A Not So Glorious Return.

Man oh man! If I could shake the hands of all you bastards I surely would. You’ve asked, questioned, demanded and if I could rack up seventeen pennies for each time I’ve been harassed about what the deal with The Greater Good is, I wouldn’t be a rich man, but I’d probably have enough for a decent sized burrito.

But I'm back. How crazy of a feeling is that? You’re reading a full blown Greater Good blog post right now. In August of 2011. That’s less expected than an awkward seven footer from Germany showing up to ruin The Big 2.5 in Miami’s Championship’s dreams. But yet folks, here we stand. And it’s a happy moment.

Me? Well, if you haven’t been keeping up on Twitter, I’ve pretty much been doing the same thing I’ve always been doing. With a fair degree of fresh Varsity jackets liberally mixed into the proceedings. Still Working, Going back to school in the fall, still coupled with my loving girlfriend, my kiddo just started 2nd grade. Life is good... 

But pretty much old friends, it’s STILL summer time. And that means a dusty pair of broken Vans Authentics makes their debut from the closet and things get a whole lot more fun.

The Art of Choosing.

Not having a job at the moment is a trip...I have so much time on my hands, as you can see with my video choice today...no pun intended.

Ink everywhere you see.

For the past 4 years I’ve been on the fence about getting some ink on my left arm. Within those 4 years I’ve come up with numerous ideas and hand drawn designs of what I wanted permanently buzzed on my arm. Within those 4 years I’ve had 7 chances go in and get it done but I didn’t because I didn’t want to fork over the money, chickened out, or got self conscious about my skinny frame

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You see I grew up thinking that tattoos were for prison folk or bikers with handle bar mustaches. The thought of seeing tattoos on a skinny kid like me was just absurd until a pot head donned in Black and Yellow (Wiz) and a Blackapino looking kid (Tyga) showed up and gave me the confidence to get tatted. These 2 pretty much have the exact body frame as me. If they can rock the all over body tats then I can definitely rock a full arm sleeve. 

Watashi wa anata ga inakute sabishii!!!

I’m saying this as a point of reference for me to come back and look at myself years in the future. I would move back to Japan at the drop of a snapback cap and never look back. It’s a mecca of cultural confrontation and near catastrophe. Not to mention the buildings and houses that line the streets. I’m not even going to try to explain it right now, just go watch Mr. Baseball or Lost in Translation the next time you have nothing to do and you’ll follow what I’m saying completely.

howdy. hello. greetings and salutations

Back from the depths like a laced out, custom built Cousteau submarine. Let’s just pick up and kick back where we left off like a Three Ninjas reunion and proceed to spread all the glorious funk for which we were once known. Hope the Family has been well, hope all of you had speedy recoveries from your New Years hangovers. Despite neglecting my duties on this here particular forum like the soccer god’s neglect America’s right to compete past the quarterfinals in the World Cup, I haven’t been sitting on my hands or partaking in absolute nonsense. It’s been a long and involved road, and for some strange reason, I thought that after starting The Greater Good, I would somehow magically become less busy. Of course the complete opposite of that has occurred. A quick catch up on what I’ve had my hands in…

1. Family&Girlfriend time. honestly the BEST part of my little vacation from work.

2. Job Hunting. Long story short, I wont have a job starting January 25. So i've been looking. any of you hiring?

3. Fable 3. a simple xbox 360 game has taught me a lesson or two about Real Estate.

4. Party Party Party...yump.

Sorry for the random post. just thought i'd check in and let you know im still around. Gotta get ready for a full week of work starting today. (trying to work as much as I can before the lay off) But honestly, that’s how I like it, and I feel that’s how it should be. Work night and day while we’re young so that we can sleep and play with no thought of work in a few years time. Best of your today’s worst of your tomorrows sort of thing, excuse the easy Jay-Z quote exit on that phrasing. I'll be back tomorrow.

New Year.

It’s a ton of fun looking back at the pictures from the past year on the blog. Some of this stuff makes me shake my head and laugh at how naive I was, and some of the rest of it is just golden.

Looking back at some of the past stuff I’ve written about or done seems so completely polar opposite to my mindset now that it’s almost hard for me to look at. I guess it’s all part of this “change” we keep hearing about.

Hmm. Change.

Like watching flannels I’d been wearing since 6th grade go from getting me looked at sideways by people on the street to becoming completely in style and getting me looked at as a hipster in the span of 12 months.

 
Or like watching this dude “Wale” for $5  a while back and people not knowing who he was, and turning MTV on last summer in my room and seeing him everywhere and anywhere.
 

