say that this is the best new album of this band. Although I liked their newer stuff too, I couldn't agree more! They do guitar solos again!
The Fabled City by The Nightwatchman. Tom Morello rocks harder, but the messages are still clear. I hope to have this album soon.

Best New TV Shows:

Leverage. A new show on TNT that's like a modern day Robin Hood story.
Smoking Gun's World's Dumbest...This show is hilarious! From Dumbest Criminals to Dumbest Drivers, and even Dumbest shoppers.
In Plain Sight. One of the best new shows on USA. It's about a marshal who protects her witnesses that are in the witness protection program all while dealing with her own personal life, her family. The second season begins next summer.

Best Movies:

The Dark Knight. I didn't realize how bad the other Batman movies were until I saw this one. This movie is actually so much better because it's a lot more realistic. After all, Batman never did have superpowers like Superman or Spiderman, he just had the right tools to fight the bad guys with. Plus, Heath Ledger (RIP) did an excellent job playing the Joker. (But Jack Nicholson did good too)
Marley & Me. If you've ever owned a dog, this is a great movie to see. My family and I all saw it together on Christmas Day.
Religilous. A documentary by Bill maher who tries to find the answers about God. It is controversial, but if you're not too religious and are open minded, you should see it. I do believe in God, but I don't find anything wrong with asking questions.

My Gingerbread house

2008-12-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

As you can see here, I tried to make my own gingerbread house so that I wouldn't have to spend 10 dollars on a kit. Well it was a lot harder than I thought to make the parts to the house. I also didn't make the side pieces triangular on the top to support a roof, so I had to make a flat roof instead. At least the butterbream frosting was successful, I got the recipe off of the Food Network website. Oh well, I still had fun making this gingerbread house, and I know that next year, the next gingerbread house will be better.

I've also been baking thumbprint cookies and later today, I'll be making dark chocolate fudge. I love baking cookies, making candy, and cooking cause that's the best part of this holiday.

I hope you all have a nice holiday. Take care.

Remembering 9-11

2008-09-11T17:20:00.002-07:00

I can't believe it's been 7 years! I still remember this day like it was yesterday. But I wish I had written down exactly how I felt on that day. It's hard to recall everything right now. I wondered if things would ever be the same again, or if they would be completely different. Well, it seems like things have settled back to normal, except for the increased security in airports and other public places, but those changes are necessary. I still wonder if that's enough security to keep us safe?

Anybody else have thoughts on this day? Please share, even if you're not from America, I'd also like to know your point-of-view.

God Bless America.

Update: Turns out I did a better post about this day two years ago. Just click on the label below to read it, I actually wrote about how I felt that day and where I was.

Another reason not to like MySpace

2008-08-12T02:43:00.000-07:00

My account is still open there and I was checking on it today. I was checking out a blog entry from Tom Morello, who's one of the best guitarist next to Pete Townshend. Anyways, the blog entry had pictures of Tom throwing the first pitch at the Cubs game in Wrigley Field. Well, to my surprise, I find my ex boyfriend's comment there and he indirectly bashes me! I thought that was very low of him to use a blog to do that. So after I leave a comment to Tom, I leave a message to my ex telling him that the blog is not an appropriate place to bash anybody and if he has anything to say to me, he should leave me a private message. I don't know if that comment is just gonna add more fuel to that fire, or if it will make him feel stupid.

New Facebook Account

2008-08-02T23:32:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling that MySpace isn't as popular as it used to be and is on it's way out. I heard a lot about Facebook, so I decided to open an account and give it a try. As soon as my account was set up, I already got Ballerinagirl as my friend! I also noticed that some of you here also have an account there, including Rachel Fuller! It's good to have another place to connect with you guys as well as other Who fans, even though we have Rachel's forum, this place, and Pete's blog.

I was almost thinking of closing my MySpace account, but I decided to keep it. You never know when you're gonna need it!

Anyways, here's the address to my profile on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=593459761

Fireworks

2008-07-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well I had a nice 4th of July weekend. My family and I went to a minor league baseball game. Our team is called the Jethawks, which is a name taken from two things we have out here in the Antelope valley, Jets and of course hawks. Anyways, moving on...after the game was the fireworks. I took pictures again, this time using the digital camera. Last year I borrowed a manual camera from my photography teacher and took Black & white pictures. I took a lot of pictures so it was hard to narrow it down to the best to post up here.

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

To all my American friends here. have a fun and safe 4th of July!

I Almost Thought I Lost My Cat Today!

2008-06-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I had a real scare. It was around 6:00pm today, the time I usually feed my cats, and I could not find my cat Ringo! I should tell you guys that Paulie is gone! He disappeared last week. I still miss him! And that's why I thought that Ringo was gone too. I kept calling out his name in the front yard, backyard, and my neighborhood. I couldn't stop crying and I was having a hard time eating dinner. After dinner, I got in my car and drove around my neighborhood and looked for him. As I was cleaning the kitchen, guess who showed up at the glass door? My Cat! As soon as I heard him meow, I started crying tears of joy. So I let him in, I chased him down, and I picked him up. I sat down for a bit to pet him. I'm so happy I found my cat! I still miss Paulie and love him, but Ringo was the one I picked out of the litter. I'm so Glad he's back! He better not come back late again! Another reason why I'm paranoid about losing my cat is because a lady who lives a few streets away from me had six cats poisoned. Poor woman! She's left signs all over the place to warn pet owners and to call animal control if their pet disappears. I'm so glad I didn't have to do that! Well, that's all I have to say about that. To those who lost their pets, I know your pain!

Summer Vacation Begins

2008-06-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
Well, spring semester is officially over and since none of the classes I need are being offered over the summer, this means I am taking a break. But I'm not completely off the hook, I still have to find a job so I can start planning on moving out.

Unfortunately I don't think I passed my German class, but I'm slightly hopeful that I got a D. Learning the individual words or objects in German was no problem, it was putting together sentences that I had trouble with. I'll probably have to take it again, but I think the third time will be a charm. As for my computer graphics classes; I did very well in them. I didn't get that magazine job, turns out I was competing with three classes! I'm not gonna give up though, all I have to do is call the companies that hire graphic designers to see if they have openings and send them my work. One of these days, that will get me in the door.

I don't have any plans for the summer right now, but one thing I really need to do is to get my health back in order. The downside to all these computer classes, plus using the computer at home, is that it has made me sluggish. My knees hurt, my arms feel flabby, I have low energy, and I usually ahve to take naps. I also need to get my eating habits back in order too, I haven't been eating enough during the day, and when I do, it's usually the wrong foods. I know it would help if I get off the computer, but I also have to get away from the TV too. Hopefully I can fix all that and feel normal again.

I hope you're all doing well.

Law & Order Rocks!

2008-05-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to put a more catchy title than "I'm still here". Anyways, I am almost done with this semester, but I'm not doing so well in German 101. The homework is no problem, (if I can get around to doing it!) but I'm failing all the tests! If I can do really really good on my final, I might get a "D" in that class. I know what you're thinking, 'Shame on you Michelle!' Well, I guess I better get to studying, but I am listening to Rammstein, their music is in German.

As for my two computer graphics classes, I'm doing pretty well. My teacher presented a job opportunity with a local magazine. I applied for the graphic design position and I got an interview! Then when those same people came into our class, I got a second chance at showing them more of my work. I was hopeful of getting the job, but I was competing with some of my classmates (and from both classes too!) so I'm guessing that I didn't get the job. They haven't called me. I really do need a job, and fast! I need to start thinking about my future! I need to think about where to move to. I know I'll have to live with roommates since rent is sky high and a single income will not cover it. I don't think anybody can live on just one income anymore! With the mortgage crisis we're having in this country, it won't be long til we'll all have to have roommates!

In the meantime, I've been entering a few contests. I won $50 from Taco Bell, it took a while to cash the prize check since I have no bank account. But when I was finally able to, I used the prize money to get gas, oil, and an oil filter for my car. I used what I had leftover to buy make-up, which has become a luxury item for me since I have no money.

Hopefully things will turn around for me soon. I really don't want to be living with my parents forever, but at the same time, I'm scared about the day I'll be leaving to live on my own.

Well, that's all for now. I'll be back later.

Take care everyone!

Finally broke up with my Boyfriend!

2008-04-19T04:24:00.001-07:00

Well, he finally let me go! And all I did was remove him from my Top 24 friends in MySpace, and change my status to "Single" I think that's what finally gave him the hint that this relationship was not going to work out.

He left me two messages in my inbox both of them cursing me out with every curse word in the world, and quite a few insults. He also wished that all my future relationships fail. Of course I sent no response to those messages. Although he probably blocked me so I wouldn't be able to anyway. If I were able to send any messages and chose to do so, I would only wish him well in the future. I would never bash him the way he bashed me. All I wanted to do was end the relationship without any bashing or anything like that.

At first, I felt guilty about breaking up with him because he had given me so many gifts such as CD's, DVD's, and candy. But my mom told me that it was his choice to give me those things and she's right. I may have told him about what kinds of CD's I'd like to get, but I never begged him to get me those things. one thing I did do was appreciate those gifts. He really didn't have to give me those gifts, but he did choose to do so.

Now I am officially free! I'll probably still feel guilty about this break-up, and at times I feel like I'm the bad guy. I wonder if all break-ups are like this? this is after all, my first break-up with a boyfriend. They really are hard! I didn't mean to hurt him, that was not my intent. I jsut don't think we were a match. I hope he finds someone who is a match for him, someone who likes more than just a rock band!

Speaking of that rock band, the reason why we both got together in the first place is because we both like the band Rage Against the Machine. I love that band like how I love The Who. But here's the thing, I don't listen to these bands all the time! I get what I call "Moods" for certain bands. I'll listen to them for a good while, then I'll switch over to another band and listen to them for a while. What he did was listen to Rage Against the Machine every single day! Whenever I was on the phone with him, he'd be praising that band all the time! It also drove me crazy when he'd be talking about a particular band member, whenever he said their name, he'd say what band they're in! For example: If he was talking about Tom Morello, he'd say "Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave..." You see how annoying that would be? Especially when he did that a lot! I still love Rage, but I can't listen to them right now! He's almost made me sick of them! Don't you hate it when a certain song or band gets ruined whenever a friendship or relationship ends? Hopefully I can listen to that band again, but not right now.

