Quote of the Week

"Expect the best, be prepared for the worst, fuck what others think and do your own thing."

Favorites of the Week

The Nike Dri-Fit T-Shirt.

My new Nike shirt that I bought last weekend.

The Soloist

What a great movie! And great performances by both Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.! It does make you think, do all those who we think need help, really need help? A must see!

My Grandfather's old 35mm camera

I've been starting to use my grandpa's camera that he gave me years ago. I don't think I've touched it since he died a couple years ago. It is nice to go back and use the old technology sometimes.

What Is...Hip-hop?

As children, we come into the world so innocent. We don't really understand what or why anything is happening around us but that it just is. We just live in the moment of what's happening. Growing up in the 80s, hip-hop was growing up with me.

At 3 years old, I had no idea what hip-hop was. I had no idea what break-dancing was but I knew one thing, it was cool (or tight...or fresh, yeah, that's it, fresh!) I remember being so young and watching my baby-sitter's grandkids break-dancing, having fun. I wanted to do all that too! Eventually, I was dancing non-stop at my aunt's wedding, Breakin' was my favorite movie ever, and I was a b-boy for Halloween when I was in kindergarten. That's right, I was decked out in my black tracksuit with an orange stripe across my chest. It was all fun. And that's what hip-hop was all about back in the day. The deejay's spinning, the emcee's spitting, the b-boys and girls breaking, the graffiti artists spraying.

There's still that aspect of fun in hip-hop today, but our society as a whole has changed. Hip-hop has survived and changed with it. Some say its commercialization has hurt hip-hop but as it survived and lived on, it was certainly a natural step.

Hip-hop is a culture. It is more than just music or style or even the bling. It is a way of life, a lifestyle, a state-of-mind. I look back and think, I definitely was a part of the start of hip-hop, even though I had no clue what it was. In some way, Hip-hop has shaped my likes and dislikes, how I think and certainly my style.

NBA Playoffs Time!

Okay, its that time of the year again...NBA Playoffs! It kicked off yesterday with the Chicago Bulls upsetting the Boston Celtics in overtime in Game 1 (which I was very happy about!) The number one seed Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons, while the Eastern conference first round games continue today with the number 3 seed Orlando Magic taking on the number 6 seed Philadelphia 76ers and the number 4 seed Atlanta Hawks facing the number 5 seed Miami Heat. While the Western conference also kicked off their side of the bracket yesterday with the Dallas Mavericks stunning the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets beating on the young Portland Trailblazers. The continue today with the top-seed L.A. Lakers meeting the 8th seeded Utah Jazz, and then the number 2 Denver Nuggets versus the number 7 seeded New Orleans Hornets. It's gonna be another great day of playoff games!

(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

I'm super psyched about my Lakers and their championship chances this year! We'll definitely have to see how it plays out!

Quote of the Week

"Angels fly because they take themselves lightly."

Favorites of the Week

Runner's World

I've been running for a few months or so and have seen and felt myself getting better, running longer and further. The lady that leads the Nike Run Club runners told me about this site, its very informative and useful for all level of runners. I've been starting to do the beginners program! I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing!

Juliette Frette

A writer, an artist, a feminitst, a Playmate...Juliette became one of my favorite Playmates of 2008 after she wrote her own text for her Playmate pictorial. She is a Women's Issues Examiner for examiner.com. Check out her article about the Carlie Christine issue (my previous post) Smart and sexy, what is better than that?

Cheerleading Coach Fired Over Playboy Pics

I found this story on AOL that just troubled me. Carlie Christine was fired from her position as a cheerleading coach after school officials from Casa Robles High School in Orangevale, CA discovered that she had posed for Playboy. Carlie was recently Playboy's Cyber Girl of the Week. The issue of Carlie posing for Playboy is a whole other topic. What really irked me was that the school officials found out about the images from parents of students who didn't make the cheerleading squad.

I find this just ridiculous! I've heard quite a few stories about girls who have been fired from their jobs because of their associations with Playboy but this is a bit more! Some can say that, oh, the parents are just jealous, or whatever, but this more than jealousy, this is vindictive! It is a sad, sad society when parents say to their kids. "Hey kids, look, if you don't get what you want, seek revenge! You find all you can about whomever hurt you and use it against them!" Is that what we should be teaching our children?

Then I read that a parent said, "The girls are supposed to look up to their coaches." Little do those parents know what their 'little angels' are doing behind their backs! But I feel sorry for these kids too, they see this type of behavior all around them from the internet or these insignificant reality shows that dictate their lives! I find this all very sad!

Quote of the Week

"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently." –Friedrich Nietzsche

Happy belated Birthday to my mom!

I had a super busy weekend...it was my mom's birthday yesterday and Easter today. I didn't have time to wish my mom a very happy 60th birthday yesterday! We had a nice little family get-together dinner for my mom and my uncle, who share a birthday, along with my mom's twin sister. Happy Birthday momma!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! We had a very nice Easter today, went down to the Monterey Bay area! We all went to church at Mission Carmel, it was packed! Then we went around Monterey, to the Aquarium and down Cannery Row...I love that place! 

Good Friday Journey

My mom, dad and I went on our annual Good Friday 'Visita Iglesia' where we went to 14 different churches, one for each of the Stations of the Cross. It was a nice, quiet day with my parents. It was a nice, easy little trip too, I spent a good amount of time last night planning our route. Here are a few of the churches we visited:

Church of the Ascension

St. Justin Church (the grade school that I went to)

Mission Santa Clara

Old/New Inspiration

I've been recently looking back through my old notebooks and sketchbooks. I've been looking through my sketches and thumbnails and notes and scribbles. It's nice to look back and see what you were thinking and remember that time in you life. It's definitely another great way to get inspiration and be creative. To look at old projects and get inspired again or to be inspired in a new way. I'm getting inspired to do new things, to start to paint, to build, to design, to write.

Quote of the Week

"You can never postpone your creativity. The more you postpone it, the more you slowly kill it." –Kenzo Minami

Favorites of the Week

WrestleMania 25

My friends and I had a little WM25 party last Sunday night. It was a fun night of eating, drinking and watching the yearly extravaganza. It was a pretty good show, it could have been better, IMO, considering it was the 25th anniversary. But it was a solid show that was headlined by the classic battle between The Undertaker and the HeartBreak Kid Shawn Michaels. That was such an amazing match, so much so that it overshadowed the matches that followed it. I thought that the HHH/Randy Orton had a chance to match it, however, it didn't. Although it was very good. Another highlight of the show was the Jeff Hardy/Matt Hardy Xtreme Rules match! It definitely was a great night!

Plinky.com

A recent favorite of mine...it's like a little creative daily exercises for your blogs, social networks or whatever! Lots of fun!

Root Beer Float cupcakes!

Mmmmm...that's right! Root Beer Float cupcakes! Made by a good friend of mine, I had a few of these tasty babies last Sunday at the WM25 party! Soooo delicious! Thanks April!

My advice

Name a piece of advice you've been given that you think everyone should hear

My coach, teacher and mentor once said to a group of kids at a summer basketball camp that I help coach at, that it's not 'practice makes perfect' but it's perfect practice makes perfect. In other words, you gotta do things the right way, each and every time.