RIP Al

Al
Originally uploaded by grotani.

This was from our annual fishing trip to Mammoth last year.

I can still hear him now. "No, really. it was this big".

Life Goes On

For the 3rd time this week I'm back at the same spot on Sunset, squatting down on the curb and wondering again what happened. The ribbon around the pole and the flowers that were left over the weekend are all gone. But glancing at the curb you see the spot where the paint scraped as the motorcycle hit the curb and the marks on the pole that I imagine weren't there before last Friday. I've spent most of my time since then in a kind of daze. Unfocused. Mind all over the place. Wondering over and over. What happened?

If there's anyone in the world or my small little piece of it that should be numb to this kind of tragedy it'd have to be me. All the funerals add up. But not when it's somebody you grew up with. Not your homeboy who was engaged to get married this August and you were just talking to about the bachelor party, making plans for a guys weekend fishing trip up to Mammoth. Not to a family who's already lost their father and another son.


Sitting with my brother and helping him write out the personal history he's going to read at the funeral Friday while we dig thru our old pics looking for pics of our friend it hits. Hard. Both of us have tears in our eyes but nobody mentions it.

They say life goes on. I just wish life had a level playing field.

My New Toy

I finally sucked it up and bought ANOTHER X box. I actually had one for 2 weeks a few years back. Til my suckass sibling stole it and sold it.

Actually this time it was a close race between the Xbox, the PSP, and the Nintendo DS. The portables lost out since all the portable gaming I do is playing Phil Hellmuth Poker on my phone and I'm perfectly happy with that.

A couple of factors led to the Xbox. Playing Splinter Cell with Mike got me all pumped up. Plus Jade Empire came out last week. I'm such a spazz my purchasing history goes something like this.

Friday ~ Picked up the Jade Empire strategy guide to see if I really want the game. Not to mention a whole new console. I do. How bad is a RPG where you can bust out Drunken Style Kung Fu on your enemies?

Saturday ~ Pick up a Xbox. Due to a lack of funds caused by a emergency loan the only game I can afford comes from the $14.99 greatest hits section. Morrowind, a sequel to Daggerfall, the 1st game I ever played on a computer. It's pretty cool. I like the character generation where they ask you a bunch of personality questions to determine what kind of character you'll be. I was happy to find myself playing a barbarian. Until I wandered outside of town, killed a bunch of killer crabs, and discovered I only get 1gp each for selling crabmeat. I'm gonna make a new character so I can be a thief. There's lots of krap laying around I can jack and sell. it sucks being broke. Even in a videogame.

Sunday ~ With my bankroll replenished I tried to find a copy of Jade Empire. Fucking Best Buy has it in stock but there's a catch. They got the Spanish version by mistake. Mi Espanol ain't that good. The guy at my local Japanese game store told me he may get it in tomorrow. He hooked me up with a used copy of Fable for $20.

Killing Time

This is what I do for lunch on a typical day at work. Pick up food at a random eatery and sit in the secluded back room at work, eating, reading something from my stack of magazines, and listening to my Ipod. Our days as a social butterfly are coming to an end. Especially with all the shit that went on this past week. It's been a long fucking week.

Pet Peeve Of The Moment

Just getting done with your laundry, walking out of the room, and coming back to find the dog sleeping on it.

Cuz Losing Sucks

No this kind of behavior is not to be condoned. Even if we can relate to it.

Dealing with the haters after each loss is never a lot of fun but it hasn't come to this.

What Day Off?

Sucks looking forward to a half day at the house of the dead and then hoping to get off at 3. Then 4. Maybe 5. Resigned at 6. Caught in traffic at 7. Sucks.

If I ever wanted to go off I'd have a hella bunch of stories from the mortuary. But that's disrespectful. Even for an ass like me. It's somebody's familia.

Made it out to the park just in time to catch the start of tonite's VCA game. Up 14-0 they let the other team crawl back into it with a final score of 14-11. Ugly game conditions with the wind kicking up and lots of dirt blowing around leading to many game delays.

I learned a lot tonite watching Sean playing catcher. The first play was a lil bloop that he was too late to make a play on that he let roll foul. Then a few innings later a similar bloops in front of the plate but this time he was in position to pounce on it and throw the batter out at 1st before the ball had a chance to roll foul and the batter didn't even get out of the box. Sean's a softball genius. Watching those 2 plays made sitting thru the freezing wind worthwhile.