Well, it's good to get all that out! I hope you're all doing OK.

Spring Break!!!

2008-03-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I know it's been a long time since I've been here, my myspace profile has been neglected too! Also it's because I spend my free time writing fan fiction and watching Law & Order on TV. But I've been focused on school. I'm working very hard in my German class, even though the workbook assignments and the tests have been tough! My computer graphics classes are going well too. I just wish we had more to do in one of those classes! At least the good thing is, I am close to fullfilling my requirements for my degree. I still have to check with my guidance counselor, but I should almost be done with school.

Right now I am on spring break, so I should be dropping by your profiles again. I hope you're all doing OK.

Here's some news about my life, I haven't talked to the boyfriend from Florida for almost two months now. This is the guy I met on Myspace and talked to over the phone. At first, things were great with us, I really thought I loved him. But he was calling me everyday! and it was starting to get on my nerves! Yet, I kept talking to him cause I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Unfortunately after trying to keep up with making him happy, I couldn't take it anymore! I realized that if I'm not happy with him, then I should do him a favor by breaking off our relationship. That probably sounds wrong, but what's the point of being with someone if you're not happy with them? I really do hope that he finds a new girlfriend, one that will love him for who he is, and one that doesn't live 3,000 miles away. Of course there's nothing wrong with finding love on the internet, but it's better to meet that person "in Person" before hooking up with them. That was my mistake, I hooked up with him when we haven't met face to face yet, and before getting to know him really well. I first started talking to him because we liked the same rock band. Apparently as I was slowly getting to know him better, I started to notice some great differences between us and I realized that we don't really have much in common with each other. That's about all I have to say about him, but I do wish him well in the future, and I am sorry for breaking his heart.

The Best of 2007

2007-12-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

Last year, I did a Best and Worst of...List, but this year I just feel like only doing a Best of... list, so here it goes!

Best Bands/New Album:

The Nightwatchman-Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine went solo with his album One Man Revolution, post Audioslave break-up, but he really shines!
Serj Tankien of System of a Down, and Tom Morello's comrade, has also gone solo and also shines with his album Elect the Dead. I don't have it yet, but I hope to soon!
Korn-New album is Untitled, and despite their drummer being on haitus, they still Rock! Dont have this album yet, but I hope to soon!

Best Movies:

Pirates of the Caribbean 3-At World's End-Johnny Depp still Rocks! and Keith Richard's totally rocked in this movie!
The Simpson's Movie-I haven't watched the TV show in a while, but this movie was hilarious!
Across the Universe-When I used to binge on the Beatles music, I dreamed of a movie like this being made, and that dream finally came true!

Best TV Shows:

Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, and Law & Order CI-I know these shows aren't new, but this is the year that I really got into them! Dick Wolf is a genius!
Doctor Who-Still love this show! but I hate being a season behind!
Torchwood-Great show! But we're still a season behind!

Best Vacation:

Pismo Beach-One of the few vacations I went on this year, but this one, we got to visit Hearst Castle. This was the place where the famous publisher and his family lived.

Best Live Performance:

The Who-My very first time seeing them! But my second time seeing Pete Townshend! I was also reunited with a couple of friends too! They still rock!
Ozzfest-My very first time going, and it was all thanks to Ozzy and Sharon making it free! I had grass seats, but I still got good pictures and five videos!

Well, this was a better year this year! Looking back at my previous two "End of the Year" posts, I sure have come a long way! Despite my ex-friend calling me earlier this year, this was still a year of finally being free from her! Don't get me wrong, I do wish her well in the future. unfortunately, the only bad thing about this year was my coupon ad job that I was forced to quit because my boss was not paying me fast enough. The work had also slowed down and it wasn't really a huge learning experience for graphic design. I have been unemployed for quite a while and I am sick of being broke! I really hope that 2008 will be even better than 2007, and hope the same thing for you guys too.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T09:33:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Or Happy Hannukah if your jewish. I hope that everyone is having a happy holidays!

My Christmas is going very well so far. I didn't get everything I wanted, but that doesn't matter because Christmas is about being with your loved ones.

I'll be going to my aunts house for Christmas dinner today.

Happy Christmas!

School's Out!!!!!!!

2007-12-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

At last! The semester has ended! Except for the math class I dropped, I did pretty well! I survived my typography class, I was able to get some artwork done for my traditional Illustration class, and I did better on my last presentation for my computer Illustration class. Of course having two computer graphics classes was a lot of work! especially when I had to do 30 hours of computer lab time for each class! I knew some people take three CG classes, but I found out about a girl who had five of them! She did nothing else but go to those classes, now I couldn't do that! I couldn't even handle three!

For those who want to see my work, I'll have it posted up here as soon as I can! Especially my illustration of the Tommy movie poster! I still have to put the finishing touches on it, but it looks good so far.

In the meantime, I have been enjoying staying up late at night, and sleeping in. I have also been putting the finishing touches on my fan fiction stories.

I hope you're all doing well and I wish everyone a happy holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2007-11-22T01:51:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Just checkin in! I am almost finished with school, but I hate my typography teacher! Most of the stuff we have done in that class has nothing to do with typography! The number of students went down from 35 down to 8! I have stuck around for two reasons: one, Typography is required for my major, and two, I've come too far to throw it all away. Our last assignment is a "Social Issue". Now what does this have to do with typography? Nothing! My teacher is into political topics and she always finds a way to bring it in to her classes. Just for the hell of it, I'm doing mine on the writers strike, which is still going on right now. I do hope the writers get what they want, becasue without them, we wouldn't have all the fabulous TV shows we have, and other people like the crew wouldn't have work.

How I'm going to do this assignment, I don't know. My teacher is very vague on the details of how we're supposed to do our assignments. I'll present it however I want! I don't care if she likes it or not! I get the feeling I'll still pass her class.

Now that I'm done ranting, I would like to wish all my American friends a Happy Thanksgiving!

2nd Anniversary of Blogging

2007-10-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Wow! It's been two years since I first started blogging here at Blogger. And it all started with Pete Townshend and Rachel Fuller! Of course I haven't been around here lately, but I still enjoy connecting with other people all around the US and the world! I have met some of you, and there are some I still hope to meet someday. The internet has been wonderful in connecting us with like minded people from all over. I have been very happy with being connected with other Who fans.

Unfortunately it was very sad to see Pete take his blog down again, but I'm very happy that he and Roger got their official Who website up and running!

Anyways, I will return again, I am just busy with school and with my new writing hobby.

Take care everyone!

Later.

My Summer Vacation

2007-08-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Just an update on what's going on. I am on summer vacation, which is very short, but I'm enjoying it while I can. It's nice to be able to sleep in and stay up late. I have been reading a few good books and I'm writing more too. The good news about my Photography class, I'm sure I passed it! I got all my lab hours in and I put together a really good portfolio. I will be starting school again next week, but I look foward to it! I will check in here every now and then. Everyone take care.

I Went to Ozzfest!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

It just happended spontaneously! My sister's friend had tickets and asked if I wanted to go. Of course I said yes, how could I pass up this opportunity!? I had a lot of fun! The band we first saw was Lordi, a heavy metal band from Finland. Here's the link to their performance that I recorded myself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t0G2_3e7GQ

Yes, I have finally uploaded videos to youtube! I will have more up later, they take forever!

We also saw Static-X, another heavy metal band, except their American. They were also great. Here's a link to their performance that I also recorded myself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7omIgg7uDA

I also finally got to see Ozzy Osbourne! He is still a great performer, like The Who! I have three videos of him, but I will have those up later. The other two took forever to upload to Youtube, and they're only three minutes long! The Ozzy videos are a bit longer.

I've been having trouble with posting videos here, does anyone here have a solution? That would be a great help!

Doctor Who

2007-07-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

I love this show! I am so happy that series three has begun here in America! It was a long wait, but well worth it! When I first saw this show, it took a while to catch on because I ended up seeing parts of series two first, then series one after that, still it is a great show! I even went to Youtube to watch the very very very first episode of Doctor Who where it all began. Anyone else here a fan? I like both the Doctor's from the newest series', I haven't seen enough of the older shows to pick a favorite classic Doctor. As for the companions, I liked Rose, and Martha is starting to grow on me, Sarah Jane seemed cool too, especially K-9!

I heard that series 4 is already going to begin in the UK, you British fans are very lucky!

Thought this post was a nice change from the last ones. I prefer these kinds of posts anyways!

Summer Vacation

2007-06-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
I know I've been absent for a few days, but it's because I've been enjoying summer vacation with my nephew and niece. On Thursday, we went to the beach, then the next day we went to Disneyland. We had a lot of fun at both places, but it was pretty exhausting! Disneyland was great, even though three rides broke down, we were abvle to go them later on. At the end of the day, there was a firework show, which was spectacular! It completely blew the other firework shows I've seen away!

Unfortunately when we returned from Disneyland, we discovered that our dog Sophie was missing! She's still missing! We checked the animal control website, we put up flyers, but we still can't find her!

Update: We never found my dog.

School's Almost Over!

2007-05-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I know I haven't been around here much lately, especially Pete's blog! I have been very busy with school and now I am close to wrapping up this spring semester, then I go on to my short summer vacation before I go back to school again. I will be making my rounds soon and catch up with pete's blog too!

My nephew and niece are at my house right now for a whole month! I will be spending some time with them, so I may not be here as much, but then again it is a good thing to get out there and do something else other than spend all day on the computer!

Anyways, I'll see you guys later.

Take care.

Happy Birthday Pete Townshend!

2007-05-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

And he still looks great! Keep on Rockin Pete!

Rage Against the Machine-"Wake Up"

2007-05-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
I know I haven't been around Blogging lately, but I have been busy with school, especially with finals coming up shortly. A lot is coming up this month, such as my birthday, which will be on the 26th this month. This semester ends at the end of this month, but then three weeks later, summer semester begins and I will be taking two Computer graphics classes! I think I will be able to handle it.

