I'm back!

I haven't had a library card in so many many years.. I had a few books that were late and that kind of started things in a bad direction. I then lost my card and then one day found that I had overdue books at my house. Great... I thought. The episode of 'Married with Children' came to mind. The one where Al finds an overdue book at his house from his childhood and decides to return it. Only for the same evil librarian to haunt him upon his return. Anyways, for some reason I've always tripped out on fees and being in good standing with the library. I returned those books many years ago. But I've always thought about where I stood with the library. After all this time, I was in Downtown Los Angeles for the May Day march. I had some time to kill and since I got off the nearby Metro Red Line.. I thought, "Why not?" So I made my way over and spoke to someone at the information desk who guided me through the process. I answered their questions, filled out the form and showed them my driver's license. Moments later, all my information was stored and I had a new library card. Ever since I was a child, I've always loved to read books and it made me so happy to be able to check books out once again. I learned my lesson and I won't take this privilege for granted. I love the library! This is so exciting!

A Great Warmth

I woke up at 4am this morning to a great warmth in the room. I slept shirtless and in my boxers. I sleep by the window in my family's living room. I took a look outside and saw the vibrant colors of a fire raging next door. I raced out of bed and into my sister's room to notify her. Only for her to walk out and then freak out at the sight of the fire. My mom went into a bit of a hysteria. I quickly threw on a jacket, shorts and shoes. I tried to find my wallet with no luck, but did snag my iPhone. I tried to snap a quick snapshot while outside and heard the fire engines making their way onto our street. I wasn't able to. My sister and I then noticed that my mom wasn't behind us and then I started noticing that our fruit tree started catching fire and that the winds were aiding in the spreading of the fire. Everyone in our building was making their way to the front of the building and we all collectively saw the action unfold from the other side of the street as the LAFD and LAPD went to work. I started thinking about key things that I might've lost then and there. Important things to me like photographs, letters and journals. The timing of this fire couldn't have been stranger to me as I went through a massive cleanup the previous day. I went through a little soul searching while cleaning and tossing things away. I held onto too many things in my life. Abandoned projects. Things that I had no intention on returning to. Ideas and projects from a different time and place. It wouldn't be honest to who I am now. About 45 minutes went by or so as I tried to reach my brother who never came home and eventually we were let in by an LAPD officer. The black smoke was thick and we made our way back. We surveyed the damage and tried to get everything back to a certain normality. Crazy start to a day.

Los Angeles Dodgers

I've been working every day since I got back from Oakland, CA. So I just spent the last seven days working and so I was looking forward to my day off. A day off in which I planned on heading over to Dodger Stadium and purchasing a pair of tickets to Opening Day on Tuesday, April 10th. I took the Metro over to Dodger Stadium and walked up the hill. I enjoyed my walk up as it's always great to see the stadium and the surrounding areas of Elysian Park and Echo Park. I made my way to the security booth and I told him that I was there to buy a few tickets. He asked for my ID and scanned it. He gave me a sticker to place on my jacket that had my name and picture printed on it. Weird, but okay. He asked me if I had ever been there... That was funny to me. You see, I practically live there. I love the Los Angeles Dodgers. So I walked up to the box office. There were a few news vans in parking lot P. So I tried to purchase a pair of tickets, but was told that they only had single tickets available. So after a few minutes of figuring it all out, I purchased my ticket. Keep in mind that this was my day off from work and so it was something that I was going to do anyways, but I couldn't help but think about how the group of bidders for the Dodgers that had Magic Johnson in it would affect and change things. There is excitement, but I know what I've been through for the so many years with the team. So I'm definitely taking the wait and see approach. I didn't like the fact that Frank McCourt wasn't completely gone. He still owns some of the land surrounding Dodger Stadium and has a say with the parking lots. I'm trying to be optimistic, but real about the situation. The Dodgers are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Dodger Stadium this year. I'm very happy to be attending the home opener this year. I made a promise to myself that I would attend at least one game in every series at Dodger Stadium this season. I tried this experiment a few years ago and I actually made it all the way to August before missing a game in a series at home. This might just be an interesting way to keep up with my progress. Let's go Dodgers!

