Civility costs Nothing

HEY YOU GUYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYS! (ripped from sloth in "the goonies"... if you haven't seen it, then what is wrong with you?)

so, what's been going on? first off, i have to say, fantasy football is the greatest invention ever. screw the wheel, electricity, and Oxiclean (RIP Billy Mays), fantasy football takes the cake. it's amazing how sunday, i literally become a couch potato. i veg out (go ahead, laugh at the bad joke), watch football all day, check stats, and that's it.

anyways, onto my blog. so, apparently, there is a thought out there that america is becoming "less civilized." the proponents of this notion have been events such as the "you lie" comment made towards President Obama, the Michael Jordan acceptance speech and his berating of his opponents, the US open comments made by tennis greats Serena Williams and Roger Federer, and most recently, the infamous Kanye West "incident" at the MTV VMAs.

let me start anti-chronologically. yes, the kanye west comments were mean and in bad taste. but let's face it, he, in addition to MTV, has been controversial. putting the two together just creates some sort of super controversy monster. however, the fact of the matter? it was staged. kanye was scheduled on jay leno's opening night of his new show the monday night after the sunday night VMAs to perform with jay-z and rihanna, and that's it. but what happens? he has an interview with jay leno about what? surprise surprise, about the "incident" the night before. way to boost your own ratings, leno. and plus, it's not like he hasn't done this before... oh wait, he has. just google jay leno and hugh grant. and another thing, nobody else found it weird that literally a SECOND after kanye west says what he says, there's a shot of beyonce? as if that camera was ready to catch her reaction? hmm, yeah, i guess that cameraman just happened to be at the right place at the right time, right? come on. ok, done with this. on a side note, lady gaga is crazy, but amazing. i can almost guarantee that besides the michael jackson tribute, her performance is the most memorable. my hats off to you, lady gaga.

the sports events such as the US Open and the Michael Jordan acceptance speech. what can i say? about the US Open... look, who hasn't flipped s**t over a game before? be it friendly or in a competition... be it a board game, video game, or any kind of game... people can get angry over anything. now transfer that to some of the greatest athletes who are ultra competitive and what do you get? the US Open. the only difference is that they got caught in their moment of weakness and dare i say, humanity. who are we to judge that what they did was "uncivilized"? and onto michael jordan's speech, well, i will just say that it was a great speech given by the greatest competitor.

finally, the president should never be called out like that. he is the president for a reason. i'm glad for the apology and the bottom line is that the US is not becoming more uncivilized. the thought of that is absolutely ridiculous since we are basing that idea on events concerning a few individuals.

open doors for people, say "thank you" and "you're welcome," and be polite. civility costs nothing, so let's act like that.

thanks for reading!

-jdv

A penny saved is a penny Earned

how hard is it to save money? i mean, honestly. how hard is it to save money? money goes to gas... money goes to food... money goes to xbox live... all necessities of life. and don't get me started on credit card stuff. i never considered myself a spendthrift, but i mean, a guy's gotta get his fix of fast food. and i 99.99% of the time get value menu stuff. VALUE menu.

quick bump: i was watching tv and i saw perhaps one of the most disturbing commercials. it was a breast milk commercial. yes yes, it's a beautiful thing, but a commercial? www.breastmilkcounts.com? don't worry, it's not a link to a dirty website. i promise. anyways, it was just weird. i feel like ross from that friends episode when he freaks out about the breast milk.

ok, back to life. back to reality. those dollars add up. those mcdoubles, hot 'n spicy's, crunchy tacos, large powerades from mcdonald's, really do add up. wow, when i put it that way, no wonder it's hard for me to save money. what a revelation! by george, i've got it!

so anyways, what am i doing to counteract this? well first off, i'm taking some classes. i've enrolled myself in a principles of accounting course and macroeconomics course. perhaps, i can control my spending and monitor my expenditures with a magnifying glass and a fine tooth comb. i always wanted to take some business courses just to familiarize myself with financial terms so that i sort of know what people are talking about when it comes to words like 0 down APR financing or consolidation or liquidity or variable rates? yeah, need to read up on those again. secondly, i started investing my money.

