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Beggers can't be "Choosy"
Friday, September 30, 2005
I took out our bands mates to El Pollo Loco last night. After I parked my car. I saw a woman (in her 40s maybe) talking to Mike. She was telling him about how they lost their home, her sister just lost her job... etc. Her sister was in the SUV they had. I guess she was asking Mike for some food. I heard him say "SURE!". I chimed in... and asked, "you want some dinner? Come on in and tell your sister to come too." But the sister mumbled something and refused to come in... she gave the woman a piece of paper. So I preceeded to take the 40 year old into the Chicken house... she asked for the 12 piece meal... not the 12 piece chicken... the MEAL. So I asked, "Jeez, is this all for YOU?". She replied that she has a family with 3 kids. Ok, now I'm a little bit peeved. So she orders her food... and then mumbles to me "When we come here, we usually get the 3 side orders extra... but it will come out to $25. Is that ok?" By now, my irritation is showing and I'm utterly stunned by her request. "No. You guys can do fine with just the 12 piece meal (which comes with 2 large sides anyways)." And I look her in the eye.. "I'm not rich either you know." I've never really been one of "charity" in LA, because I DO believe that everyone here has an opportunity to at-least have some food without begging, but I do consider myself some-what of a generous person. At least I try to be. But jeez, this was kind of ridiculous. Needless to say, I didn't want anything to do with that lady. I did not say another word to her. In fact, after all the bandmates ordered their food... I just went to sit down. After the lady got her 12 piece... she came up to me and thanked me and said "God bless you." I told her "Alright, take care of your kids now." I should have probably told her... "If your kids are starving, sell your freakin' SUV."
_end 8:08 AM |
jeez
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
I'm so tired. I just tried to sleep in my car... and ended up sleeping for about an hour and 15 minutes. Then I dragged myself back to work. I got about 3 canker sores in my mouth and my throat is sore... and I have to sing tomorrow and the next. God help me.
_end 3:55 PM |
Safe
Monday, September 26, 2005
I've been having some weird dreams lately. I'm currently reading a book called "Heart of the Artist". So far, it's going through the "artists" all around us in the church. Although it tries to encapsulate artists in general, ie: actors, lighting engineers, musicians etc, I can feel that the writer is gearing his message about musicians. Why not just title it "Heart of the Musician"? Anyway, the book is a little contradicting in that it tries to explain the thing that, he says, is impossible for us artists to explain. Get it? Basically, artists are a bit off. The reason why they are off is because, there is no reasonable way to really portray how our heart feels. Are you a self proclaimed artist? Or is that contradicting in itself? Are you only granted "artist" status if someone else nominates you? And when someone does, do you have to pretend to deny it? And if you do embrace the title, does that make you a fraud? If you say that you are different, are you any differnt at all? "I don't think you're an artist cos you're not melencholy enough." How do you manufacture depression? A musician or an artist who's integrity is still in tact, feels the dying urge to capture his state of being. I absolutely love the irony of those super angry metal bands like Slipknot (who are greatly skilled musicians in their own right) who sing about how screwed up everything is... and then go out to after-parties and sign endorsement deals with music companies for even the benign things like: effect pedals or guitar strings. I thought life was incredibly screwed up. Or on the opposite end of the spectrum, boy bands singing about their one true love while having their roadies pick hot girls in the crowd to sleep with in the tour bus. I thought the 80s were over. No matter what, all the buy-in that artists have to be this and that is a cop-out... even the cop-out is a cop-out. If you're reading this and you think I'm telling the truth... standin' up to da man... then you're a cop-out too. It's cool to be different now a days, like eveyone else is. Yesterday, I was at UCLA's Bruin Bash... which is an event to promote all the clubs on campus. As I was entering the IM field where all the tables were set up... I saw in front of me, a geek. A full blown typical geek: Glasses, skinny, dad's polo shirt tucked in too tightly into his flooding pants, the belt line above his belly button, loafers, bowl hair cut... As I was gaulking at his bravery to step on the field with hundreds of cool people like me, I noticed 2 more walking with him. One didn't have glasses but he had pimples. I stopped and thought for a while about their utter clueless fashion sense. How can anyone in sun-tanned Los Angeles be as rocket-science geeky as that? ... definitely part of the Science club. I realized, that they were more true than I was. They embrace their fancinations and run with it... a true passion that doesn't involve being "cool". If you know "how to be cool", then are you really cool? How many of you are actually naturally cool? They weren't, and they showed it... that's pretty cool. I'm not an artist either... I'm a fraud that put on a pretty good show. And I'm not putting on a show about putting on a show. I wish I was a geek.
_end 4:30 PM |
Logging in my hours
Thursday, September 15, 2005
It feels like Friday. It's because it's the 15th and I got paid. And because I just got done logging in all my hours. I hate logging in my hours. If I did it daily, maybe I wouldn't have so much hatred for it. But as it is... I find myself lying about the time I spend on things. For example: "Uploading files to new server -- .50 hours -- Billable". Yeah right, it took me like 5 minutes. Yeah, I know it's not a big deal. But the fact of the matter is... I spend time checking emails... some chatting... some reading news... blogging pictures of nice guitars... some off tangent researching (some of it is actually work related!) and I don't know what to log in with that lost time. So I just log it as "R&D". Fortunately, our employer doesn't mind and even encourages us to log in our "personal" time. I think they know that this place is really laid back and if it were not so, it would be detrimental to the vibe of the company. So it's ok... BUT starting next week (as I say every payday): I WILL LOG MY HOURS DAILY! Now I have to decide whether to get a new Tubed amp or a Breedlove. Some say, this is a good problem.
