1.30.2012

right now.

A: Something I am sad about. 
break up.

B: Favorite band.
phoenix.


C: Who I like and why I like them.
Nisha's cool. She makes me laugh/think.

D: Dream house/place to live and why.
Hawaii. Cliche, I know. Or either in Austin, on Lake Travis.

E: Post a photo of yourself right now.


F: My favorite movie.
like crazy.

G: Sexual orientation.
#teamvag.

H: Do I smoke/drink?
cigs are nasty. jameson and dos equis.

I: Have any tattoos or piercings?
soon. haven't worn earrings since high school.

J: What I want to be when I get older.
in love. happy. comfortable.

K: Relationship with my parents.
i don't appreciate it enough. 

L: One of my insecurities.
small gap in my teeth.

M: Virgin or not?
sorry mama.

N: Favorite place to shop at?
urban outfitters.

O: My eye color.
light brown.

P: Why I hate school.
turrible in math.

Q: Relationship status as of right now.
vacant.

R: Favorite song at the moment.
all things A$AP.

S: A random fact about myself.
i get the best sleep in a moving vehicle.

T: Age I get mistaken for.
twenty one.

U: Where I want to be right now.
last april.

V: Last time I cried.
two months ago.

W: Concerts I’ve been to.
hov, kanye, hov and kanye, nerd, cudi, lupe, big sean, drake, wayne.

X: What would you do if (you knew you were going to die in a month)?
eat junk food and chill with family.  yolo.

Y: Do you want to go to college.
yes.

Z: How are you?

1.28.2012

Random Fact #3

I'm a loner for the most part.
I don't know why, but for some reason people never believe this. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I appear to have a lot of "friends" on Facebook or because I have more than 25 followers on Twitter but honestly, social networking sites don't mean shit. I use both mainly for entertainment and a secondary way of keeping in touch with the people I know that use them as their primary means of communication. All of the "friends" on those sites aren't friends. They're people that may know me, and for the most part, probably enjoy being nosey just like the rest of us do. I tweeted about this the other day, but I honestly have no problem with being alone. I often go to the movies by myself, I shop by myself, occasionally I'll go out to eat by myself, hell, I'm even thinking of going on a trip  by myself sometime this year. I think a lot of people don't like being alone because they're not brave enough to be alone with their thoughts. Being by yourself doesn't always mean you have no friends, or your lonely. Most of the time I prefer it. It's relaxing. A lot of the best conversations I have are with myself. However, if you start giving those voices in your head names and talking to them out loud, you're probably crazy.

1.26.2012

Austin Weekend.

This past weekend was Nisha's big birthday celebration in Austin. Lots of fun was had, lots or drinks were drank, and lots of food was eaten. I met her cousins and her sister who were all just as funny as she is and I got to see my usual Austin crew. If I moved back to Austin tomorrow, it wouldn't be soon enough.

Nisha and I have this elaborate inside joke about the Minions from Despicable Me, so instead of a birthday cake, I made her Birthday Minion cupcakes. They were really fun and really easy to make. 
Of course I stopped by Torchy's. Nom.

I wish I would've taken my camera, but of course I left it behind, as I do with all my best adventures.

1.24.2012

Music Monday: A$ΔP Rocky.