another quick bump: thanks laura for letting me borrow your investing for dummies book!

yes, i'm looking to become a day trader... yeah right. swing trading is where it's at. all i've heard is NOW is the time to invest... start when you're young... etc. etc. so, i'm going to do so. i have a penchant for gambling and i guess playing the stock market game is sort of like gambling. ups and downs, peaks and valleys, bears and bulls, buying and selling, stocks and bonds. don't worry, i, for the most part, still don't know what i'm doing yet. to make another friends reference, i feel like monica in that episode where she goes crazy buying stocks and invests in ones that sound cool, like ZXY because it sounds ZEXY. nice reasoning, mon.

hope you're doing well, scrooge! to all you kids, start saving! buy a piggy bank if you can... however, ironically, you would have to pay for the piggy bank. sometimes life can be so cruel... oh well. this little piggy is going to the market... the stock market that is. all you other piggies can stay at home, have roast beef, or have none. either way, at the end of the day, we're all going wee wee wee all the way home.

thanks for reading!

-jdv

Good to be Back

ok ok. so i haven't been in the philippines for the past months that i haven't made an entry. i actually got back a couples months ago but have just been LAAAAAZY to put in an entry. and that retroactive diary of recounting my EVERY day in the philippines/malaysia.... yeah, not going to happen. why? probably because of what i just said. "LAAAAAAZY." anyways, i will say that the trip was quite a trip. it was good getting back to the roots and seeing all there was to see there. it made me truly appreciate what i have here and even more so, what my parents left behind and will end up going back to one day. although i won't do the retroactive diary, i will post the promised picture of "neckstache".

isn't that awful? will i ever get one of those? to quote one of the little pigs answering the wolf: no. not by the hair on my chinny chin chin.

so so so, what's new? i'll start with the most recent and work backwards. so i literally just finished watching this show on abc i think called "dating in the dark." it is exactly as it sounds. people getting to know each other in the dark. and yes, it is as creepy as it sounds. there were 3 girls and 3 guys talking to each other... in the dark. then, they went through each other's cars to find out more about them. and then, they picked who they thought would be most compatible and entered the "dark room" and the light was shed individually on them so the other person could see what they looked like. and finally, the guys sent invitations to the girls to see if they would meet up on the balcony and the girl could choose to do so or leave the house.

i must say, why did i even watch this kind of a show? easy. it came on after millionaire (which makes me feel smart since i know most of the $100-$1,000), and i couldn't find the remote. and plus, the show was HEElarious. one of the girls said about one of the "dark dates" that it was one of the best dates she'd ever been on. really? .... really??? maybe she's literally been on ONLY "blind" dates. are there people out there that strictly go on blind dates, literally? wow. i must say though, the show did make me think. making a connection with a person that you can't even see? getting to know them without seeing them? it is an interesting twist. as weird as it sounds, i got a glimpse of seeing through the eyes of the blind. and then i thought about if a person went through my car, what would they think of me? hmm, an umbrella... he must be afraid of water. an iPod dock with iPod... he must listen to music, let's see what party shuffle song it's on. "mickey mouse club theme song." what is he? a 5-year old? what else? what else? a million taco bell/mcdonalds receipts. wow, he must definitely watch his weight and eat healthy. why else would he be getting hot n' spicy's and double cheeseburgers BUT with a powerade? and oh look, raspberry brisk iced tea from taco bell with 4 crunchy tacos. he watches what he drinks. so many empty calories in coke.

quick quick tangent: so at mcdonald's the other day, i was ordering the double cheeseburger, plain. (that is, just meat and cheese and the bread. that's how i like it). and for the longest time, it's been on the dollar menu. i say i want two double cheeseburgers and my total is something like 2.50. now, i'm no finance major, but the last time i checked, i'm pretty sure tax on a two dollar purchase wasn't a fourth of the cost. i got to the 1st window to pay and asked about the price. apparently, APPARENTLY the double cheeseburger is $1.16 or something like that and that the "mcdouble" is the one on the dollar menu. the difference? one slice of cheese. the double cheeseburger has two slices... the "mcdouble" has one. what the?!? thanks mcdonalds for officially confusing me. they both have double in their names! anyways, i digress...