Anyways, here's the video of Rage's amazing performance, enjoy!

This is the reunited Rage Against the Machine form the Cochella Festival. They are performing the song Wake Up, and Zack makes a comment about the Bush Administration that some view as controversial, but it is something that is true and needed to be said.

Rage Against the Machine Have Reunited!

2007-04-29T22:53:00.000-07:00

YEAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At the same time I typed up this post, Rage Against the Machine have taken the stage together again! They haven't played together since their last concert at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles California in 2000.

Right now they are playing at the Cochella Festival, which was three days long, and they are the band that is closing the festival tonight.

I can't wait to read the review of this very peformance! I'm bummed out that I am missing this performance right now, but hopefully I can make it to their next shows in the Rock the Bells tour with the rap supergroup the Wu-Tang Clan and the awesome Rap/Rock group Cypress Hill. There will also be a lot of hip hop groups, but I would only sit to watch Cypress Hill and Rage Against the Machine.

I hope that Rage reunite pernamently, it may happen cause their lead singer Zack de la Rocha and bassist Tim Commerford are friends again (they were friends as kids) and everyone is on good terms with each other again.

It is uncertain if they will reunite pernamently because Tom Morello has his solo career as The Nightwatchman taking off, and I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

As for Audioslave, I just found out that their lead singer Chris Cornell just left the band without talking to his bandmates first! to this day, Tom still hasn't heard from Chris, so he's not talking about how he feels about him leaving. I'm still mad at Chris, I have his faces covered with post-it notes on all my Audioslave posters. I used to like Chris, but now I don't!

I'm glad that Zack de la Rocha has returned and I hope that he's here to stay.

UPDATE! The Rage reunion went very well! They totally Rocked Cochella last night. Plus, they just added one more date to the Rock the Bells tour! Hopefully they will add many more dates and reunite permanently!

2007-04-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

The Nightwatchman's "The Road I Must Travel

2007-04-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

Today, Tom Morello AKA: The Nightwatchman, the guitarist from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, has released his album One Man Revolution, so here's his first music video The Road I Must Travel.

About my video blog, since there haven't been a lot of people visiting there and with some of the videos being pulled off of YouTube, I have decided to post the videos here instead. I will leave my video blog up since there's still some good videos there so you guys can check them out whenever you want.

The Method

2007-04-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

Well I finally did my first sitting. It took a while to get the rhythm right since I had to create it with my mouse. When I listened to my completed song, it didn't have the sounds I picked out! I wonder if it's because I went back one step before completing the sitting? Oh well, it still turned out pretty good, I'll just consider it my happy tune since it sounds like it.

I now have two sittings left and I want to get it right next time. But first, I need to get a microphone so I can record my own guitar sounds! I want my music to Rock Hard!

I'll post my song as soon as I figure out how.

I Won!!!!!!!

2007-04-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

I couldn't believe the surprise when I checked my e-mail, I won the Lifehouse lottery! I get to be a sitter! The only thing I need to do is figure out how to use the method. I will get started when I'm sure I will be uninterupted.

Happy Easter!

2007-04-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! well unfortunately my spring break is coming to an end, but at least I know I'm halfway through the semester. At least I had a chance to relax and have fun. I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter! Isn't this bunny cute? Happy Passover to those who celebrate that holiday, hope it's been a good one.

I Made Crepes!

2007-04-04T16:16:00.000-07:00

Usually I don't do posts about food or cooking, but when it's something I try for the first time, it's something I've got to write about. I made crepes for the first time, and it was easy! After watching Good Eats on the Food Network, I got inspired to make crepes myself. It turns out that you don't have to have a crepes pan, all you need is a non-stick teflon pan.

I made quite a stack and tonight I'm making them into a dessert.

Spring Break!

2007-04-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Finally! after all the hard work I've put into school, I get to relax, read a few books, and go to the beach (which I just did twice!)

Last year, my college had spring break near the last three weeks of the spring semester! This year, it is in the middle of the semester. That's a lot better cause that's where we need it the most.

I'm not the type that parties during spring break. I prefer to relax and sleep in.

My Future Tattoos

2007-03-30T00:27:00.000-07:00

This isn't a real tattoo, but this is what I want it to look like. This was done using the Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop software. Click on the pictures for a closer look.

That Computer graphics teacher I was telling you guys about earlier actually sin't bad at all! Although she is good with photography, but not so good with computers. Anyways, we had this assignment where we take a picture of ourselves pulling up our sleeve, then using photoshop to place a tattoo on us. This is actually a great idea for anybody who's thinking about getting a tattoo! Now you can see what it will look like! Today I designed this Who tattoo, at first I did the usual target logo, but I didn't really want a tattoo of that cause I think it's cliche' for Who fans. I wanted something a little different. I decided to draw the Who name and fill it in with the union jack. Of course it was a lot of work!

Here's what I did for my assignment, I designed a Rage Against the Machine tattoo. That Audioslave tattoo is my real tattoo. I decided that this would be the perfect spot for a Rage tattoo since three members of Rage Against the Machine were in Audioslave.

I don't know when I will have these tattoos, but I know that these are the ones I want next.

Book Tag

2007-03-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by Chaz, so here we go...

I've got the nearest book, which is The Century by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster.

I've turned to page 123, and starting at the fifth sentance, here's the next three sentences...

In the 1920's, traditionalists also staked their claim in the church. Religious belief encountered some stiff competition in the years immediately after the war, especially from psychoanalysis, science, and a Sunday joyride in the sedan. It suffered, too, from it's failure to give people adequate answers to the nagging questions of the war. Just how did one worship a God who tolerated suffering on such an enormous scale?

There you have it. I now tag Gary, Cathy with a C, Coleen, and Johanna

THE WHO ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-03-04T12:10:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
After a few technical difficulties, I'm back online! So here is my late review of the Who concert...

The drive to San Diego wasn't too bad, but I wish I had eaten a better breakfast because at some point I felt a bit fatigued. I had to pull off the freeway to find a place to eat. I had no idea what city I was in, but I just kept driving down the main road until I finally ran into a Burger king. I ate, got some water, and I was back on the freeway. Then I made one more stop and then when I got to San Diego I had quite an adventure trying to find the hotel. Luckily it was close to the stadium so I just stuck around that area, did one dangerous turn, which led me to the hotel. I checked in and turns out the rooms were very nice! it's just in a bad location.

Later on, Lisa (AKA: Nabonidus) met with me at the hotel, and again I thank her for walking with me to the stadium. I had no idea that the hotel was located in a bad neighborhood! We got there OK. When we went in, we ran into Johanna and her friend! I was looking at the t-shirts in the lobby and couldn't believe how expensive they are! I thought they were only going to be $20! I remember debating about whether to get a parking lot t-shirt or a program, and lucky for me I decided to buy the program. Turns out that there were no parking lot t-shirts. I remember when Johanna had shown me her program when we were going to the In the Attic show and I knew that I wanted to get one myself, and now I have my own! All I need now is to get it signed by Pete & Roger.

After I bought the program, The Who started the show, so Lisa and I got in as quickly as we could. Lisa sat next to me on the steps since someone was in her seat, she did that until the event staff made her go to her seat. I didn't look up at the screens showing Pete & Roger up-close too much because I wanted to see them with my own eyes, and because I had good seats, they didn't look like ants. I had been to this venue before and I was worried about the sound because last time it echoed, but The Who's sound was excellent! and as expected, it was LOUD!!! I probably should've worn earplugs, but I wanted to hear them to the maximum! Pete & Roger have still got it! The last concerts I saw were Korn and Metallica, but The Who just blew them both away!!! The Who rocked hard enough for me to headbang to! I also threw up those devil horns on both hands. I even noticed a few other young people doing those same things as me! I think I remember seeing three generations in the audience.

Before I went to the concert, I read Anyway, Anywhere, Anyhow-The Who Chronicles. According to that book, on a summer night of1959 was the first public appearance that John Entwistle and Pete Townshend made as The Confederates. Believe this or not, this was the only time Pete was nervous for a show! Pete said "We stood up there with about five people in the room, and I really blushed." " It was the only time in my whole life that I've been nervous on a stage." Well, according to that concert, Pete sure has come a long way! He sure wasn't nervous at all!

The biggest highlight of the show was after they sang "Baba O'Riley" Out of all the concerts I've been to, I have never heard an audience cheering so loudly and for so long like the audience did right after that song! It almost seemed like the audience were cheering for ten minutes! Then Pete made a speech about how the new generation can clean up the mess the boomer generation made, or something like that. I also loved the visuals that went along with the songs, my favorite was during "My Generation" It showed young people from different decades doing what was cool at those times, it was so interesting to see the breakdancers, it was like they were breakdancing to The Who! During the song "Man in a Purple Dress, the visuals were of some kings, philosophers, and some other religious figures. I was waiting for Mel Gibson's mugshot picture to come up, that would've went along with that song perfectly, but it didn't come up.
It was so cool to see Pete doing the windmill chords and Roger swinging the microphone! BTW, in case anyone forgot, it was Roger's birthday, so Happy Birthday Roger! For being 63, he looks more like he's 36! I loved that he wore a black t-shirt & black jeans! He looked so good! Of course Pete did too! He wore a dress shirt & jacket, but he looked good too! Also, Simon was there! and he too looked good! He also did a great job with playing guitar! Rabbit was good! Zak was good, and pino was good! They were all good!

I had a great time at that concert! It was worth every penny! Lisa told me that this was better than the Hollywood Bowl concert, so I'm glad that I went to this one instead! Remember I had to miss the Hollywood Bowl show for a family reunion, and it turns out that good things come to those who wait! I loved this concert so much that I would love to go again! Pete may have said in his Rolling Stone interview that young people only come once, but I am going to prove that wrong! At least The Who tickets don't cost as much as The Rolling Stones! so it is possible to go again.

One more thing, This concert was so good, we got an encore! When they walked off the stage, we were cheering and clapping, then when they came back, we cheered louder! It was the greatest concert ever!