As you may have read in my earlier posts, I have recently become a big fan of A$AP Rocky. He originally caught my attention a few months ago when I heard that he had just inked a $3 million record deal with RCA. While I hadn't heard any of his music yet, I was extremely skeptical and quick to rip dude for spewing, what at the time seemed to be nonsense, about this supposed $3 million record deal, when I had yet to hear a song or even see a video of him. If the fabled record deal was a publicity stunt, man did it work on me. I quickly YouTube'd Mr. Rocky to see if he had the talent to backup his claim. I believe the first song I heard by A$AP Rocky was "Peso". While I wasn't necessarily crazy about his flow, the beat, along with his laid back "I don't have to try, Imma just let my swag carry me over the beat" persona eventually won me over. Shortly after the news of Rocky's new record deal blew up the interwebz, he conveniently dropped a new mixtape titled "LiveLoveA$AP". After downloading the mixtape, I took my test, and eventually earned my license to become the official driver of the A$AP Rocky bandwagon. To me, A$AP Rocky represents the culmination of just about every major rap era in hip-hop. The first thing most people notice is the use of the heavy based, chopped and screwed beats, and sizzurp laced rhymes that would make even the trillest southerner think dude is from Houston. But after a close listen, if you don't hear it in his voice, you'll definitely hear it in his lyrics, Rocky is a straight up Harlemite through and through. It's almost like someone threw UGK, Cam'ron, Wu-Tang, and Bone Thugs, and a Thrasher magazine in a blender and out came A$AP Rocky. The best part about Rocky's music is the fact that it's genuine. You can tell that there's no gimmick. He makes music that represents his life. Get money, fuck bitches, do drugs, watch out for the fam, dress fresh, have fun, and fuck you if you're not with the movement. I can't knock that. 
This is my favorite stage of an artist's career. It's the point that they are just finding out who they are, what will be their essence. The point right before the industry puts a collar on them and makes them market those assets like a pimp dressing one of his hoes. 
"Wassup" was probably my 3rd favorite song on the mixtape so I was extra excited when I saw that the video for it was released today (or yesterday technically). 



I loved everything about this video. The cocaine pentagram, the pit bull in from of the Ferrari, the all black posse scene, the money in the tub. So raw. So pure.

Sidebar: This video can be interpreted a lot of different ways. If you want to know my interpretation, hit me on Twitter or Facebook and I'll let you know what I think.

If history has taught me anything, it's that everyone eventually sells out. And honestly, who am I to blame them? If I knew that I could make millions of dollars by making dumbed down, repetitive music that people will continue to spend money on, I can't say without a doubt that I would turn that down. So until that point, I will live in the moment and enjoy every A$AP Rocky song that comes out.

Always $trive Δnd Prosper.

1.22.2012


"I hate hearing something that absolutely kills me inside, and having to act like I don't care."

1.18.2012

so in love with this song. so soothing.

Windows by Common on Grooveshark
if your eyes are the window to your soul, open eyes bring the cold
if your dreams keep you warm at night, baby just keep them closed
if your eyes are your window, i can sneak in at night
in your eyes i can see your soul, staring back into mine
Not so much the verses as the chorus. Sometimes when I can't sleep, which has been a lot lately, I get in my car and drive around with this on repeat. Easily wasted an hour one night last week. So much on my mind. It's funny how you can write about one thing so much, yet still have so much more that you can't put into words. Sigh. 



1.16.2012

"and whoever i be with they got nothin' on you
that's just somethin' to do when there's nothin' to do."

1.14.2012

Cocaine 80's.


I don't know where the fuck this explosion of new R&B music came from but I love it. First there was Frank Ocean, then the Weeknd, and now out even further left field comes Cocaine 80's. I remember hearing a little about this collective a while ago but had never really given his music a full listen. After Common's most recent album, The Dreamer, The Believer, came out, I realized quickly that almost all of my favorite tracks had the same familiar voice on it, and no, I don't mean Common's. I most recently downloaded both of their EP's, The Pursuit, and Ghost Lady, and both have me equally intrigued. Obviously the nameless lead singer has an excellent voice, but what really does it for me is the seemingly flawless production of each track by one of my favorite producers, No ID. Though each EP is pretty short, they serve as a cohesive sample of sounds that gets me excited for whatever they have in store. Cocaine 80's is refreshing, to say the least, and continues to show that there is no such thing as too much good music.


Download "The Pursuit" HERE.
Download "Ghost Lady" HERE.


no one's exempt from loneliness.

yup.

1.12.2012

Cray.