what else in my car... oh. an EZ tag. he must always be late if he needs an EZ tag to rush through toll booths. and finally, 24 inch rims! ohhhhhhh snap! what. a. thug. ok, that last one i made up. but anyways, yeah... that's my car.

speaking of cars, i was watching sportscenter (big surprise there.... not really) and one of the highlights was of a nascar race. it showed highlights of the race, but the interesting part to me was at the end. when the guy won, he and his pit crew literally pulled out bottles and bottles of champagne out and starting drinking like crazy in celebration. who's the designated driver? if i was a cop, i would work at those speedways and wait for the winning driver to leave and bust him (or her, right danica patrick?) for drinking and driving. BAM! gotcha.

anyways, there's more for me to ramble about... like a full-time job at a dental office, and "preventing sexual harassment as a whataburger manager." ok, that last one was random, but that is what i just heard coming from the computer in the other room. apparently, my dad is taking an online course on that.... yeah.... i'm just as weirded out as you are, don't worry.

"get your hands off my buns!"

thanks for reading! hope you're doing well.

-jdv

Philippines journal, day One

hello from hong kong!

i'm currently waiting in the hong kong airport terminal for my connecting flight to manila. thankfully, they have free wifi in the airport! isn't that awesome?!? geez, asians and their technology advancements... anyways, i thought i would take this opportunity to tune you in on how things have gone so far.

well, i only got an hour of sleep last night given my flight was at 7 AM and my parents wanted me to be at the airport at 5 because it was an "international" flight, even though my flight out of houston was to san francisco... anyways, i was just glad that they drove me and packed most of my things, i'm really thankful for them.

onto the flight, i expect to just sleep the entire way through because i'm EXHAUSTED, but lo and behold, they put on an office episode. what?!? oh, hol up girl. you diin't just put on my favorite show. anyways, it was the rabies awareness fun run episode which was hilarious. unfortunately, they followed that up with paul blart: mall cop which i understandably snoozed through. i wake up and it happens to be about 10 mins to landing, YES!!

quick side note: so, i have a window seat, right? so it's just common sense that i have power over the window, right? so i closed it to sleep and when i got up, it was still closed. however, this kid of about 14 or 15 who looks like a cross between donald duck and alfalfa from the little rascals leans over and opens it about an inch. really?! and then he has the gall and audacity to do it again, and then AGAIN! i wanted to slap his hand like bender did to brian during the lunch scene in the breakfast club.

back to the story. i arrive in san fran, grab myself a wonderful, amazing, delicious club sandwich... mmm, my stomach just grumbled thinking about that mayo, and bacon, and lettuce... wow, talk about comma splices, but who cares thinking about those turkey slices... and while in line, this older gentlemen in front of me turns around and says, oh, i've read that book. in my hand was a book given to me by my brother titled outliers: the story of success. we chit chat while in line and he turns out to be from houston as well, but he's going to osaka. anyways, i just thought that was cuuurazy. there are literally millions and billions of people out there for me to meet. also, there are millions and billions of sandwiches out there for me to try, but i'll take a good ol' club sandwich any time.

my 13 hr flight to hong kong was delayed about a half hour so that was a little disappointing, but it shortens my layover in hong kong, so no biggie. i must say, that was the LONGEST flight ever. no disrespect to amelia earhart, but wow, they had a time countdown and i swear, when i took naps, i would wake up to time being added to the countdown. oh, it didn't help that their audio and video controls weren't functioning. great, no movie or office episodes.

however, we did have food!! and it was terrible airline food, either. the first meal was some beef and potaters with carrots, a ranch salad which i didn't even touch, and a brownie. oh, and all the apple juice you could drink. and the second "meal" was half a cup of ramen and a lemon cookie. psh, you're damn right i asked for a second cup and another lemon cookie, a man's gotta eat! but at least i had a hilarious plane mate. so unfortunately, i had an aisle seat and the guy, i'll call him "neckstache" had the window seat. now look, i call him neckstache for a reason because this dude had a neckstache. he revolutionized the term "facial hair" and added the neck area. no moustache, no goatee, no side burns, just a neckstache. i will most definitely upload a pic at some time because i didn't believe it when i saw it.

anyways, that's pretty much what's happened up to this point... oh, they're boarding!!! see you in the philippines!

thanks for reading!