I'm Off to San Diego See The Who!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-03-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

Everything is Coming Together Now

2007-02-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

Finally! I got my paycheck, so now I have money for food, gas, and a concert T-shirt. Also my mom let me book a hotel, and I found one that's two blocks from the IPayOne center. Unfortunately, from what I read from the reviews, the hotel is close to stripclubs and very noisy. Although the reviews did say that it's perfect for staying overnight.

If any of you are going to San Diego too, let me know so we can meet before the show.

I can't wait til Thursday! As soon as my German class ends, I'm dropping my sister off at home and I'll be on my way to San Diego!

One More Week Til I See The Who!!!!!!!!!!

2007-02-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's almost time already! I am so excited! My first Who concert! I will be heading off to San Diego on March 1st. Unfortunately, I still need more spending money so I can buy gas for the round trips, buy a Good concert T-shirt (none of those cheap parking lot kinds that shrink or are of bad quality) possibly buy a program, and of course, food. I just hope I get paid in time before the concert.
I also need to book a hotel because there is no way I'm driving back home right after the concert! I did that when I saw Metallica at the same venue and that was really hard on me. It takes four to five hours to get to San Diego from where I live, so I will need a hotel to stay in just for the night. It's hard to find a clean hotel that's affordable. I did some research on OrBitz and travelocity and there are plenty of hotels near the venue, but most of them have bad ratings from previous guests.

Hopefully everything will come together when it's time to go. I will be sure to tell you all about my experience at the concert, so stay tuned for next week!

Devastating News!

2007-02-15T22:49:00.000-08:00

I just found out that Chris Cornell left Audioslave! I am completely devastated! He says he left due to some differences, but he didn't leave on bad terms. Here's the link to the article for the full story. Audioslave news on VH1

Of course this break-up has nothing to do with Rage Against the Machine reuniting, Chris is actually glad that they are. Well, I guess now that Audioslave no longer have their lead singer, maybe Rage Against the Machine will reunite permanately. Of course, don't expect Chris Cornell's old band Soundgarden to reunite, not that they split on bad terms. As for Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, and Tim Commerford, I feel so bad for them, first they had to figure out what to do after Zach de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine. Now they've got to go through that all over again after losing another lead singer!

Although we still have Tom Morello as The Nightwatchman. His first solo album is coming out on April 24th. he's been performing at the Hotel Cafe, the same place that Rachel Fuller and Pete Townshend played at!

I'm sure that Timmy C and Brad Wilk will find other things to do, or they may take a break, after all, Brad's first child is on it's way or may have already been born, and that child needs its daddy.

Come to think of it, this break-up isn't all bad, maybe they will reunite in the future, if Rage Against the Machine can reunite after a seven year haitus, then so can Audioslave! I will keep my fingers crossed, but in the meantime, I will continue to listen to all three Audioslave albums, all six Rage albums, and I look foward to Tom's first solo album!

Happy Valentines Day!

2007-02-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

Rage Against the Machine are reuniting!

2007-01-22T15:57:00.000-08:00

The reunion will be at the Cochella Festival taking place on April 27-29th. They will be playing on one night only, so this means this reunion is only temporary, but I get the feeling that they will reunite a few times every few years. I've met Tom Morello and saw Audioslave once, but I have never seen Rage Against the Machine in concert, but now I have that chance. I will only try to get the one day pass for this three day festival cause all I want to see is Rage. Also, my new friend from MySpace will come down to California to see them too, so I will also get to finally meet him!

To those who don't know about the band Rage Against the Machine, here's a short biography: They made their debut in 1992 with a self released 12 song cassette which had the song "Bullet in the head". The tape got them a record deal with Epic records and they made their self titled debut album including the songs "Bullet in the Head", "Bombtrack", "Killing in the Name Of", and "Freedom". Four years later, they worked on their follow-up album, but with Zach de la Rocha taking off to Mexico due to his interest in the zapatista movements, the band almost broke up, but everything came together and their second album Evil Empire came out including the songs "People of the Sun","Bulls on Parade", and "Down Rodeo". The band remained active in numerous groups such as Rock for Choice, FAIR (Fair and Accuracy in Reporting) and Refuse & Resist. In 1999, they got actively involved with the controversial benefit concert for death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. Later that year they release Battle of Los Angeles which went number one and double platinum, the hit singles were "Testify" and "Guerilla Radio". Their music video for "Sleep Now in the Fire" was directed by controversial filmmaker Michael Moore, and shot in front of Wall Street. NYPD arrested Michael Moore and the band stormed inside Wall Street causing it to close down. In other words, they shut down Capitalism!
The next month at the MTV Video Music Awards, bass player Tim Commerford climbs onto the structure next to the podium on stage in an attempt to shut down the VMA's out of frustration of the state music was in at that time. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.

In 2000, plans for a live album were anounced, but Zach announced his departure from the band due to problems with communication and decision-making. Also the politics ended up being in front of the music instead of the other way around. The last album released was Renegades which was entirely cover songs such as the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams", Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm", Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad", The Rolling Stone's "Street Fighting Man", and Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill a Man".

After Zach de la Rocha's departed to start his solo career, the remaining members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk decide to continue by recruiting ex-Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell and forming what has become a very successful band Audioslave.

In 2003, the long awaited Live CD and DVD of Rage Against the Machine's last concert was finally released, therefore closing the chapter of Rage Against the Machine.

But now they will be reuniting once again, which is great because I will finally have the chance to see Rage Against the machine in concert! I knew it would happen since Tim Commerford and Zach de la Rocha started hanging out again. (they were childhood friends) this may not be the last reunion, there could be another one a few years later or so. This doesn't mean that Audioslave are over, they are on haitus right now, but they will be back!

Tattoo

2007-01-10T22:38:00.000-08:00

I wish I had taken a picture of this sooner, but I have finally gotten around to it. This is the only tattoo I have so far. It is Audioslave's flame logo. Anyone who knows me knows that Audioslave are one of my favorite bands, one of the reasons why I got this tattoo, but this tattoo has much more meaning than being a symbol of my favorite band. It marks a time in my life when I was happy, before things went wrong, and it reminds me of the times I was getting to know the band. The first time I noticed that band was when I saw the music video for their first single "Cochise". At first I had no idea that three of the members were in band Rage Against the Machine and that their lead singer Chris Cornell was in Soundgarden. I remember seeing the music video with all the fireworks in it, how good they played, and hearing how loud they were, and that's when I became a fan. When I saw their flame logo, I just knew that I had to get a tattoo of it someday. Then Lollapalooza was brought back after a five year haitus and Audioslave were on the bill. Not only did I get to see them live, but beforehand, I got to meet their guitarist Tom Morello and get two autographs from him! I remember when I was in line to meet him, I saw a guy with a flame logo tattoo, but his was bigger and had color. I planned on mine only being in black ink. Finally about a year since I first thought of it, I finally get the ink done. The tattoo artist was an ex boyfriend of my then best friend's cousin (I hope I didn't confuse you guys!) Anyways, it was done in his backyard, but take note that he used to work for a shop which meant that he's trained and licensed. I know that some of you would think that this is not completely safe, but I made extra sure that he opened up a brand new needle and used the ink from disposable wells. One thing I would never do is let some amateur do a tattoo the way they're done in prisons, that is unsafe! Anyways, I gave him the cover of Audioslave's album to use for a template and therefore, the tattoo is the actual size of the picture on the album cover. I think he did a really good job.

I can't wait to get my next tattoo! which is going to be a Who tattoo. I still have to decide on a design. I want it to be something different, yet something that will let people know that I am a Who fan. Of course this tattoo will also symbolize this time of The Who. When I do get inked, it will be in a shop, one: because I don't have my connection to the tattooist who did my first tattoo, and two: even though it will be more expensive, at least it will be safe. Hopefully I can get this done before the Who concert so I can show Pete & Roger.

It's 2007!

2007-01-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

My New Years Resolutions

2006-12-31T00:53:00.000-08:00

I found last year's Resolution list. It's funny what I wrote on it too. last year's resolutions were:

Try not to gain any more weight
Practice my guitar more often
Keep up on my e-mails & blogs
Read any library books I get and finish them before first due date. try not to have to renew them.

Well, it looks like three of the resolutions will be going back on this years list. Only this time, they'll be slightly modified so I'm more likely to keep them. There will also be some new resolutions added. Here we go!

Practice my guitar a lot more often. I usually mostly practiced during my guitar class, but I want to get better so I need to practice at home too. I should make it more fun by practicing my favorite songs, I also need a subscription to Guitar World magazine.
Make eating healthier and excercise part of my lifestyle. I am going to get back on track with getting to a healthy weight, I know this resolution is a cliche' but this one's going to be more realistic.
Adding to the second resolution, I need to drink water more often and more juice, and soda less often. I did good with this one earlier, but I've started drinking soda again.
Make sure that my school assignments and work for my job is done before checking my blog and Myspace. What I should really be saying is to use time management wisely.
Start reading books again. According to last years resolution, I did this a lot! but then after a while I stopped.
Find a second job where I can get a steady paycheck so I can move out of my parents house before they retire. My young sister is already beating me at moving out first!
Try to keep my room cleaner. I can find what I need, but it would be easier if everything were organized.

That's about it! Hopefully I can keep these, and one year from now, I'll check this list to see how I did. Anybody else have resolutions?

The Best and Worst of 2006

2006-12-29T22:49:00.000-08:00

Alright! We're finally past the negative things in my life, and now on to the fun stuff! I have made up my own list of what I thought was the Best and Worst things of 2006, which is from music to news. Don't worry, no one's geting tagged here. Agree or disagree, these are just my opinions, So here we go!

Best Bands/New Albums:

The Who-Endless Wire: nuff said!
Audioslave-Revelations: They keep getting better and better!
Korn-See You on the Otherside: They are way past nu-metal and are here to stay!
Tool-10,000 Days: Seven minute songs and 3-D album art, they are unlike any other band!

Worst Bands/Musicians/Albums:

Akon-Konvicted: He may have a good singing voice, but I can't stand it! and he reminds me of certain people I don't like, and he spelled convicted wrong!
Beyonce': I apologize to anyone here who likes her, but I think she is so overrated! Plus, she's no Tina Turner!
Hinder: I hate their song "Lips of an Angel" and they are so full of EGO!