Asians do everything better. Everyfuckingthing.
Buried Alive (Drake Take Care) by Kendrick Lamar on Grooveshark

wish i could've been there to see you walk. you looked so happy. 
i secretly hoped to get an invitation. i don't know if i would've gone.
but an invitation would've been nice. 
did it ever occur to you that maybe men are actually more emotionally fragile than women?
and maybe the reason men treat women like shit so often is because the one time they treated a woman like a human being, she took advantage of that and took a hammer and smashed his heart to itty bitty pieces. and so now, after years and years or gluing, and taping, and stapling back together what pieces were able to be recovered, he just treats women like shit because he doesn't want to make the mistake of caring again.
maybe that's why men treat women like shit.

1.10.2012

Californication.

As you probably already know, I recently returned from a trip to California for New Years and I must say, I had a blast. I saw the people I wanted to see (Siera, Symon, Kyla, Tim, Tyler the Creator), I got to eat what I wanted to eat (Roscoe's), and I got to see what I wanted to see (Venice Beach, Hollywood Blvd, Little Tokyo, Melrose). All in all I'd say it was a good trip. I'm gonna go ahead and tell you now, I took a lot of pictures with my phone (which apparently loved California so much it decided to stay), so the pictures I have aren't the best. Hopefully my story telling makes up for what I'm not able to show in pictures.

My mom dropped me off at DFW airport at about 6:30 am which gave me just enough time to get groped by security and make it to my first flight which departed at 7am for Phoenix, AZ. 
I really wanted to start my new book, Diary by Chuck Palahniuk, but this infant shithead up front was not having it. I swear that kid must've cried the entire flight. Thank God for iPods.

Thankfully the second flight, from Phoenix to LA, was much quieter. It's amazing how hilly the state of California is. Literally, everything is on a fucking hill. 

Once I landed in LA, Siera scooped me from the airport. It was so cool seeing her in her "element", being all "cool trendy cali girl" and shit. Since the person I was staying with wouldn't be home for a while, Siera and I played Driving Ms Daisy for a few hours. In that span, I FINALLY got to meet Cole
and even though he doesn't quite resemble the baby from The Incredibles the way he once did, he's still a cute kid. He even talked to me a few times! So full of life and adventure, just as I'd imagined him. After taking Cole to the park, Siera took me to this cool place called Oggie's which somehow managed to have the worst service, good pizza, and the best wings I've ever had all in one place. We sill had about two hours to kill after Oggie's so we went to see The Sitter, which was actually a lot better than I expected. After the movie, Siera took me to Fullerton, where I would be staying while I was in California.
This is my friend Kyla, the person who so kindly took an entire week out of her busy schedule to be my tour guide. Kyla and I got a few drinks at Yardhouse and that was about it for night one. You wouldn't think that a two hour time difference is really that big of a difference but I promise you I took a nap almost everyday at 6pm and I was almost falling asleep by 11pm. 

The following night, Kyla, her roommate Lisa, Lisa's boyfriend, and I all went to the Commonwealth Lounge in Fullerton and got white boy wasted.
 I remembered that my friend Tim, that I knew from College Station, now lives in California. I texted him on a whim to see what he was up to and he was actually able to come hangout! It was cool to see him doing well and living it up in Cali. Tim is by far, one of the coolest people I know. After that it gets a little blurry but I remember almost fighting a creeper and losing my phone on the cab ride home along with the picture that Tim and I took (Hence the shirtless river pic above).
The next day Kyla took me to Venice Beach. It's an amazing place full of life, love, and lots of crazy people. The first thing that I noticed were the beach houses. They were amazing. 
California has some of the most random weather that I've ever encountered. We left the house at about 2:30 and it was about 76 degrees. Upon our arrival at Venice Beach (about an hour or so later), the temperature had dropped to about 55 degrees. The fuck. There were a lot of cool things to see.

There were "medical" marijuana stands everywhere.



Muscle Beach.
Yes. He's stepping on glass.
This was an area that had a lot of cool graffiti.
Dope sand sculptor.