-jdv

p.s. - listen to eminem's new album relapse. not that i'm a fan or anything, but seriously, listen to it. if you don't want to buy it, youtube these tracks: 3 AM, insane, hello, same song & dance, and underground. sick, sick rhymes.

Finally

how fast time flies. seriously. my undergraduate college career is officially over and barring a world history I disaster, i will be graduating. it's unreal, surreal, SOREAL (h-town represent), but the day has finally come. so many classes, many late nights and early mornings, a few all nighters, drives to whataburger at 2 in the morning, it's all done... i will miss it. i will. probably more so in the future, but as for right now, i am glad and need this break in my life.

quick plug: rockets, game 7, sunday.

speaking of breaks, i will be heading to the motherland, PHILIPPINES in a week. that's right, ladies and germs. in a week's time, i'm leaving, on a jet plane. who knows when i'll be back again? oh wait, let me check that... mid june. i'm ecstatic. the last time i visited was 8 years ago and a lot has changed since then. until then, i will be resting and relaxing. oh yeah, i'm also taking a side trip while at the philippines to kuala lumpur, malaysia... so that should be exciting as well. maybe i'll have some pics for ya'll. until then, stay in school, kids!

take care and thanks for reading!

-jdv

Green around the Gills

ok, so green is one of my favorite colors. the color of leaves, frogs, chameleons (sometimes), sprite, eggs and ham, and so on. it's a great color, not going to lie. but as of late, i've been getting sick of it.

it is its environmental connections that get me "green around the gills."

green = in vogue

now, i'm not trying to be "anti-earth," and don't believe that our dear Gaia (for you mythologically illiterate, "mother earth") needs a break, but seriously, EVERYTHING seems to have an environment-friendly side to it nowadays. i'm beginning to think st. patrick's day is around the corner again. for example, i'm watching the office episode i DVRed right now and guess what color that little logo is.... green. i watch an astros game and all of a sudden, our hats are the color... green. i'm watching the NBA playoffs and the players are wearing warmups that are the color... green. the consumer products... green works, green light bulbs... geez, i want to puke. eco-friendly plastic bags, eco-friendly paper bags, eco-friendly pencils, eco-friendly toys... i'm beginning to think if i'm not eco-friendly, i won't have any friends. oh, but that's okay, i can just grow my own friends.

what about all those environmentally friendly cars? all competing to be the most "fuel efficient" and "less harmful" to the environment. what has changed so much in the past months/years? so, al gore makes a movie... big whoop. i'm just wondering what we're headed towards... i wake up under my recycled blanket, head over to the plastic shower and use organic soap and shampoo, put on my biodegradeable shirt and pants, and drive in my hybrid smart car to work. honestly, if companies just slap on the word "organic" or "green" or something of that "nature" (haha, come on... laugh with me) in front of their product, it will sell. it can be the exact same thing... green clorox, organic snickers, etc. it's really quite ridiculous. oh, i forgot, that disney movie wall-e showed us the future... really wanting to puke.

so, i'll end my rant on this. i don't mean to sound so complainy and whatever, but come on... eco-friendly pencils?!? i feel like a real life zoolander "derelicte" show is just around the corner. now that would make me green with envy.

remember kids: reduce, reuse, and recycle. oh yeah, and rockets.

hope you enjoyed. thanks for reading!