Mike's situational hitting is also something worth noting. He sees the 2nd baseman shift over, swings, and puts the ball thru the hole the 2nd baseman just vacated.

I have lots to learn. Tomorrow it's back to the park during our bye week to watch Mike's game and get another look at the teams in our league.

I really regret all the time that I spent chasing basketballs after our baseball team broke up after my junior year of HS. Watching baseball/softball games now I sometimes feel like an ESL student cramming in English. I'mma get this shit down oneday.

Public Enemies 1 & 2

Jalen and Christian. 6 and 5. These lil niggas are what keeps me straight.

Soul Brotha Numba One

Say hi to George, the walking epitome of old school. Back in HS I used to cut classes and good old George would come pick me up and give me a ride to the gambling spot where I'd get my gamble on with him and all the other old Japanese gardeners who were done working for the day. He's the usual host of the local gardeners game that still goes down after all these years the difference being that the game ends at 11 pm instead of the 4 or 5 am that it used to with most of the participants on the other side of 70. After one particularly lucractive day for me playing $5 a hand BJ good old George introduced me to the local Asian "massage" spot. But that's a story for another time.

Sunday

I saw many friends. Eric, Jennifer, Dave, Ken, Bill, Mari, Rich, and Michael. Thank God. It was a boring ass day.

Eric is nicer then I could ever hope to be. A old couple with a handicapped placard illegally parked in his parking space then had the nerve to talk shit to him when he called him on it. But being the warm and caring human being that he is he didn't even tow them. Awwwwwww.

Tonite I went to the cage and hit lots of balls even if my hand's still fucked up. Why?

Hitting balls > hitting people. At least you won't pick up a 3rd strike hitting at the batting cage. Figuratively speaking.

I think today was the last day of the free gift/grand opening promotion at GR/Eats. Didn't win my Converse All Stars but I did score a free mag and t - shirt this week. Thanks to the higher power for the shirt.

I finally picked up season 1 of the World Poker Tour dvd set. God I love watching that shit even if most of the people I'm down with get all bored and say, "Honey, they're just playing cards". It's dope to watch how they play certain hands and the way they bet. I'll review it after I watch all 22 hours and the rest of Season 2. See? I have a new hobby. Watching poker on dvd. Go me.

I finally came out on top of one of those 40 player rebuy tourneys I've been obsessed with for the last month. Payout was 2 G's +. Right now I'm smack dab in the middle of a satellite for a huge tourney. 225 players started and I'm in 1st place with a chip lead of about 1500 chips after 81 hands and with 61 players left. If I win this I get a seat at a tourney with a $2500 buy in and prizes over 100 G's. OOO Boy.

Update. Just got done cashing out my account. I did leave a few hundred in it. Just in case. Since the big tourney is next Sunday afternoon I had to play lets make a deal and sold my seat since I'm gonna be working then. $200 bucks (I bought in for 10 + 5 tonite) and a 25% stake of whatever she wins. Dammit.

The Ghosts Of Sherman Oaks

Please note the disembodied battling helmet and beanie floating in the air. Those would be the spirits of sorry motherfuckers who strike out.

The Fat Kid Swings

I was trying to get a better pic but the fucker moves too fast.

Beef

For those flesh eating friends of mine no worries. I haven't crossed over to the dark side.

The Notorious BIG said it best.

What’s beef? beef is when you need two gats to go to sleep
Beef is when your moms ain’t safe up in the streets
Beef is when I see you
Guaranteed to be in icu, one more time
What’s beef? beef is when you make your enemies start your jeep
Beef is when you roll no less than thirty deep
Beef is when I see you
Guaranteed to be in icu, check it

Sometime last year I lent the lil Mexican guy who washed dishes down the street $20 which he promised to pay back later the same day. The next day came with no sign of him and I later enquired about his whereabouts with one of his coworkers. Turns out he quit.

About a year passed and who do I see walking up the street? Mr dishwasher. He spots me but hey it's too late. I guide him up the alley between my store and where Get Wicked used to be and make my collections. With the help of Pablo to do the interpeting. This was my favorite part after going thru his wallet.

Pablo: He says he only owes you $20 and you took $40.
Me: Tell his stupid ass it's motherfucking interest.

It's not the money. It's the principle.