 

But change mostly in the way I approach everything that I look to accomplish and how I go about doing it. That is more than enough of all of that talk. Hears to 2011 being a great year for you and yours.

Me Shit.

It’s been one of those weeks folks. I think I've spent more time driving up and down the various highways than sleeping in this past week. School, Work, Father Daughter activities, Girlfriend time, Costume Shopping, Football watching and the day to day antics that only seem to come about during these brief months. I’m going to indulge in a quick dumping of thoughts from the past week. Hopefully your days, wherever you might be, has been as productive and more importantly enjoyable as mine have. Read this and then go outside, it’s too nice to be on the computer.

Crooks and Castles. thats a wrap. If you know anything about clothing you would know this line is dead and has been dead for many months. It seems like everyone from middle school kids to Ganster Wangsters own a Medusa head Crew, Tee, or Fitted. I know I should be supportive of the Filipino brain-childs of the Crooks line but, like most brands, once I see it on the backs of every trend humper here in SD, that said brand will lose it's appeal. Lets all have a moment of silence for this fallen brand...YOU OUTCHEA!

I want people to buy me these things. Such a bad time to NOT have money to blow. Lifes demands are getting pretty pricey, what with Child support, Car maintenance, Insurance, and what not. Here's what I propose. You the reader will buy me one or all of the items from the list below.

  

HURRY UP AND BUY!!

 

Basketball Jones.

Oh boy, oh boy…Ladies and gentlemen-the talking of proverbial “smack” has begun.

From all corners of SD and from all realms of existence people are coming out of the woodwork to tell me about how they would destroy me in basketball at the M.V. Mens Basketball League.

From emails, to texts, to IM's, even by assault with deadly Facebook-account I am being attacked in preparation for next months game time antics. Well all I can say my good friends is that I hope you are prepared in the most proper way possible. I am coming out in the most tip top Weasley Snipes form of competition and there is no Woody Harrleson to stand in my quest to reign supreme. I welcome all sorts of competition, D-1 dropouts, NBA Euro league stars, and playground legends. All I ask is that you don't join my division...I don't need any of you stealing my shine.

Still working on the team name and Jerseys. I do have an idea of what I want but nothing is set in stone yet.  

Midterms.

It’s that time of the year again.  A few more days of study sessions, three hour lectures, and two hour written exams that will determine grades for the previous 2 months.  I’ve got a Kendrick Lamar mixtape flowing quietly through the background of my room as I finish off my academic responsibilities and prepare for a few massive end-of-midterms binge drinking nights. Blessings and the ability to stay awake all night and study to those at school who will need the well wishes for the approaching exams.  Handle some business folks.

Khloe.

So here’s what’s been grinding my gears. I’ve been getting really annoyed by this particular person or persons lately. I call them “Khloe’s” What’s a Khloe? A Khloe is a person, usually a heavier set female with a fiery attitude. This rude, blunt, free spirited meanie can usually be found at the mall or on campus at SDSU wearing clothes that are a size too small. So here’s my particular gripe with the Khloe’s. I don’t like it when people are over opinionated. I also don’t like when they speak as if they’ve gone through every life experience there is to experience. Not only do they spew stories of total BS they do it in such an arrogant manner…it’s just absurd. I honestly start to hate class as soon as they start talking. I hate when I see a group of Khloe’s at East Commons (SDSU Food Court) sitting at a table, staring holes at other people and obviously talking shit.

Yeah yeah yeah, I'm an asshole. But this is a forum for thought no?

Shows.

-The 5 shows I Watch because of my Girlfriend-

I appreciate these shows and my girlfriend who introduced me to them. Do I feel bad about watching them yes? am I going to stop watching them? no. Sex and the City is just good television. The writing and premise of the show is excellent. I might even consider buying a season or two to watch....I would leave them at my girlfriends house of course.  Jersey Shore. I don't know why but i'm more interested in this season of Jersey Shore than I have ever been with MTV's Real World.  this show has got to be one of the funniest reality shows i've seen. Glee. Who isn't into Glee? It's a really good show. I like the new kids they added recently and the Britney Spears thing they had tonight was cool. I just hope it doesn't die out. 90210 is like One Tree Hill and The OC put together. I think I was maybe 5 or 6 when the original came out. If the original was anything like the remake I probably would have been watching this 90210 instead of Ren and Stimpy. Americas Next Top Model I have to admit, ANTM is a good show. The reason? The competition. As a man, I’m into watching any show that calls for me to root for one side or one person over others, even if the competition is about taking pictures. Now if you will excuse me I have to go fill out an application for my manhood again.