-jdv

The new workout Plan

this blog title is an old Ye track (Ye = kanye... that's what his friends call him, me not being one of them). it's a pretty good song, kinda catchy.

anyways, i myself have decided on a new workout plan... well, maybe not new, per se, since that implies that i had an "old" workout plan. i have a workout plan. there. not really sure what impelled me... maybe it was me catching the fast and the furious on FX and seeing vin diesel's yoked-up bod, or that new movie called "fighting" coming out, or whatever. on a side note, what a great title for a movie... "fighting". brief and to the point. yo dude, what movie are we watching again? that fighting movie.... BAM, title of the movie right in the sentence. unforgettable title. i'll be totally and utterly surprised if it doesn't gross as much as another one-worded title, titanic.

but yes, i started last saturday, and i am one out of shape mother f'er. i got on this stair stepper thing and confidently set my timer for 30 minutes... yeah, that was wishful thinking. i felt the burn almost 30 seconds in and had to hop off for a break about 3 minutes in. you may laugh, and i will laugh with you. push-ups, crunches, leg lifts, lather, rinse, repeat. it was all good. i realized that i actually "enjoyed" it. i've heard that it releases some endorphins or something like that, so that was probably it.

however, the next day, my body felt like a huge tub of jelly?. mmm, jelly . i probably slept 12 hours because my body was so exhausted and tired. but give this tub of jelly a couple of weeks and months, and hopefully, it'll turn into a umm, hmm, can't really come up with a proper metaphor... maybe i should've went with cream or milk and then in a couple of weeks it could be whipped into a nice butter. yeah, that makes sense.

here's to hoping i actually follow through with this. thanks for reading!

-jdv

Celebrity lookalikes (american idol Edition)

Justin Timberlake and Matt Giraud

Kelly Clarkson and Allison Iraheta

Anoop Desai and Big Bird

-jdv

It's all the sun's Fault

i had a revelation last night. it was magnificent. mind-blowing. earth-shattering. heaven-shaking. etc. etc.

i finally understood why i'm such a lazy bum. i take that back. i finally understood why i'm such a bum. yeah, i'm graduating and this is my last semester, blah blah blah. but no, this has been a pattern dating back to high school. and i finally understand why.

it's all the sun's fault, with a little help from the earth.

so i'm a procrastinator, but who isn't? but i realized something very important as i started a 7 page paper last night.

i am superman.

i feed off the energy of the sun. when the sun is out, i still believe i have time to waste. this is usually constituted by this pattern:

- check facebook
- check my school e-mail
- check g-mail
- check cnn.com to see if there are any eye-catching headlines like 'man gets eaten by tiger' or 'tiger gets eaten by man'
- click on entertainment section of cnn
- check facebook
- check g-mail
- put on a song on youtube that i'm currently into
- check g-mail

you get the point. and this vicious cycle repeats until the sun goes down! such a waste of time! so why is it the sun's fault that i become a slacker? it's because in the fall, the sun goes down so much earlier! that way, i feel like i have to get work done since it's dark. the sun's not out, so i can't go outside and play. and then in the spring, the sun stays out for so much longer! so i don't get started until 8 or 9 at night, which is ridiculous. case in point, i started that 7 page paper at 8 and didn't finish until 5:30 in the morning. i'm really not a slacker, really... ok, maybe just a little bit.

see, it's not my fault. it's all the sun's fault.

thanks for reading! take care.

-jdv

I'm lovin It

first off, i have to preface this blog by apologizing to my dad. he is a manager at a whataburger, so if you stumble upon this dad, no hard feelings, ok? ok good. don't worry, i still wuv you.

alright. mcdonald's has THE best breakfast menu among the fast food chains. hands down, i repeat, best breakfast. not that i'm scarfing down a delicious sausage, egg, and cheese mcgriddles along with a crispy hash brown right now or am biased or anything like that. i'm sticking to my guns. best breakfast.