Trayvon Martin

I first heard about Trayvon Martin a few weeks ago. I didn't stop and actually read the news article, but caught the headline and a little something about it. It was only until a week ago when I was staying in a room in Oakland, CA that I watched the story on CNN late one night. I felt horrible for not paying more attention to it beforehand. As I watched the story unfold during the news broadcast I had strong feelings about it all. I was upset by what I heard and saw involving the murder of this 17-year old young man. I couldn't believe that the shooter George Zimmerman was not charged for Trayvon's murder. Between the 911 calls placed by George Zimmerman and his neighbors as well as Trayvon's last conversation with his friend it pointed to the very least a thorough investigation of the matter. But instead Mr. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, claimed self defense and the local authorities were complacent in the matter. They failed to inform Trayvon's parents of their son's death. The 911 call placed by a neighbor was chilling to hear as Trayvon pleaded for help and his life as gunshots later silenced his cries for help. Trayvon went out for snacks during the halftime of the NBA All-Star Game. He came across George Zimmerman who reported him to police as being "suspicious" and "possibly on drugs". The truth of the matter is that George Zimmerman is a paranoid racist man who murdered an innocent child over absolutely nothing. Trayvon did not have a weapon and was found with a bag of skittles and a bottle of iced tea. Cold blooded murder. This isn't over. We cannot let an incident like this happen anywhere. To allow murder to be justified by Florida's insane "Stand Your Ground" law would be an injustice to Trayvon Martin and others who have been victims of police abuse and vigilante shooters. This is only the beginning. We demand justice!

Let's Get Back to Work

It's been over a year since I last wrote an entry for this blog. Actually, I haven't been consistently writing at all. Well other than writing for the Courier newspaper. But that's different. I want to do more. I'm tired of having all kinds of ideas for projects and not doing a thing about them. I am going to try a lot harder to get them done. Enough of the to do list that just seems to get increasingly longer. Fuck that. It's time for action!

Monday Night Football

I was highly anticipating the game between the Vikings and Jets. There was all kinds of drama added to this matchup recently. From Brett Favre's return to New York amidst the controversy surrounding him involving alleged misconduct to Randy Moss's return to the Vikings. So I headed over to Barney's Beanery in Old Town Pasadena. I had five pints of Arrogant Bastard over the three hours I spent watching the football game. I closed my tab and headed out at around 9:30pm. I walked over to the Metro Gold Line Memorial Park Station and waited to take it to Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. From there I would take the Metro Red Line to the Hollywood/Vine Station or so I thought. Well... When I woke up I was in East Los Angeles! The train was not moving, but it was headed back to Union Station. Okay.. I thought. The train left and I got off at Union Station. From there I went down to the Metro Red Line subway to head home. I got on the train and it proceeded to go home. I dozed off again!.. I woke up and I was at the Civic Center stop. What?!.. Aw fuck!.. It was going towards Union Station!.. I fell asleep and the train went from Downtown Los Angeles to North Hollywood and back!.. I couldn't believe it! I missed my stop twice!.. I thought to myself "No problem! I'll just wait for the next one".. Only to look up at the blank screen with no departing times. Shit!.. Now I really couldn't believe what had just happened. As I made my way through Union Station I observed the scene. People waiting for trains with their luggage next to them as they napped, people reading or talking to one another. The place was dimly lit as Union Station was quietly sleeping itself. I made my way through the streets surrounding Union Station while thinking about my stupidity and about how thirsty I was. I walked around trying to find a gas station or convenience store to purchase a bottle of water. How dry I am?... Anyways I decided to walk past Chinatown on my way to Figueroa St right in front of Evans Community Adult School in order to take either the Metro Line 2 or 4 to Hollywood. I waited and waited.. There it was! The 4! I got on and it was pretty crowded. It cruised all along Sunset Blvd through Echo Park and Silver Lake on it's way to Hollywood. I got off at my stop and walked a few blocks to get home. I forgot my keys! But it's okay, I was one phone call away and I was in. Finally I'm home! I drank a shitload of water and went to bed. It was now 2:30am.

Protesting the Arizona Diamondbacks

The Arizona Diamondbacks were back in town on Memorial Day for the first of a three game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers. I found out about the protest through a friend of mine. Hmm.. I thought about how tired I was to see all the messed up stuff that people of color have to put up with in general.. And now things have gotten worse in Arizona with the passing of SB 1070. I decided that I needed to become more involved. I thought to myself about how I could no longer stand by while ignorant, misguided people pass draconian laws. I met up with a few colleagues and made my way over.. The meeting place was at Elysian Park Ave & Sunset Blvd just underneath the "THIS IS MY TOWN" Dodgers billboard. As we arrived there were a handful of people with signs and banners. By the time we made our way to the top of the hill in front of the Dodgers main entrance it was great to see everyone chanting, dancing and playing music. We rounded the four corners as the fans were making their way in and made ourselves heard. The police presence started out small but eventually grew considerably. Me and my friends were holding a banner which read "STOP SB 1070". As the energy of the protesters picked up, so did mine. While I really appreciate the people who stood by us by taking our flyers, cheering us on and honking their horns.. There were a few ugly incidents. My friend who was handing out flyers to the cars passing by was almost hit by a careless driver who then proceeded to make comments hurled at the protesters. The protesters got together and made their presence felt in front of that car! They circled the car and made them quite uncomfortable. There was also another incident where the drivers were getting frustrated by the traffic and started honking their horns like crazy. So... I took advantage of it and started screaming "Yeah! That's right!" followed by "Boycott Arizona!". The guy was soooo mad he flipped me off. Hahaha! I was loving it! All in all, it was simply beautiful.