Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Open your eyes...

(Excuse the bad quality photos, they are all taken from my camera phone.)
If all just took time to look at things around us, I think more people would know why it's so important to change the way we live. This, "recession", was brought on by the need to have what we don't have and can't have enough of, but we still get anyway. I say, "recession", because I still think everything would have been ok and normal if it hadn't been for the media hype. They do a good job of fooling the masses and I'm very fed up about hearing about it. All they have to say is that were turning the recession around and people that have money will stimulate the economy and get everything going again. Peoples greed make them blind to so many other things.
I recently looked through my pictures on my phone and found some that I randomly took as I was at a red light, in traffic, or simply snapped without looking and somehow got a decent shot. I drive ALOT, as most of you know. Instead of singing my heart out, picking my nose, talking on the cell, or any other thing most people do in a car; I simply look around. It's amazing what people miss in a day because they are much too involved in superficial things. If only they stoped to notice things they would realize that everything around us has so much more to offer.
The other day I drove an extra 2 miles just to Exit the freeway on a street I know I would get an amazing view of the sunset.
At Sunset on Slauson Blvd., LA to the right of the sun.
I'm in summer school as you all know, and instead of hating it, I look at the bright side, I get to drive through the hills and see so much green life. Here's a shot of that.
Rio Hondo, Awesome in the day gotta admit it's scary at night.
I think clouds have always been a secret favorite of mine, they are always changing, moving, and one will never look like the other. They also make for a great past time, try it out. Take time out of your overly busy life, and lay on the grass somewhere for about 10 mins. and watch them go by, use you imagination!
Concrete Jungle: I've always been a L.A. kid, and know most of it like the back of my hand. Even though I love day hikes and being outside. I must admit that past all the smog and angry drivers there's a true beauty to L.A. I guess I try to see the good in what people have already taken over and destroyed. Tall buildings, great food, people form every walks of life, good deals, and architecture you don't see new developers bothering with (what a shame). I find it awesome how much life could be in one space or how there is green space in the middle of multiple buildings that no one would ever guess was there. Many people are too quick to judge this place.
Get lost in L.A. sometime, trust me it will be worth it. (If you're afraid of culture shock, avoid it.)
Downtown, on my way to Jury duty. Dec. 2008


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

W.W.J.D?

This week started off great, I found out that my little cousins, Nicholas and Ariana, would be spending a lot of time with us since my mom and I will be watching them often this summer. If you ever see me with my family it's obvious that all my little cousins mean the whole world to me.
Nick and Ariana




It's really true that kids say the darnest things, this bunch does exactly that. Fart, buggers, and kudies are hot topics for kids at their age, but what amazes me is the questions they ask. During election time my cousin Alexis asked me who I was going to vote for and she is only 6. Often times they get these topics from their parents which brings me to the main reason I'm writing this blog...
My separation from my Catholic faith has been very obvious over the past 8 years, I thought that maybe I would be a better Christian so I tried that in High School, only to realize it wasn't the church, religion, or priest at fault. I simply realized what took me many many many years for me to face, I just didn't have faith in any of it. It was scary to realize something like that especially having a VERY traditional Mexican family. You might as well consider yourself the worst person in the family. VERY few people understand my stand on religion, faith,God, Jesus, etc.
After a serious conversation about my faith, with adults in my family, word let out and led to the question, "Why don't you believe in God?" from my little 6-11 year old cousins.
It breaks my heart to hear my little cousins think of my as a "bad example". They are much too young to understand something like this. No matter how great I am to them or how much I love them, to them it will always come down to, "but you don't believe in God". Someday it will make sense to them that it's not about religion, gender, orientation, skin color, etc. Instead it's about who you are and being true to what you believe.
My life motto is: Love, Faith, Respect
LOVE the people around you and the things you do.
Have FAITH in the people you love, in yourself, and the things you accomplish or are trying to get done.
Have RESPECT for everyone and everything.
I guess my main request is that people, with kids, around kids, related to kids, etc. Think twice about what you teach or talk to them about. They learn from the adults, instead of being closed minded let them be free spirits with open minds they have a whole world of adventures.
It's easier to believe and have faith than it is to not to.---Trust Me!



I really hope this didn't offend anyone, because that's the last thing I would ever want to do.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

In A Box...

I'll keep it short and sweet...
Updates:
-Bryan is now 21, but he's in Utah and has been for 10 days now. We didn't celebrate yet, besides giving him a card and letting him know we got him the gift of brewing his own beer. Just as he turned 21 I realized I Really dislike beer.

-My Mother turned 56 years old yesterday but she looks better than when she was 46, so I guess it's more like 56 years young for her. My Papa Bear, brother Jorge and I took her to the Huntington Library, which is heaven to her. (Pictures Soon)

-I'm also now 2 days away from finishing my First summer school class. Now I'm left with Jury Duty soon and 3 more classes.

-My brother Jorge is graduating from Cal Poly Pomona, with an Urban and Regional Planning degree. Congrats you Mac Book Obsessed brother of mine!

-I'm living in a glass box, all I can do is see everything I'm missing and hope I don't regret it later in life. When school is all done, I know it will all be worth it.

The following pictures are from a hike a couple weeks ago in Malibu.

This was and old church of some sort.


Kenny getting all sorts of diseases.
Indiana Joe


Burned down home.
Our Lunch hut.
The only thing left of most homes.