the variety just blows the the competition out of the water. if mcdonald's is the titanic pre-iceberg, then the rest of the competition is just flotsam (SAT word, thanks testmasters!) afterwards. what's that jack? you're serving breakfast bowls? honestly, i believe the only item that should be served in a bowl for breakfast is cereal. how dare you spoil cereal, jack. how dare you. wait, wait... the king is serving a croissan'wich for breakfast? yeah, THAT sounds enticing. a croissant for breakfast. this is not france. i believe you have been dethroned. should i rag on whataburger? sure, why not. a taquito? actually, i can't really complain. those things are scrum-diddily-umptious. and then when they're in the 99 cent seasonal phase, even better. so much for whataburger, name it whataquito. i know, i know, why not whatataquito? because look at that name. it's both repetitive and too long to say. relaxy cab is sooo much better than relaxy taxi, ya feel me?

from the flaky biscuit sandwiches, the warm muffin sandwiches, the all-inclusive mcgriddles sandwiches, and new bagel sandwiches to the hash browns and breakfast platters, mickey d's definitely has a leg up on the competition. on a side note, this blog is makin' me huuuuungry. i almost literally just salivated like Pavlog's dogs at the mere mention of breakfast items. stupid operant conditioning. anyways, i'm gettin' back to work.

thanks for reading!! take care.

-jdv

Love and Basketball

i love basketball. i love it so much that if it were a person, i would marry it. high school, college (go UNC!), or NBA, it doesn't matter, it's all good. the three-pointers, the dunks, the passes. amazing. i'm actually surprised i haven't blogged about this topic before.

i enjoy all sports, don't get me wrong, but basketball is my clear-cut favorite. let me tell you why. basketball has both the team and individual aspect. a good team can win, but also a team with a superstar who can control the game by himself can also win. it's extremely tough for a quarterback to win by himself given he depends on his wide receivers or offensive line to block for him. a pitcher can control the defense, but not the offense. also, two words: michael jordan. i could go on forever about that guy, but that's boring.

march madness... NBA playoffs in april... are you kidding me? screw wedding season and christmas, i'll take this every time. i actually aspired to be in the NBA... i had these dreams and visions of being the next jordan... well, asian jordan. but then i realized something very important. i am a short/slim mother f'er. quick side note: my dad just said over the phone, "how is the meat?" really dad? i would say that's what she said, but... yeah... not sure he would get that one. now where was i? oh yes, my future as an NBA star. i really was crushed when i realized that i wasn't going to cut it. it took a total of a day to get over it.

well, back to the game. hope you enjoyed reading. thanks!

-jdv

Long time, no See

it has been far too long, i know. whenever i think i'm going to sit down and write a blog, something comes up... a rockets game, a call of duty from call of duty: world at war on my xbox, a new office episode, school... where's all my time going? anyways, enough excuses, i'm back so let's do this, shall we?

starting with the most recent stuff, spring break 2009 (whoo-hoo!) is now dead and gone (aww...). and what a productive week it was, playing video games... and umm, yeaaahh. playing video games. oh, and the madness, march madness that is, has begun, and i'm keeping up to date with that stuff. unc taking the title would be great. other than that, not much of an exciting spring break.

in other news, my laptop is finally dead. the toshiba i got summer entering freshman year has now gone the way of HD DVD's. being the most prepared person in the world, i, of course, had not backed up any of my stuff onto an external hard drive. therefore, i had to go through this painful process of trying to turn on my comp and keep it on long enough for me to transfer my files onto a hard drive... that sounded kinda dirty. anyways, good ol' tosh gave me four solid years of performance and it kills me to see it go the way of old yeller... yes, i am going to shoot it. just kidding.

what else, what else... OH! so, naturally being the 22-year old individual i am, i went to a 1-year old's birthday party. ok ok, i was forced to keep my mom company since it was a family friend or whatever. anyways, the party was at this school classroom and there was a magician, and balloon animals, face painting, CAPRI SUNS, and a cotton candy machine!!! oh man, when life was simple. crazy to think that at a point in time, that stuff made me happy, although the three exclamation marks after "cotton candy machine" kinda make me rethink that. anyways, i had a good time and cracked up when i saw this picture in the classroom:

isn't that hilarious? poor Lamiah... you know what? if i sat next to the goody two-shoes in class, in this case, Sitara, i wouldn't want to get any good behavior stickers either. i'd probably be making fun of them as much as possible which is why you probably don't have any stickers, pal. oh, those days where stickers were our number one motivation and not a career or family or anything like that...

anyways, there's other stuff i want to talk about... quick interjection: i say "anyways" a lot... but it escapes me right now. probably because i've procrastinated all my school work until tonight like the 99.999% of my fellow college peers. back to the grind... just a few more weeks left!

thanks for reading! feels good to be back.