Case #2 : Also from Thursday. Beef with the fat, piece of shit, Mexican beer salesman. He hasn't been on my good side in quite awhile. All I needed was a reason.

Last year on a day when I called in sick to work he went on to loudly proclaim to anyone and everyone within earshot that he'd seen me earlier that day walking around the hood. Nevermind that I actually was sick and Dee had just come from my house and was at the store to pick up some Japanese cough drops for me when he was telling everyone about his sighting of me.

I figured I'd wait for him to fuck up again in front of me. Cuz I'm patient like that.

So Thursday he comes in to kick it with Bobby and starts talking shit about why there's more MGD then Budweiser on the shelf. Stupid shit. I bust. Not the coolest thing to do but theres no customers and the only other people in the store are BK and Kaori. Hometown crowd. I not so nicely remind him not to open his fat fucking mouth in my presence and tell him what kind of consequences he could face. About 2 inches from his face with a reminder that size don't mean shit and it's not where he's from but where he's at. Yes. he shut up.

Too bad we had to go and lose the game that night. Ruined my perfect fucking day.

Growing Pains

Martin's knee pretty much sums up the game last night. Torn up.

On cold, windy, Thursday we battled the best team in our league. The mighty BDO. Whatever the fuck BDO means. I still don't think they're 10 runs better then us but the score at the end of the game said otherwise.

We put together a few good innings. They just didn't add up. Our new and improved lineup managed to scrape together a few runs. A combination of ill timed walks and errors proved to be our undoing. We have this tendency of one person fucking up and everyone else piling on to add to the grief, resulting in big innings for the other team.

I'm not that worried. We played about as bad as it'll get all season. We got nowhere to go but up. After our game Rich and I hug around to watch the Edmunds/Rainmakers game. It ended in a tie with the Rainmakers coming back from 8 runs down. Shit. If they can do that then we can do it. I like our chances with both these teams. I still think 8-4 is a realistic possibility.

Notes from the game.

I was late. Who'd have thought? I missed the top half of the 1st inning but got there just in time to see the last out of the inning. Lucky me.

Bill went 3-3. Even with a new job that has him leaving the house at 6am like Nike he just does it. Unoficially I think he had 2 RBIs too.

Martin is the official home runner leader so far this season with a blast in his last at bat. He also had half of our RBI's with 4. Tied for most bloody knees with Ant.

I think our new and improved defense had a few bright spots. Carlos looked good in right. Hap was the man in left. I like Nate at 1st base. He's a bigger target then me. Ant knocked down balls at 3rd. Rich almost had the catch of the game in the OF. Sky had some tough chances at SS but made outs. I like catching. We even got a runner at home and contrary to popular belief it wasn't even that close. I fucking had him.

2 strange plays. Hap getting called out for his halfswing down the 3rd base line. I used to think this was genius. Guess it's just an out. Worth trying though. Carlos getting called out for stepping on the plate as he swung. Hmmm. Bad luck. Last year he got callled out on a homer for missing the plate. This year he gets called out for stepping on it.

I didn't do too bad. 2-3 with a double and 2 runs. I thought the double was my homerun swing. It's hard to fuck up playing catcher. I have to get my fat ass down the line to back up 1st base. I wish I had my second at bat back. I shoulda never swung at a pitch that low. Stupid.

Rock Star Sighting V.2

Rock Star 2. Irene. I think she scared Bill and BK. They dunnno how to hang with people with this much style. Too bad my pic's cut off below the waist. I think her pants had about 50 colors give or take a hue.

Rock Star Sighting V.1

Kaori, the first rock star we saw today. I actually had a pic of her posing with big fan, BK, but for some reason it didn't come out.

Warm Chin Chin

Ok. I said that those beanies err "Chin Chin Warmers" were extra small. Well I guess BK has an extra small head. Or maybe he's just a dick getting warmed. The choice is yours.

3 Bucks Later

This is the pile of krap that I got after investing 3 bucks into the toy machine outside my store. 50 cents apiece. We got 3 beanies for extra small heads. 2 pairs of lace gloves. Finally on try number 6 i got what I wanted. A wristband for my softball game.

If you read the comments and see the beanies referred to as "chin chin" warmers here's a qucik translation. "Chin Chin" is dick in Japanese.

Coming Soon

One more day til our 3rd season starts. 27 hours.

Time to see if all those Monday night practices were worth it. All those trips to the cage. I can't fucking wait.