Best Movies:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: Johnny Depp!
United 93: Reminded me of how I felt on 9/11, and at the same time felt good to see how a group of strangers came together to fight back.
Snakes on a Plane: How awkward of me to list two plane movies together, luckily this one was only fiction. I list this movie because it's not a remake.
The DaVinci Code: The Book was really good and controversial, and so was this movie.
The Pursuit of Happyness: I just saw this on Christmas Day, very good movie! It's all about not giving up on following your dreams.

Worst movies:

Nacho Libre: At first it looked liked it would be very funny, but it was a huge disappointment! Not one of Jack Black's best movies.
Anything with Colin Farrell in it. I can't stand him! Also; any new movies with Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson in it. Tom Cruise is wacko and Mel Gibson has lost my respect.

Best TV Shows:

Metalocalypse: Yeah! Metal finally has a cartoon of it's own! James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and King Diamond have lent their voices, I think it would be awesome if Roger Daltrey lent his voice too!
House: Hugh Laurie's acting is so good, that at first I didn't know he was British! there's only a few parts I could'nt watch, but it's a great show!
Dr. Who: I've only caught a few episodes, but so far I like what I've seen. I like the actor who plays the doctor in season two better than the one from season one.
The Dog Whisperer: This is on the National Geographic Channel. A guy named Cesar Chavez retrains the owners on how to handle their dogs and rehabilitates dogs. I try to pick up on his tips to try and train my dog Sophie.
Any nighttime shows on the Food Network.

Worst TV Shows:

Flavor of Love 2: Flavor Flav was in the Rap group Public Enemy in the 80's, which was his highest peak in fame. If he really wants to find love, he shouldn't look for it on reality TV! I just hope there isn't going to be a Flavor of love 3!
My Super Sweet Sixteen: Nothing but a bunch of spoiled rich daddy's girls! It's outragious how much is spent on these parties!
All the shows on MTV that have nothing to do with music. Who cares about how teens in Orange County live!

Best Vacation:

Morro Bay: it was a four hour drive from where I live, but the drive along the 1 highway was so nice! all that ocean scenery! Also, there was so much to do there, that you can't do it all in one trip.

Worst Vacation:

Lake Havasu: the drive was five hours from where I live, but the drive was very boring! all that desert scenery! ugh! Also, there wasn't very much to do there, and it was more for old people.

Best Live Performance:

The Attic Jam at the Hotel Cafe' which is the only show I've seen this year, so this one wins hands down!

That completes my list for this year. I wish I had done this last year, but at least I started one. I can't wait to see what will be on next years list!

Purging out the Bad Things From 2006

2006-12-28T01:21:00.000-08:00

I originally titled this as "The year 2006 is coming to an end" but it has turned into a post about my ex-friend. As I promised earlier, you won't hear anymore about her after New Years. Writing about these things is a good way to purge them out. I want the new year to start out good. I now believe that the way an old year ends, determines how the new year will begin. 2004 ended badly, which is why the beginning of 2005 was bad. Then the end of 2005 ended better, so the beginning of 2006 was good. Here is how it all went...

This year was so much better than last year! The only bad times were during the times I spent with my friend and her loser boyfriend. At the end of last year, we were still friends, now at the end of this year, we're not friends anymore! but she still doesn't know that! I've been trying to figure out what to say whenever she does call me. Last week, I had a dream that she called me, and my mom picked up the phone and said "Lisa's on the phone." I asked her to hand it to me. Before the dream, I had thought of what to say to her which was something like this: "Lisa I don't want to be your friend anymore! and you better not call back after I hang up! or I will put a restraining order on you!" Anyways, in the dream I actually said that to her, then she yelled very loudly, but I didn't know what she was saying because I was holding the phone away from me, then I thought I heard her boyfriend yelling in the background. And that was the end of the dream. I wonder if that's a sign of what could happen, or if the dream happened because of my fear of what I think could happen. I don't think I have to go as far as putting a restraining order on Lisa, but I do know that she is capable of getting very angry. She will call over and over again if you either hang up on her after her first call, or if you ignore her calls. She usually doesn't leave messages, but if she's angry enough, she will leave one very very angry message. I'm hoping by 2007, I will be rid of my ex-friend for good. Hopefully she won't ruin my new year again. In 2004, she ruined New Years eve. She was still living with me, but my parents were kicking her out in January. Anyways, that day, all we did was fight. At some point she says "Oh Happy Fucking New Year! It sure started with a bang!" That was it, that whole day was ruined! I always loved celebrating New Years, but I spent that evening sleeping! After midnight, one of Lisa's friends called me to wish me and Lisa a happy new year, but me and Lisa were sleeping and I told him that. He couldn't believe that, but I was pissed that he was celebrating! I told him to leave me alone and I hung up. The fights carried on into 2005, Lisa would try to make me feel guilty about her being kicked out by saying things like "While you're in your warm bed, I'll be out in the cold streets!" Looking back at these incidents, I can't believe I didn't break off our friendship sooner! Although I did think about it a few times, as a matter of fact, deep down inside I was glad my parents were kicking her out! then I would have the freedom to do what I want! Freedom from spending the whole day and night in Lisa's room. I would make up excuses to leave her room just to have two minutes to myself! If I was leaving her room, she would be like, "where you going?" then another time, if I asked her "Can I leave?" then she would say "Of course! I'm not your hostage!" See where I'm going with this? there was no way of winning!
I've figured out why I didn't break off my friendship with Lisa sooner. 1. I'd remember all the good times, and think, it's not always so bad. 2. Lisa has told me that I am the only friend that hasn't screwed her over, so basically I felt that if I left her, I'd be betraying her, I wanted to be the good friend that was always there for her. 3. There were times when she would make me feel guilty about certain things. For example: The night she was kicked out of my house, I drove her around all night trying to find a place for her to stay because I wanted to be the friend who was real because I was there for her. 4. I felt trapped, like there was no way out of the friendship. She is the type of person who doesn't take the word "No" as an answer. I can almost understand why it's hard for a woman to leave an abusive boyfriend or husband. It was almost the same thing with my friendship with Lisa, you know that some of the things they're doing is wrong, but you feel like you don't have the power to leave, or you ignore all the negatives.

Everytime I've looked back in my life, it's always the same thing, "How could I be so stupid!" Every mistake I've made in the past, I say that same exact thing. I know that it's in our nature to make mistakes, even if it's the same one over and over again. I just wish I didn't have to learn the hard way. This time, I hope I never have another friendship like Lisa's ever again.

OK, that's enough of that now! I am ready to move on to 2007.

Here's to a new beginning!

Cheers!

Happy Birthday Lars Ulrich!

2006-12-26T19:02:00.000-08:00

Metallica's drummer turns 43 today!

After Christmas

2006-12-26T18:11:00.000-08:00

Well I had a good Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The only bad thing that happened was my dad and I getting into an argument over a digital camera memory chip, but then we stopped and carried on as usual. I apologized to my relatives for the fight, but no one was paying attention anyways. It's only a short term thing, we get over these things. BTW, my sister figured out what was wrong with the camera, the pictures were being stored on the internal memory instead of the memory chip. That explains how much my dad knows about technology.
The rest of the evening was great, one of my aunts tried to get all of us to sing "The Twelvwe Days of Christmas" I helped out a bit. Some of us wern't the est singers, but it was funny though! especially when we messed up on the song! After that, as I always do on christmas eve, I opened one gift, which was from one of my aunts. My other two aunts each got one gift that went to my sister, my parents, and me, which is fine by my sister and I. We are both getting older and we have to get used to receiving less gifts, not that we're selfish, but Christmas is a lot more fun when there's children. All my cousins are either my age or older, and now all my second cousins are in their teens except for two of em who are still small.
Christmas day was great too. I got five new t-shirts, one of them being a Who tee. It looks really cool! I'll put up a picture of it later on. I also got Metallica's complete music video collection on DVD, and a few various things. I had already got my best Christmas present earlier which is a ticket to see The Who in San Diego. It was nice of my parents to get me other stuff for Christmas, even though I told them they didn't have to. My sister and I did get my parents some really good presents as a thank you for all they've done. We got my dad two gift cards, one for Sears and the Other for The Big 5, which is a sporting goods store. My dad got a lot of good stuff from there today just from the sales. We got our mom a certificate to a spa, which she really liked.
I hope you all had a nice Christmas or Holiday as well. Now we've got New Years Eve coming up! I can't wait!

About my cat Ringo, we took him to the vet today and they said his other toe is just fine. Thank goodness he doesn't need more surgery! After ten days, he will have his stiches removed and that satelite collar can be removed, but in the meantime we still have to give him his medicines twice a day and that sucks!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Kwanzaa, or whatever holiday you celebrate! I'm not trying to be politically correct, I'm doing this is all out of courtesy. No matter what holiday you celebrate, they all have one thing in common, getting together with loved ones and celebrating together.
Family is much more important than presents, candy and cookies, and of course friends. Not that it's bad to visit your friends too, but make sure they respect the fact that "Family comes first!" if they don't, then they are not your real friends!
I promise you guys that after New years, you won't hear anymore about my evil ex-friend, I just need to purge it all out.

In case you're wondering, my cat Ringo is doing OK, but he really looks depressed, poor baby! He's still wearing the collar that looks like a satelite dish, it's causing him to bump into things and I have to remove it whenever he eats. Lets just hope his other toe doesn't have to be amputated! Either way, at least he can still walk and he and my other kitty Paulie are lucky to be in a good loving home!

My Cat Ringo

2006-12-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

This is my other kitty Ringo, earlier I had posted a picture of my cat Paulie sitting on a suitcase. Poor Ringo had hurt his toe a week ago, we thought he just broke off a claw, but his foot started getting worse. it started bleeding so we took him to the vet today. We should have brought him in a lot sooner! Now the vet has to amputate his toe, luckily the surgery doesn't cost too much, but we would have saved a lot more money if we had brought him in the first time we noticed something wrong. Hopefully we can bring Ringo home tomorrow.