-jdv

If concerts could Kill

tonight, i was a victim.

i have never been to a real live concert before in my life. ok, ok, i lied. i went to a TRL concert headlined by destiny's child in eighth grade, you caught me. but seriously, our seats were in the nosebleeds and i already mentioned it... destiny's child was headlining. come on, independent women? you're damn right. independently doing their own thing. ahh, such group love. anyways, i digress. i went to an actual concert for the first time. i'm talking about standing the whole time, jumping up and down, singing memorized lyrics with about a thousand other people, people fainting, and yes, even people throwing up next to me. it was an absolutely crazy night that i will not forget.

who killed the show? funny you asked. the killers did. they did an absolutely amazing job. brandon flowers surprised me with his showmanship and his vocals. you know how those songs sound on the radio? they sound the exact same, if not better, live... and he maintained for an hour and a half! (that's what she said.) incredible. on the opposite end of the spectrum, i left the concert hoarse and in need of something to quench my thirst. (gatorade, anyone?) american idol, i clearly am not. the visuals were stunning. different backdrops, the lighting effects, the bubbles dropping over us, the confetti, and the finishing pyro. i didn't care about the fact that i was about to pass out since i hadn't eaten in a few hours and that my hearing had temporarily been lowered. i had experienced something mind-blowing. 

here's a little taste of the concert. it's a little song called "somebody told me," maybe you've heard of it. NB: if you suffer from motion sickness, do not watch the video. now i didn't go around shaking my camera like a polaroid picture (thanks outkast), but i may have rocked the boat a little bit (and thank you aaliyah, RIP). 

hope you enjoyed reading. take care.

-jdv

Such great Heights

the view from my roof... i wish

what is it about getting as high as possible? drug jokes aside, i actually mean high in the altitudinous sense. as kids, we stack legos or blocks one on top of another. a deck of cards can become a house of cards. a wedding cake can have levels upon levels of cake with the groom and bride right on top. and the greatest example, skyscrapers across the world. mankind has this penchant to look down from what we created as if we were a divine being... or maybe we all feel like jack when he said, "i'm king of the world" on the titanic. 

but anyways, my tip to you: the next time you're able to go to the top floor of any kind of building, preferably more than three floors, go. just press that top floor and go. look out across the great horizon, and take it all in. you won't be disappointed, i promise you. 

hope you are doing well. take care and thanks for reading.

-jdv

Random Musings

- things never go according to plan. cliche, but absolutely true. no matter how organized a person you are, there are just outside influences beyond your control and you can't compensate for these unforeseen circumstances. unless you're a fortune teller, then you absolutely have no reason for things to go awry.

- the houston rockets don't care. watch a lakers game. look at the team chemistry there, look at how the players have the fire for winning, look at a star player who actually shows some emotion out there. all of this is nonexistent in a rockets team that has so much potential. it's frustrating.

- being a grownup is hard. after babysitting three kids, i realize how much i miss the carefree attitude of a child. they're truly in their own little world. whether it be playing the wii, staring at the tv watching the disney channel for way too long, or playing with barbie dolls, life is easy. that used to be me... playing super nintendo all day, watching nickelodeon religiously, or playing with wrestling dolls.

- sleep is definitely not overrated. i would venture to say it's underrated. there is no substitute for a good night's rest.

- i wonder what will happen to those people who work at those factories that produce those new year's eyeglasses that have the two 0's as lenses. it's 2009, we can't make glasses for 2010!!! oh no! i hope they don't get laid off. they had a gOOd run.

- just once, one new year's eve, times square should be filled with prepubescent boys so that they can ring in the new year with a citywide balldrop. as the crystal ball counts down to the new year, the boys count down to their transition into manhood.