I had a dream last night. Bases loaded. Me up. Perfect drive up the middle and rounding 3rd I'm yellling at Nate.....RUN RUN RUN as I'm 3 steps behind him. Wish I remembered if we won or not...

Kinda glad to be starting off against the best team we know in our league just to get a measure of where we'll be this season. May as well start at the top. I did some checking last night and found out that the new team in my league won their previous league with like a 9-1 record. Oh boy.

In the meantime to get my softball jonesining under control I'm gonna watch the one armed man play tonite. Should be entertaining, specially if DJ Wil makes an appearance. All 6 foot something of him. With dreads.

Last night I played a tourney with 249 other players and came in 12th. Sucks. my AK got beat by a Q10. That's poker.

Pope Poon

Pope Poon
Originally uploaded by grotani.

I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that god’s got a sick sense of humor
And when I die I expect to find him laughing

Monday Nite No Football

One practice = one hot bath with my favorite Japanese bath salts. The one with the red peppers on the box. Guranteed to make you sweat. And sweat. Then sweat some more. The scale says I weigh 165 now. Dayamn. Fat bastard.

I fucked up my hand the other night at the cages. Now it's all swollen and bruised under my forefinger. There's a sharp pain everytime I hit the fucking ball but it's all good. We have a bye next week to rest it. Game One of the new season is Thursday. BK set a new personal best today. He showed up for the 8 pm practice a few hours early. Well 3:30.

New pastime. Toenail painting. I did such a great job and my homegirl's toes that in a moment of inspiration (BOREDOM) I did mine in black. No, you can't fucking see it.

Thanks to the North Carolina Tarheels for adding 5 bills to my roll. I think I'll support their tobacco industry and buy a pack instead of stealing them from work.

If you're in the hood GR/Eats is having a grand opening this week. Plus they're giving away shit. Tell the new meterosexual dishwasher I sent you.

I just read Jade Empire is coming next week for the XBOX. Shit. I wanna play that. All my old videogame time has been sucked away by poker. Just say no.NO!!!

Hobbyless

Man. I used to be so fucking good at this blogging shit. Sat my ass down behind the keyboard and voila. A post a day. I think I lost my momentum last summer when I took a month off from Xanga. Or even further back with the advent of my softball career when it seemed like all I did was blog about softball shit. Maybe it was the reintroduction of poker into my life. Damn. Fucking poker.

Prettiest sight of the week. Me with a bandaid under my eye the other day. So who kicked my ass? My favorite 5 year old in the world. He decided he didn't want me to stop carrying him (spoiled brat) so he hung on for dear life to whatever he could reach. In this case my face. It wasn't much of a scratch, just bled. A lot. I went thru 3 bandaids. God, I'm a fucking trooper.

I actually hit 8 rounds at the cages the other night. Oops. There I go. Softball shit again. Seriously though. Going with Michael and Rich keeps me humble. They mash and bash and I go "bing, bing, bing". Humbling I tell you.

Twice this week, on both of my days off from everyones favorite squat of a market, I worked 12 hour + days at the Mortuary. We need better Dr's in this country. If all these people quit dying I'd have a REAL day off.

In better news I been playing my ass of in Poker. Last 3 tourneys I played I came up in the money . $180, $208, and the whopper coming 2nd out of 40 people, $1250. I'm seriously tempted to quit my jobs and get a real one. Playing online poker. Somebody talk me out of that. Otherwise I'l have way more then 7 flags in that Gamblers Anonymous question thing.
Remind to buy a nice set of chips. It's time to set up some games.

On the topic of games, my homeboy is making off with the score of the week. Limited edition green xbox Halo edition with the original version of Halo. $100. I was kinda tempted by it but I don't really play videogames now.

Somebody find me a hobby. My homegirl was questioning my hobbies the other day and all I could come up with was poker and softball. She wouldn't let me count reading since all my reading of late is poker related. Supersystem 2. The Chris Moneymaker biography. Positively 5th Street. Phil Hellmuth's "Bad Beats and Lucky Draws". Shuffle Up and Deal. Notice a theme here?

I'm wide open to suggestions. Butterfly collecting. Import model pic collecting. Something. I've been told softball and poker does not make a well rounded individual. Maybe I'll watch a few episodes of the Season 2 World Poker Tour that I picked up the other day. DVD watching = hobby.