Getting Rid of Toxic Friends

2006-12-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

I've talked about this around a few places, I had a best friend that I've realized was not a good friend the whole time. Some of you remember when I did two posts about my best friends boyfriend? Here's the links to those two posts, I've left some updated comments on them:
Metalchick: The Difference Between Having and Not Having My Guitar
Metalchick: My Best Friend's Boyfriend
That is the friend I'm talking about, her name is Lisa (Not Nabonidus! the Lisa I'm going to be talking about is a different one) I'm using her name to make it easier to tell the story about her. She's not the only one, I've made other bad friends, most of them from McDonald's. My parents have tried to warn me, but I'd never listen until it's too late!

I did type up a story about my friendship with her, quite a story! Almost a book about it. I just deleted 95% of it. You are reading what would've been 5% right now up to this point. It felt good to type up all the things I've felt about our friendship though. I finally got it out! Hopefully now I can stop talking about all the I could've's, I should've's , and the I would've's about everything that had happened while I was friends with Lisa.

Here's a shortened summary about why Lisa wasn't a good friend:
Before Lisa; everything was fine, I was going to college, I wasn't getting the best grades, but at least I was going to school. I was responsible, even though there were times I didn't listen to my parents. I never had to worry about looking over my shoulder for cops or any shady people. I had a few issues, but who doesn't?
Then when Lisa became my friend (and lived with me); I thought she was cool because she was living, but it turns out that she was living in the fast lane. She never went to college, she had a few run ins with the law, and she said wanted to be a cop! yeah, a dirty cop! When I was hanging out with her, I thought I was finally living and having some fun, but it was all an illusion. Some of the things we first did was for fun, but later on I ended up waist deep. I was constantly looking over my shoulder, and on top of that, Lisa and I fought almost everyday. It got bad enough to where she was hitting me and I let her because I thought at the time it would make her feel better. I should also mention that I thought she was helping me come out of my shell, (I used to be shy) and I thought she was helping me stand up to people who were using me. All along, she was the one using me, and she was controlling me. she would tell me not to be afraid to say no to people, yet I felt powerless to say no to her. I did once before and it got really ugly!
Things improved and were at their highest when she lived with her mom, when her boyfriend was in prison, and when we no longer had things that caused drama around us. She also had a good job and finally was starting to pay me back by paying for everything, from restaurants to buying me stuff. Then her boyfriend got released from prison and she threw everything good she had away, from her mom's house to her good paying job, all so she could stay in the Sleazy 8 Motel with her boyfriend, then they move to Pacoima (A city almost as ghetto as South Central LA) After that, it was all downhill from there. (see the links above) Soon I was back to doing things I didn't want to do, such as taking them to a bunch of Wal-marts to shoplift.
I also had to put up with Lisa and her boyfriend's fights, and I had to bite my tongue a few times, especially when her boyfriend says something like "If I need a ride, she better be there!"
My friendship with Lisa was finally starting to unravel when I drove all the way down to her apartment to just hang out and watch a movie, but when I got there, Lisa and her boyfriend got in an argument, so I had to leave! At least they gave me gas money, in aluminum cans! I finally cursed out her boyfriend when I couldn't find a recycling center to get the money I needed. Later on they apologized for making me leave. Later on they called to invite me to come with them to the movies, I told Lisa No and when I was explaining how I felt short changed on gas money, she wasn't even listening to me! She was talking to her boyfriend! One morning when I was getting ready for school, she called me, I told her "I can't talk right now, I'm going to school." and I hung up. She kept calling over and over. I didn't pick up the phone, and it's a good thing I didn't because she was going to yell at me for not saying "Goodbye" She just wanted to give me her new number. I took it when she called back later, then I lost it. Then when she called me the very last time, I asked for her to give me her new number again because I lost it. My friendship was unraveling, but there was still a little thread holding on.
After Lisa; Everything was fine again, things completely returned to normal. I was back in school, but this time I had better grades. I became responsible again, I listen to my parents because now I know that they were right about what they have told me all along. I no longer have to look over my shoulder for cops and shady people. I still have issues, but not as many as before, who doesn't have issues? You just learn how to deal with them, even if you have to learn the hard way. Now that things are better, I realized how miserable I really was being friends with Lisa, so now I have let go of that single thread that was holding on to my friendship with Lisa. I purposely lost her number, she hasn't called me for a while, hopefully she has gotten the hint, or she thinks I'm still in school. When she does call, I will tell her I no longer want to be her friend and to never call again. I am now another friend that has left her, she will always be alone! She has pushed people away because of the way she is, and that is, she is not a people person! I feel sorry for the next person that becomes her friend.

I've been through so much hell, that now I think I can get through anything. I really hope I don't make the same mistakes again. My friendship with Lisa was the third time I made the wrong friend.

I've only met a few of you, but I know that a majority of you are very cool and for real. I haven't seen a blogger who was lying about who they are, except for the ones who do it on purpose to entertain us, you know who you are!

This post still got long, but at least it's shorter than the first rough draft I typed up earlier.

Two Tragic Losses in Music

2006-12-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Today is the anniversary of two tragic losses of two great musicians. 26 years ago, we lost John Lennon, and two years ago, we lost Dimebag Darrell. He was the guitarist of Pantera and Damageplan.
Both of these tragedies are similar, both were shot four times by crazed fans. John Lennon was killed by Mark Chapman, and Dimebag Darrell was killed by Nathan Gale. I don't know what motive Mark Chapman had to kill John Lennon, but whatever it was he is a fucked up person! No one is really sure what Nathan Gale's motive was, but some say that he was pissed off that Pantera broke up. Whatever his motive was, he was a very fucked up person too! Nathan Gale was shot by a police officer, because he not only shot Dimebag Darrell, but he also shot three others.
The music world may have lost two great musicians, but they both live on through their music.

For more info on John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell, click on these links.
Wikipedia-Dimebag Darrell
Wikipedia-John Lennon

For more John Lennon and/or Dimebag Darrell, head on over to my video blog to watch the videos in tribute to both musicians.

10 Things I'll Never Do

2006-12-08T02:22:00.000-08:00

Vallyp may not have tagged me, but I'm going to have to do this list, so here's my list of 10 things I'll never do...
1. Skydiving and mountain climbing. I am afraid of heights. I even get scared when any vehicle I'm in is driving along the edge of a mountain road.
2. I'll never eat rabbit meat, lamb, or veal because I don't eat the cute animals. I use to have two hares for pets, then they had up to three litters of little bunnies. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against hunting when it's done right, but I don't want to see what I'm going to be eating when it's still alive. My parents got a pig, which was raised at my aunts place. They asked my sister and I if we wanted to see the pig. we both said "No way!"
3. I'll never shoot a gun. I really get nervous if I see one because I fear that if it gets dropped, it would go off. The only time I'm not scared is if it's in a safe place like a mount or a rack where their usually stored or displayed. I start getting nervous if it's in someone's hands, whether their showing it off, cleaning it, or if they look like they're going to use it. I do believe in the second amendment, the right to bear arms, if you're properly trained. my dad owns a handgun, but he always renews his license.
4. I'll never walk up to an open coffin at a funeral or ever go into a morgue. I have the fear of a dead body not being dead. Unfortunately I know that there are times when a person has to go to a morgue to identify a dead body. I just hope I never have to.
5. I'll never get plastic surgery, unless I see it necessary like if I got my nose broken. Other than that, it's not necessary, I'm happy with the way I look. I never have to get implants since I have double D's. plus, I hear so many horror stories of plastic surgeries gone wrong. Speaking of horror stories, I hope I never have to go into surgery for any medical condition. I'm afraid of either waking up in the middle of surgery, or having a tool left behind inside me.
6. I'll never eat at McDonald's ever again! Some of you who remember my Anti-McDonald's post knows why.
7. I'll never go on a reality show. It's not reality at all, and it is degrading too! However, if there were a documentary being made about Who fans talking about why they think The Who rock, I would love to be in it!
8. I'll never let anyone burn me! this had happened in the past and I hope it never happens ever again. Screw me once, shame on you! screw me twice, shame on me! If anyone burns me, I will burn back.
9. I'll never be a fan of A-list celebrities or pop stars. I think they are so overrated and very big headed. They seem to lose touch with their fans and they also spend an insane amount of money on unneccessary items. I prefer the Down-to-Earth celebrities and musicians, they stay true to their fans, and even if they spend money on a few things; they've earned it with their hard work and don't let it get to their head.
10. I'll never make the same mistake of having the wrong friends. Half the friends I made were either incompatible or used people. A friend I had in high school was always making up stories and we always argued, then at my job at McDonald's I made a friend that took advantage of generous people like me, and another friend whom I thought was my best friend. I could tell you guys so much about that friend, but this post would end up being five pages long. Anyways, I have now seen the light and I hope I never make the wrong friends again. Of course you guys are all cool, I've met some of you and you guys are for real and are great friends!

And there you have it! That's ten things I'll never do, or ever do again. OK now I have to tag some people, so now it's your turn... Cathy with a C, Colleen, Dan L. Dave from Pennsylvania, Gary, Green Eyes, Marymoo, Nabonidus, Stradasphere, and Ticharu

New Hair Color

2006-11-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

After bleaching my hair a few days ago, I finally got around to dying it. Here it is! Tell me what you think.

Some of have noticed that I turned on the comment moderation. It's not because I'm against anything anyone has said. Since some bloggers were having trouble leaving comments because of the beta switch, I am now allowing anonymous comments so they can leave comments more easily. Unfortnately allowing anonymous comments opens this blog to nasty trolls, so I have to moderate them to keep them out.

I Received My Ticket!