Oh Woe is Me.

You will hear a lot of people talk about how they don’t care about what other people think about them. Some of these people might even be convincing at times, and it might seem like they really don’t care what you think. In actuality, I would be willing to bet my entire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle collection that these people live and die by what you think about them.

Yadadamean.

For some reason i've been on facebook most of the day and I noticed that my cousin up in Berkley decided to plaster his wall with  Lil B videos throughout the afternoon and i've been watching them ALL while I should be doing something that at least resembled work done.  I don’t even really have words for how absurd that is.  Just remember folks, cocaine is a crazy drug and you more than likely do not look like Jesus.  If you’ve yet to see a Lil B video than everything I just said in the prior sentence means absolutely nothing to you.  I’m not even going to subject you to a link of a Lil B video because that’s a crime far beyond cruel and unfair punishment. To make things worse, another person who in my opinion  really really sucks Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em  just signed Lil B to his label. So get ready for some world class Fuckery for your ears if those two decide to make an album together. To those who are familiar with the Young Based fellow from the Bay Area, my condolences.

speaking of Soulja Boy check this Panda Bear Swag.

LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!

A few of my friends seriously act like this when there's a girl around. I know some of them would deny and try to defend themselves, maybe even call me a crazy asshole. An asshole maybe but, not crazy. Im sure that you the reader has or had some friends that try showing off when the opposite sex is around. What's sad is that I don't think they even notice it themselves. I guess we can chalk it up to human nature I suppose.   I'm out of time for now but i promise I'll come back to this post at another time, I have many things on my agenda to complete today.

Menace Beach.

I miss Japan. SD is cool. SF would be nice, but LA is where I want to be. 

I’m saying this as a point of reference for me to come back and look at myself years in the future. I would move to Venice Beach at the drop of a snapback cap and never look back. It’s a mecca of cultural confrontation and near catastrophe. Not to mention the houses that line the streets. I’m not even going to try to explain it right now, just go watch White Men Can’t Jump or Lords of Dogtown the next time you have nothing to do and you’ll follow what I’m saying completely.

Schooled.

Im not in the best mood at the moment. I woke up this morning feeling so pissed off for reasons I can't explain. That can't be good for me.

I'm going to start school again in the very near furure and I have mixed feelings about it. I'm sitting in my chair and wondering why I would put myself through another semester. I'm going to be waking up every morning a few more hours away from another three hour session in which I will be asked to regurgitate four months worth of educational material inside a small blue book. This regurgitation of material is all for a greater quest to receive the first letter of the alphabet scrawled in red ink from a ball point pen across the front of my work by a professor who would probably rather be else where just as much as I myself would like to be. we find ourselves doing daily battles on quiet library floors in preparation for our scholarly showdowns. Somehow trying to ignore the simultaneous vibration of the cell phone and the ever present Facebook updates while absorbing the difference between the zooplankton which inhabit the Benthic Zone and those who roam freely in the open ocean. Hah, “roaming free” is the last phrase that should come anywhere near the subject matter of this post. It seems like all of my heroes dropped out of college. None the less, onwards we press.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not a spoiled bastard of a child who doesn’t realize how blessed I am for the opportunity to receive an education. Just understand that it is a frustrating thing to be told that you have to pay for, and register for meaningless classes in order to graduate with that illustrious pieces of paper. The entire process and run around seems entirely backwards but none the less necessary today, and what’s even more saddening is that a bachelor’s degree is no longer even a marker of somewhat assured success in today’s world. Ask any one of the recent college graduates who are back at home searching for jobs where their degrees are as common as the paper on which they are printed. It sounds like a bad Kanye West College Dropout skit but it’s the truth. Maybe I need to find my own inner dropout and spend a summer following my passions like Mr. West and countless others once did. Sounds like a good plan to me. Fishing expeditions, writing of substance, and the greatest modeling career the P.I. has ever seen WOOOOO (shout out to my buddies Drew and Lee) here I come.

Back Again.

Busy? Sure. Planning the return to school? Without a doubt. A little lazy? Probably some of that as well. All of that contributed a fair deal but at the end of the day friends, the whole drive to hop on the horse here and get to business has been seriously lacking. I’m not going to go into my whole dictation on the state of the blog world again, we’ve heard that about 4 times too many as it is, but I will say that I am not going to give up on blogging. The new experience I have planned will be a new inspiration to really take this whole form to a new plateau which inherently will result in me actually wanting to do posts multiple times a day. When I feel like I’m stuck in a rut it gets difficult to feel inspired to post, the ability to innovate and feel like I’m bringing some new to the table is what really brings me back at the end of the day.