- is there any other proper time for a countdown other than new year's?

- it's 2009, shouldn't we have been in flying cars and eating meals in pill form a couple years ago? probably in asia they are, but not in the us. we're so behind the times.

- i feel bad for people born on christmas day. sure, it's awesome, born on christmas day, yay! but, think about it. your day of birth is overshadowed by christmas.

- hypothetically, if an alien is green and it loves to garden, would you say it has a green thumb? that doesn't make any sense. then again, neither does an alien loving to garden, unless your name is E.T.

- danica patrick (girl nascar driver) got a ticket for speeding? yeah, that's not ironic.

- is it me, or are the jonas brothers just hanson reincarnate? three brothers... making catchy pop music... teenage girls going crazy over them...

- the price of gasoline is great. i want to store barrels and barrels of it somewhere and then get maggie gyllenhaal so i can recreate that scene from the dark knight.

- putting christmas lights on a house is just a beating-around-the-bush way of saying, hey, check out my house.

- does santa sweat? my two major issues with this: he lives in the north pole and he has elves to do his work for him. also, now that i think about it, it's not like he works out.

ok, back to work. thanks for reading!

-jdv

I lost my text number, can i have Yours

the other day, my friend leila and i were talking, and in the middle of our discourse, there was the occasional *beep *beep vibrate sound that is associated with the receiving of a text message (well, i guess it depends on your carrier... other variations are *beep vibrate *beep or vibrate *beep *beep... or the simultaneous *beep vibrate). naturally, we began to talk about text messaging for a couple of minutes and it got me to thinking.

what did we do before texting? luckily, i've been able to witness such extraordinary events in my lifetime... michael jordan, the double-popped collar, a new millennium, and the dawning of the text message, and in saying that, i am implying the cell phone in general. i remember eighth grade, graduating class of 2001, no one in my class had a cell phone. at the time, AIM (aol instant messenger) was the means of communication between friends. sure, we would talk on the phone sometimes, but it had to be the house phone and at the time, some people needed their line to be free for internet purposes, or they didn't have call waiting, or if they received a call, their internet would cut off... it's actually pretty funny to think about it now. anyways, i got a trip to the philippines as a gift. in the summer of 2001, i headed over there and had my first encounter with the cell phone. quick side note: sure, i'd seen then them in the movies (the most famous one being the one from the matrix that morpheus had that slid down when he pressed a button... badass! oh, and those mirror glasses that somehow stayed on his face without falling off despite not having any ear rests), but this was a personal encounter. given that the far east is so technologically advanced, at that time, everyone already had their own cell phones. i remember watching all of my cousins dialing away, or what i thought was dialing. in fact, it was texting. i was so intrigued by this. so intrigued that when i got home, i demanded my own cell phone. i got it, along with a badass package, i think something like 200 minutes and 100 text messages a month. however, the fad had not hit the states just yet. luckily, i had AIM on my phone so i could still be in the loop. i remember trying to text friends and they'd respond, dude, just call me. really? because all i have to ask is what the geometry homework is which takes, what, 15 seconds... but t-mobile doesn't see that as 15 seconds... that's a minute to them. so bam, i'm left with 199 minutes. i was about to give up until the trend finally arrived, along with some of the most hideous phones. 

so, i repeat, what did we do before texting? it's amazing to think about. texting is a way to have a continuous conversation throughout a morning or even an entire day. as opposed to talking on the phone when it's live, there is no pressure to break the awkward silence. the lulls in texts could be due to anything... maybe you get something to eat, maybe you grab a nap, maybe forrest gump is on... but you can text right back and pick up from where you left off without skipping a beat. talk about instant gratification. also, there's something about a text message that a person just has to read it. a person doesn't have to pick a phone call up, in fact, they can just send that sucker to voicemail... however, i guarantee you, if they get a text message, they'll read it and either respond or not. as i said, there's something about that characteristic *beep vibrate combination that just forces a person to check their phone. if not, then your phone is on silent!

happy new year and thanks for reading. 

-jdv