2006-11-25T16:27:00.000-08:00

Here it is! It came in the mail today. I'm so happy! I also found out that I am on the Lower level, which isn't bad at all. I know what the stadium looks like inside because the Metallica concert I went to was at that same place. The only differences is the name of the stadium and the settings of the stage. When Metallica played, they had the stage in the middle of the stadium, and it slowly rotated so you would have a view of all musicians. Metallica also had what they call "The Snake Pit" That's the area surrounding the stage, where the lucky fans stand close to the stage. I was up in the upper level, but the view wasn't so bad. For the Who concert, the stage is going to be on one side of the stadium, and I'm guessing that no one will be seated behind the stage. It would be cool if The Who's stage were set up like Metallica's, but I'm happy enough to be there. Now I just have to figure out how to get backstage. How do you get backstage passes? Anybody willing to share? those who've met me probably noticed that my hair looks different, I just bleached it because I'm going to dye it red later.
My parents just bought a digital camera, mostly for their Hawaiian vacation, but we can still use it for other things. That's how I was able to get a picture of me with the ticket. I also took a picture of my dog Sophie in her brand new jacket. Doesn't she look adorable!? Now she'll no longer be shakey! Right below is a picture of Paulie, one of my cats. My mom's packing, but it seems like he wants to come along the trip too. That flash is bright, look what it did to his eyes, kinda like what happened to Neil's cat Baby.
Well, that's all for now, I'll post up another picture of me when my hair is done, and also a picture of my other cat Ringo.

Black Friday Wasn't So Bad

2006-11-24T18:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I had a good Thanksgiving! I had dinner at one of my aunt's house. I made pumpkin dip, pumpkin cheesecake pie, and stuffed mushrooms. Everything turned out really good, everybody liked what I made. I'll have to leave the recipes for you guys so you can try them too.

I read Rachel's post and thought it was so cool of her and Pete to celebrate Thanksgiving! It's almost as if they're celebrating with us!

Did anybody else catch CSI last night? Wow! Roger was incredible! His acting was so good that I disliked the character a bit! Now that's being a bad guy! I thought it was so funny when he said the line "He's a real good looking boy." I wonder if Pete & Rachel saw it too and I also wonder what they thought of Roger in it?
I hope Roger does more acting, when he's not busy with The Who of course. He was funny on "That 70's Show." I miss the show "Extreme History" does anybody remember that show? it was on The History Channel. Roger hosted it and he recreated some things from history, and was pretty good at doing it too.

OK, I should probably stop talking about Roger and finish my story about today.

Anyways, I had not gone shopping on Black Friday since I went with my mom and sister five or six years ago. I finally gave in and decided to go to K-Mart first. I figured everyone would be going to the department stores and Walmart first. My stradegy worked, everybody went into the store very orderly, I didn't have to fight anybody to get a pair of slippers on sale, I looked around the cosmetics aisle a bit, then decided to check out. I managed to find a register with no line (Actually there were two!) By the time I got to my car, I had only been in the store for fifteen minutes! To think I was originally going to show up there one hour early! I didn't, but I didn't have to.
I went back home to drop off the slippers, grabbed an ad for Michaels (An arts and crafts store) barely anyone there! Looked around a bit, bought a couple of fake poinsettas to use for decoration, then I headed for the mall. It wasn't too bad because half the shops wern't open yet, but the department stores were a different story. I didn't really buy anything except a See's candy bar. Left the mall, headed to Starbucks for a frappachino, then headed home.
Then I go back to the mall with my mom to get the new shoes I've needed so badly. Found them, then went home. And that's about it.

To anyone who was brave enough to go shopping today, I hope you were able to have a somewhat pleasant shopping experience, or at least I hope nobody got hurt. Some people get real vicious, especially when they're going for electronics and jewelry! Some places handed out tickets for those departments!

Now I'm onto preparing for Christmas. Tomorrow, my sister and I are putting up the decorations. My dad already put up the Christmas lights outside, I'll see if I can get some pictures and post them.

Hope you guys had a Happy Thanksgiving, and to my overseas friends, hope you guys had a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-23T10:42:00.000-08:00

To all my American Blogger friends, be safe on your travels and enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner! To my overseas friends, have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Kirk Hammett!

2006-11-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

Metallica's lead guitarist turns 44 today, but age is just a number! Rock on!

I'm Going to San Diego to See The Who!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-11-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

I DID IT! I GOT A TICKET! YEAH!!!!!! I'M FINALLY GOING TO SEE THE WHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately my mom didn't want to pay $180.00 (although I call that a Bargain) and I didn't want to get stuck in the nosebleed section, so I compromised and settled for $100.00 tickets.

My seat is in LL21, row 3, seat 1. I can't figure out where that is on the seating chart, but I sure hope that I get a good view of the stage.

9 Weird Things About Me

2006-11-13T23:19:00.000-08:00

I don't remember who started this, but all I know is after seeing Dale's, I knew that it was my turn, so here it is...

1. I talk to myself out loud when no one's around.

2. I constantly daydream. It can be a variety of things, from thinking of all the could've, would've, and should've kind of things to the scenerios that had happened in the past, to fantasies I wish would happen. (Should I be telling you guys this?)

3. I don't like drinking tap water, it has to be filtered or bottled. I don't like tasting what comes from the ground or the urban environment. Of course if there's ever a time when I have to drink tap water cause there's nothing else, then I will.

4. There are times when I'll listen to two completely different groups or genres of music in the same time period. Not in that particular order, I'll go from Cypress Hill to Metallica, or from The Who to Korn. Sometimes a bit of Pop and R&B singers such as Ciara and the Pussycat Dolls will get thrown in the mix too.

5. I have two spoiled housecats that I treat like babies. (Who doesn't?)

6. Some of you who have met me can see that I am a nice person, but I can also be very stubborn and I do get angry. Being a Gemini might explain that.

7. I have never rode on a Train. I would like to someday. I've been on many road trips and have flown on an airplane. I guess not too many people travel by train anymore.

8. I have a tongue piercing. Those of you who have met me probably didn't know that! to add onto that, I have a tattoo of the flame logo of the band Audioslave on my right arm. Here's what's interesting, I got the tattoo two days after the tongue piercing. I've had these things for almost two years.

9. I think Roger Daltrey is still Hot! Who else wants to look that good at 62? I do!

Three More Who Shows!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-11-13T18:05:00.000-08:00

I just got the announcement in my e-mail! They are coming to Reno, Fresno, and San Diego!!!!!

Unfortunately for Stradasphere, they're not coming to Phoenix. :( But I told him not to let that stop him from coming. I plan to go to the San Diego show, and anyone who's willing to drive, fly, walk or use any transportation to get to The Who, should come along too.

I've told my parents that all I want for Christmas is to see The Who, and I don't want anything else.

Only One Picture Came Out!

2006-11-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

From Left to Right: Nabonidus, Mikey, and Me!

Well, because we were told "No flash photography", none of the pictures came out. This one above came out because I turned the flash on, thank God I had two shots left! If I had one, there would be no pictures. I'm glad this one came out, Mikey is the coolest and the most approachable guy ever!

To anyone who was there, if you have any pictures, can you please send me a copy?, I would really appreciate it!

UPDATE: I added a video of Simon performing the song "Come Back" on In the Attic. This was one of my most favorite songs that he performed at the Hotel Cafe. "Sex Change" is another favorite.

Hotel Cafe Show

2006-11-08T02:57:00.000-08:00

I just got back from the show at the Hotel Cafe, and I must say that it ROCKED!!!!!!! The first thing that was the best was finally meeting the other bloggers who went. I met ballerinagurl, Collin, JoAnn, Suesjoy, Chris, Gary and his wife Stephanie, Nabonidus, Alecia, Justin, Jillytee, Dave from Pennsylvania, and anyone else I forgot to mention, in addition I met a few other Rachel fans who don't blog, but read them instead. Along with these bloggers, I met Simon Townshend, Mikey, and I was able to get Rachel to say "Hi" to me when I shouted "Hi Rachel!"to her when she was walking back into the club for the meet & greet. Unfortunately I wasn't able to meet Pete because of all the autograph seekers who were hounding him. I managed to get right behind him and I was so close that I could have actually tapped him on the shoulder, but I didn't. Just being like half a foot away from him was a surreal experience, unfortunately he never knew I was there. I was hoping that I could get Pete to sign my arm so I could get it tattooed, but what I was really hoping to do was approach him like "Hey how's it going?" that kind of thing, just being cool and introduce myself. In reality, that kind of approach is very hard to do when Pete has to deal with the autograph seekers.
Mikey and Simon were the coolest people to approach. Simon was the first of the group I got to meet, then I was able to approach Mikey three times, once before entering the club, then second inside the club after the show. During that time, me and Nabonidus got a picture with him, then a third time outside the club.
I could go on about that, but I must now move on to the performances. It was so AWESOME!!!!! Rachel was Amazing! "Cigarettes and Housework" was really good! Simon was so incredible! His song "Sex Change" ROCKED!!!! I didn't think he was going to be there, so that was a nice suprise! Rachel was right about Minnie Driver, she really can sing! and plays guitar very well! E from the EEL's was really good, and he was funny too! Billy Corgan also did a wonderful performance despite a little trouble with tuning his guitars. I learned that Billy likes to play unplugged. And of course, let's not forget about Pete's performances, he sounds even better when seen live and in person. I could've died very happy!
Most of us were all in the corner of the club right next to the stage. I estimate that we were at least twenty feet from the performers. We were right behind Justin, who was doing an excellent job of recording the show. I also managed to get pictures taken, thanks to Ballerinagurl and Stephanie for helping me get some good shots. Unfortunately I didn't use a flash because we were told that it wasn't allowed. I really hope the stage lights help the pictures come out, if not, at least I have photoshop. I will get the pictures up as soon as possible.
There's still so much more I can talk about, so be sure to come back for more.

To the bloggers who were there, it was very nice to meet you all.

Note to Dan L, I heard that you were there and I'm very sorry that I missed you, hopefully we'll get to meet in the future.

I'm Off to My Family Reunion, and Then to Rachel's Show!

2006-11-02T22:27:00.000-08:00

Well, my reason for missing The Who in concert has finally come. Tomorrow mourning, my parents and I are leaving to Scottsdale Arizona for my Mom's Family reunion. I will get to meet the relatives that haven't shown up to the weddings and funerals. With my mom's side of the family being of Spanish, Mexican, and Native American descent, I wonder how many cousins, second and/or third cousins I have? It's hard to keep the family tree straight, but it's always interesting to get to know the relatives.
I will be back on Sunday night, and on Tuesday I am going to the Blogger dinner before seeeing Rachel at the Hotel Cafe. I am finally going to meet Ballerinagurl, Dan L, Gary, Stradasphere, and I'm sorry if I forgot to mention anyone else who's going, but I can't wait to meet everybody!