So on that note, I appreciate your guy’s patience for rocking with the blog through these days of literary and visual abstinence. In the mean time through this somewhat dry spell I give you a picture that my daughter made of  an extremely jovial picture of me holding a pose with a cat. Amazing yeah?

time.

Someday in the not so far away future a child is going to laugh and shake his head at the concept of a “blog” or a “taxi,” or “Twittering.” Think about how drastically our world has changed just from three decades ago when the internet was a novelty. Than consider how far we could be only five decades from now into the future, a time in which you and I will still be alive but the picture and reality of our world could be completely shifted. I’m in a strange mood this morning, woke up and consumed a massive bowl of Granola cereal and have yet to get up from my seat. I’m not quite sure where I am going with this right now, but it’s just one of those days. At the end of the day, this world changes too fast and our days are incredibly short. Anyway, besides of all that mindless banter, the banner above is a rough draft but it's got the makings of ILL written all over it. kudos to Goutfire for the assist.

Under Construction.

Howdy, hello, greetings, salutations and such. Reporting alive and well from the desk in the corner of my room at approximately 2′o clock in the morning and things appear to be all sorts of grand. Did you ever find yourself amidst one of these invincible moods where nothing can touch you? It doesn’t even have to come after some grand accomplishment. Some days I wake up, roll out of bed, click my computer back on and allow a glorious soundtrack of Pac Div to go tearing through my ear drums while the morning is still young

With a music playlist of sheer victory now encompassing my body I proceed to consume a corn muffin with the ruthlessness of a Hun warrior. Standing a not too shabby five foot ten and a half or so inches clad in nothing less than Jordan Brand sweatpants and an OG bape t-shirt I take the keyboard in one hand and the mouse in the other and proceed to weaving a masterful symphony of mouse clicks and keyboard taps within Photoshop to create a page banner and layout of grand proportions.

It goes so much farther than the design work though. It’s amazing to wake up inspired and be able to crack out hours of work before most are cracking their eyes open, but that’s not the end of the deal. It’s that feeling that you can really do whatever you want. In literature they refer to it as the confidence of the youth. The invincible armor many of us seem to be able to throw on that consist of blind ambition and never ending drive. It’s a beautiful thing when that becomes an everyday occurrence and you feel empowered just by waking up. I started writing this post and had no idea what it was I was writing about but it’s pretty abundantly clear to me now by the end of the post.

I’m having an amazingly wonderful time living life right now and I’m only getting started. If you’re not doing something that gives you that same feeling then my only advice would be to stop at nothing to find an occupation where you are doing exactly what it is you want to be doing. And if it turns out what you thought was for you really wasn’t. Drop everything again and move on. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to skip around your room half naked in dances of euphoria but I am able to do that because simply living is making me happy right now. All the things that should be considered “work” are a pleasure. Once you’ve gotten to that point my friends it doesn’t get any better. Let’s make it happen, the sky isn’t even the limit, it’s only the beginning for us. No offense to the big man from Brooklyn.

in my best Barney Stinson impersonation I say "this is going to be Legen...wait for it...DARY 

Seasons.

Today I decided to take a break from my laptop and fire up the good ol' family computer and clear some space out by trashing some picture albums and music I stopped caring for. While looking through my countless files I found a few pictures, journal entrys, and papers I wrote for high school. I couldn't help but to think about the goals I wanted to accomplish back then, I realized that I'm nowhere close to what I wanted myself to be at 25, but you know what? I'm happy. 

Like most people taking a stroll down memory lane there is always something you wish you could take back and re-do. I, being a perfectionist for most things, have a huge amount of things I wish I could have re-done, but the point is that you do what you have to do and don’t look back with regret. I've changed a great deal since my "hypebeast" days and way more since my dragonball hair days. Things ALWAYS change and as long as you carry that same youthful energy that you've had since you were a kid, and make it shine through everything you do, you can't go wrong. which is why I can’t be anything but happy with the outcome of my life.

Just know without a doubt that every season incites more growth. who really knew what they wanted in high school anyway? When I was younger I wanted to be a Meteorologist a.k.a the Weather Man by day and a Cop by night. Fast forward 11 years and now I want to be a elementary school teacher.

anyway here are a few gems I thought id share.

04' a park in rancho del rey.

Journalism Paper 05'