After all the walking we did on the beach, I was starving so we scooped Symon and headed to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. When I tell you that Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles was one of the biggest reasons I came to California, I'm not kidding. I had always heard about this place and I wanted to try it for so long. It definitely lived up to the hype. 
As stated earlier, I was starving, so I ordered a #3 and man was that a lot of food.
This place by far has the best waffles and the best chicken that I've ever tasted in my life. The waffles are are like big cinnamon pillows of goodness and the butter is amazing. The chicken is perfectly crispy on the outside, yet tender and juicy on the inside. I know for a lot of people this combination is a bit odd but don't knock it till you try it. I promise you'll love it. With a lot of will power and help from the man upstairs I was able to conquer the monster that is the #3. $16 well spent. After the last supper, Kyla and I partied at Newport Beach. 

New Year's Day was pretty dope. I got to see my Uncle, who so kindly loaned me his backup phone that I'm still using, my good friend Brandon, his friend Estelle, Symon and her friend Alexis, in Little Tokyo for some sushi. Afterward, Uncle Scotty and I went to Hollywood for a bit.



New Year's Night was pretty chill. Definitely wasn't the crazy packed, LA club "EVERYBODY SAY HOOOO!", money raining from the sky, gunshots in the air, threesome with models type party night that  I thought it would be. But it was definitely fun. We had a few people over, a few bottles of champagne, lots of beer, and lots of liquor, and a lot of fun. Hello 2012, Nice to meet You.


My last day in LA was bittersweet. It was nice to return home and see my family, but it was kinda sad to leave an area I had began to adore. To leave a way of life where everyday was an adventure, everything, and everyone was new. Siera was my chauffeur to my Uncle's hotel but before we went there, we took a drive down Melrose, and I'll be damned if I didn't see the coolest fucking mural I've ever seen in my entire life. If you follow my blog and/or Twitter, you know that I have recently fallen in thug love with A$AP Rocky. He has the hardest, coolest, drug dealin'ist music out right now. Shit makes me want to rock gold fronts and braids and smoke weed till my lips fall off.  Anyway, while driving down Melrose, I look to my right, and I see this shit right here:
You know what, maybe I'm the only person who finds this dope as fuck, but honestly, I don't care. I tried really hard to contain my excitement, but Gahdamnit I wish I would've spoke the fuck up and got a picture with this shit. This remains my only regret of the entire trip, and will probably go down as one of my life's biggest regret. Like, I'm pretty sure ony my deathbed I'll wonder, "why the fuck didn't I get a picture with that A$AP mural?" And then I'll die shortly after. Anyway, since Siera's favorite burger place was closed, and I wouldn't stop raving about Roscoe's, we wound up going there.

So, there we are (Siera and I) walking into Roscoe's, walk right past the counter where you pay, we sit down, get our menus, no big deal. All of a sudden I look up  and I see an afro that looks like an oddly familiar afro. Kinda like... Taco's (from Odd Future) afro o_O. Then I look to his right and I spot an African American fellow in a green hat. Kinda like... the green Supreme hat that Tyler the Creator wears o_O! And then I see a pudgy gentleman to the right of the guy in the green hat, who looks a lot like Jasper Dolphin. That's when I get a better look and realize, holy fuck, Tyler the Creator is like, 12 feet away from me. After watching one fan approach Tyler for a picture and get seemingly rejected, I pulled out my phone and took a picture. And there you have it people, in all its 2.0 megapixel glory, Tyler, Taco, and Jasper Dolphin. Motherfuck the camera on this Fred Flintstone ass phone, for real. Straight up.
Anyway, after another great meal at Roscoe's, Siera and I said our goodbyes and I was picked up by my Uncle who gave me a ride to the airport the next morning. A word of advice, don't wear a necklace that resembles a bomb, missile, bullet, or anything of the sort when traveling by plane. You'll have the grandest conversations with TSA about it. With one flight to El Paso, and another to Dallas, I was finally back home.


And there you have it. My Cali trip in a nutshell. Since I've been back, people keep asking me if I would ever move to California. As much as I liked it out there, it was way too packed for me. There were so many people everywhere, a l l  t h e  t i m e. To me, California was like a bigger Austin. And everyone knows I'm an Austin boy at heart. It was fun Cali, but you can't be my main bitch. Maybe my side bitch.
Ha. Goodnight.