I will check in here if I can get to a computer while in Arizona. If not, I'll be back here on Monday.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T10:10:00.000-08:00

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Article of The Who

2006-10-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

This is an article from the Antelope Valley Press. It appeared in the entertainment section of Monday's paper. I hope I don't get in trouble for posting a photocopy of this article here, if I do, I will remove it, so enjoy it while you can!

Happy Birthday Robert Trujillo!

2006-10-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Metallica Bassist turns 42 today. He had big shoes to fill since the band lost Cliff Burton (RIP) and Jason, who left the band, but Robert filled them real good!

In other Metallica news: Congratulations to Kirk Hammett and his wife Lani for having their first child, a beautiful baby boy!!

In The Attic in Hollywood

2006-10-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

Finally! After all the times I wasn't able to make it to any ITA shows, Barnes & Noble appearances, and The Who concert, I am finally going to see Rachel Fuller! I got a ticket to the ITA show at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood.
It's funny that the show is at the Hotel Cafe because before the announcement of this show, I was planning on seeing Tom Morello as The Nightwatchman at The Hotel Cafe. His first show is a week after ITA, and he has two more shows each Tuesday after the first. His tickets are $10 and all the proceeds are going to an organization called Food not Bombs. They feed the homeless. I was planning on going to all three shows, but since ITA came up, my plans might change.

Let me know if you're going, that way we can meet somewhere.

Happy Belated Birthday Simon Townshend!

2006-10-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

I just found out today that October 10th was Simon's Birthday, so here's a late Birthdaty wish. He is 46 years old, and he ROCKS!!!

Happy Birthday John Entwistle ,John & Sean Lennon!

2006-10-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

He would be 66 Today. I always wonder, what would he think of the world today? Would he think about the Iraq war the same way as he felt about Vietnam? I think so.

Update: There we go! Now I've included Sean and John Entwistle.

Sirius Radio Rocks!!!!!

2006-10-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

Some of you have been told by me to try Sirius radio because of the awesome Who channel, so bear with me when I say it again, Sirius Rocks! Unfortunately my free three day trial ended, so I decided to open another e-mail address just to get three more days. Is this wrong? I know I should buy it, but I don't have any money. Also once you hear commercial free radio, it's hard to go back to regular radio. I wish The Who channel would be around forever, I really love it! So far I have heard many Who songs that I haven't heard before , such as "So Sad About Us" then there are songs I have heard but don't have on CD, such as "Guitar and Pen" I also heard their covers of Rolling Stones songs. I also love the two heavy metal channels Octane and Hard Attack.
If what I'm doing is wrong, I promise this will be the last time I open another e-mail address to get more free trials.

1st Anniversary of Blogging

2006-10-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! It has been a whole year since I started Blogging, and it all started with my love of The Who. I first heard about blogging from The Daily Show, but here's how I got started on blogging. I was navigating around the internet looking for cool websites about The Who and I stumbled into Pete Townshend's Official site. I started reading his diary pages and he was talking about Rachel. I wondered who she was, I thought at the time she was just a friend of his. He also talked about how she had a blog, so I checked it out. (this is how I discovered Rachel) I remember Rachel talking about how Pete started getting into blogging. Later on when reading Pete's diary pages, that is where I first found TBWHM. At first I was reading the chapters there, but when he mentioned that we can leave comments on the chapters in his blog, I clicked on the link and found his blog. When I learned that we can make our own blogs, I did so.
...and that's how I got into the world of blogging.
Looking back from my first entry, I sure have come a long way. At first I wasn't sure of what I would be writing about and I was worried that I would get nasty comments from trolls. Well now I know that I have written so many interesting topics and I have received a lot of nice comments from you all.
Before blogging, I used to post comments on message boards, which wasn't always a great experience because of the trolls or the very opinionated commenters. I have only been in a chat room once, and I hated it! I clicked on the topic of music, but in that chatroom, they weren't talking about music! also those chatters type too fast! Everytime I tried to type a response, the chatters would already be on a new topic!
So far, blogging has been the best experience on the internet ever! (Better than MySpace, and I still don't have an account there!) and I'm still having a great experience. I have talked to so many interesting people, and I know that when I finally meet any of you guys, it will feel like seeing an old friend again.

I would like to thank Pete Townshend for getting me started on blogging, for introducing me to Rachel, and Mikey, and for his wonderful stories, even though The Comedian was stopped.

Here's to many more years of blogging!

Newsflash! I Saw The Who on MTV News

2006-10-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

OK, I know MTV usually sucks because they don't show music videos until 3am, but when MTV News was reporting on the US Virgin Music Festival, along with Gnarls Barkley, The Killers, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, they mentioned The Who! For the rest of the story check out MTV News

Tom Morello Arrested At Hotel Worker Protest

2006-09-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

If it weren't for Nabonidus telling me about this, I would've heard about this story days later. Tom Morello was arrested with 400 people at a protest in Los Angeles. Of course they planned on it, even giving the LAPD their drivers license numbers days before the event took place. The day of the protest before they were arrested, Tom Morello performed as The Nightwatchman. For more on this story and for pictures, check out Axis of Justice.

Profile Picture of the Week

2006-09-23T00:34:00.000-07:00

This weeks profile picture is B-Real, a rapper from the group Cypress Hill. I don't like a majority of Rap and Hip Hop, but this group is one of the very few I actually like. This group mixes Rap with Rock and their songs are about street life, but they had lived through it to tell the stories. Basically any Hip Hop that has a message that's not watered down, respects women, and is danceable, and if it's Rap/Rock and, is the kind I like to listen to.
Today's Hip Hop music is mostly CRAP because it is mostly about how much money rappers have, how many Bentleys they own, how much Cristal they drink, and worst of all, how many women they exploit in their music videos. Also these rich rappers try to act like they're from the streets, but in reality, some of them wouldn't survive a day in the streets. There's a word for guys who act like they're gangstas but really aren't, they are called "Wangstas."

Talk Like a Pirate Day

2006-09-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

Ahoy Mateys!
Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day! The day we talk like pirates! So if ye landlubbers want to join the fun, head over to The Official Talk Like a Pirate website, or if not, you can walk thee plank!

Who are the musicians in the Profile pictures?

2006-09-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

This was a question that Bookworm brought up and I should tell you guys. This weeks picture is Tom Morello, the guitarist from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. He is also known as The Nightwatchman, when he's doing his solo work. He also helps run his political organization Axis of Justice with System of a Down's lead singer Serj Tankien.

Remembering 9/11

2006-09-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been five years since the Twin Towers fell. I still remember where I was when I first heard about it. I was getting ready for school (at that time, it was my first semester at college), when I walk into the living room, I noticed that the News was showing the twin towers and the pentagon side by side. All I could think was, "What happened?" At first I thought only one tower got hit, but then when I saw footage of the second plane hitting the second tower, I knew that it was no accident. I was completely shocked. I skipped my English class because my Dad didn't want us to go to school and I wasn't sure what to think. Although I ended up going to my Math class anyways because I had a test that day. To this day, I regret not going to english class because everybody had written a paper about how they felt that morning. I know I could have wrote one myself, but never got around to it. I guess now this post will become a record of how I felt that day.
The rest of the day, I kept watching the news still shocked with all that was happening. I began to wonder if things would ever return to normal again, but I knew that things had changed. After that day, I clearly remember seeing a lot more American flags going up. Before 9/11/01, whenever my dad wanted to buy flags, he would have to ask the sales clerks where they were and they would usually be in the back of the store. That all changed after 9/11 because everywhere I went, there were flags, I mean all kinds of flags, flags for your porch, flags for your car, flag t-shirts, and even flag halloween costumes. I think at that time, we as Americans had realized how much we took our country for granted.
I still remember how courageous President Bush looked standing on top of the rubble with the bullhorn. At that time I actually believed that he was really doing something and I thought "Wow! he's going to be a two term President!" Of course this was a time when I blindly followed Bush, until he came up with the Patriot Act and then went into war in Iraq, then my eyes were opened and I realized I have a mind of my own. OK, that's another story, as I was saying...
I clearly remember the tribute concert for New York City. It wasn't just because that concert was what made me a Who fan, but the fact that it was a concert for the real heroes, the firefighters and police officers.
It has been five years since then, and there are still questions that we still don't have the answers to such as "Have things returned to normal?", "Are we safer?", and "Will Bin Laden ever be found?" The airport security has gotten much tighter, unfortunately it's always at the last minute. Is there any way we can track down the terrorists without sacrificing our civil liberties?
No matter how much we prepare or learn from our past mistakes, there will always be tragic events, but we are strong and we can get back on our feet and carry on with our lives, or help other people do so.

Happy Birthday Brad Wilk!

2006-09-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Today the drummer of Audioslave turns 38, but he still looks Hot!

I almost forgot to tell you guys, Audioslave's new album Revelations is out in stores now!

Happy Belated Birthday Keith Moon!

2006-08-31T00:25:00.000-07:00

On August 23, he would have turned 60 if he was still alive. However, he is still alive in the music of The Who. LONG LIVE ROCK!!!!!!!

One Year Later

2006-08-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

It's been a whole year since this tragic event, a year sure flys by fast, but I wonder if it had moved too fast. From what I've heard, things still not have improved much so far. The casinos are going to be up and running starting tomorrow, which is good in a way because New Orleans residents get their jobs back to get their life back to normal again. I wonder though, what about the homes? I know that some are being rebuilt, but is it enough? I also wonder if New Orleans will ever be the same again. I pray for the victims that they will carry on with their lives.
Five years ago, I was very fortunate to have visited New Orleans. The trip was for a National Youth Gathering for Lutheran church youth groups across the United States. It was a week long event, but my youth group was there for nine days. We arrived two days earlier than the other youth groups, so we had the chance to explore certain places like Bourbon Street (we only walked down the street and went inside no places there) It was a wonderful trip and I had always wanted to go back. Now I am really hopeful that all the things that makes New Orleans what it is, will be restored. It is more than just Bourbon Street, it is about the culture, the historic scenes, the numerous ghost stories, the music, the people, and more!