_end 4:26 PM |
Guitar 14
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Maybe I should rename these topics from "Guitar of the Week" to just "PRS Spotlight". PRS Santana II Brazilian Limited Edition Guitar #175. Here are the specs: Body: Unique "Santana' Double Cutaway Body StyleOne Piece Natural Mahogany Back Super Bookmatched Artist Grade Ten Top Carved Curly Maple Transparent Vintage Yellow Top Rippled Abalone Body Purfling No Tremolo Cavity Cover as per Mr. Santana Signed by Carlos Himself on the Control Cavity Cover Neck: One Piece Brazilian Rosewood Neck "Santana" Neck Profile Gold/Chrome Plated PRS Low Mass Locking Tuners Paua Shell "Birds in Flight" Inlays 24 Frets 24.5 Inch Scale Length Brazilian Rosewood Headstock Overlay PRS Eagle in Rippled Abalone on Headstock Bridge: Brushed Nickel/Gold Plated PRS Floating Tremolo Pickups/Electronics: PRS Santana Humbucker in Bridge Position PRS Santana Humbucker in Neck Position Pickups Have Brushed Nickel Covers With Gold Pole Pieces
_end 12:24 PM |
Humane society?????
You want everyone to think of pets as humans???? Well, you pet owners can start by treating your own pets like humans by picking their CRAP off the lawns! Everytime I see a person walking their dog without a plastic bag or something... I wanna go cuss them out.
_end 10:21 AM |
2 days till Rev
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
_end 12:53 PM |
"I don't believe in God, because Christians are hypocrites!"
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
...hypocrisy is a function of humanity, not religion. You deal with hypocrites at the grocery store, at the filling station, on the job, at school and at the golf course (maybe more there than anywhere else). You do not quit buying groceries because the grocer says one thing and does another. but the person who says, "I'm not going to be a Christian! I'm not going to serve God! I'm not going to get involved in the work of the Church because there are hypocrites in the Church," is just logically inconsistent!You do not quit your job because your employers tell you to do something that they themselves would not touch with a ten-foot pole. You do not deprive yourself or your child of a good education because a teacher teaches one thing and lives something else. You do not quit playing golf because your buddy takes a stroke in the rough and does not count it when he thinks you did not see it. Sure there is hypocrisy in the Church, because there are human beings in the Church, and as long as you deal with human beings, you are going to deal with hypocrisy. Do you want to get away from hypocrisy? Dig a 20-foot hole in your backyard, jump in, let someone cover you with dirt, and even then you are going to be sitting down there in the bottom of that hole with one hypocrite. There is not a one of us breathing air that is as consistent as we ought to be, but the person who says, "I'm not going to be a Christian! I'm not going to serve God! I'm not going to get involved in the work of the Church because there are hypocrites in the Church," is just logically inconsistent! We do not use that kind of thinking anywhere else in our lives. How can we do it in our relationship to God? Read the whole story here
_end 3:20 PM |
Teacher too sexy for religion classes?
Italian says she was fired because she was too attractiveROME - Was it her looks or lifestyle that led the Roman Catholic Church to cause a minor media frenzy by firing an Italian religion teacher this year? Caterina Bonci said Church authorities decided she was just too attractive and dressed too sexy to teach religion after 14 years on the job. The Church says it sacked the 38-year-old blonde from the central Adriatic city of Fano because she is divorced. -------------------------------------------- Rest of story here-------------------------------------------- I say, as long as boys are gawking at women and not getting molested by perverted priests... that's a step forward.
_end 2:09 PM |
Honeymoon in mid April
Hawaii, Cabribean, or Italy?
_end 2:05 PM |
Post Labor Day
This morning I woke up feeling like I just got shot in the face... that's two mornings in a row. Raina and I clocked in about 10 hours of Alias this weekend. Nice. I also got to visit my grandmother yesterday. She seemed like she is improving. She actually waved to me and said "hi". But I doubt she even knows who I am. Her body has shriveled to the point where she is half my size. It makes me think of mortality again. Is she already gone? Or is her spirit in some limbo, still bound by time, until she physically dies? I don't know. But last night, I struggled all night... wrestling the very thought of salvation and God. How do YOU know what you believe in is real? I know, but I want more. I want OTHER people to know that God is real by just looking at me. But that's impossible.. as Paul has said, that you must work out your salvation daily... Does that mean, I have to do good works to be saved? No. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Like I said before, "eternity is a long time", but let me rephrase that: "Eternity is." It is neither bound by time nor length of time. It's scary,that's what it is. You can't cope with it. You can't run from it. You can barely take measures to prolong your life and actually "have" a life. But in eternity, you have no choice. No "time to serve" for your crimes. No electric chair, then it's over. More like, electric chair, then it STARTS over. Don't be in the wrong place when eternity comes.
_end 11:52 AM |
Labor Day
Friday, September 02, 2005
If I had a nice Digital Camera like Yong, I could take nice pictures like he does... but I probably wouldn't. Have a wonderful weekend people! Remember, eternity is a lot longer than 1 million years... that's a long time to spend in the wrong place. CHEERS!!! WITH NO BEERS!!!!
_end 3:14 PM |
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