I'm a South Bay LA 'FLIP' by way of Washington, DC and then some. A retired club kid of sorts but still a house-head to the core! This blog has been active in one way or another since 2002. I seem to have a whole lot to say about nothing, huh? This is just a placeholder for now, I post mostly to flip4bearz.tumblr.com
It's day 6 of my vacation here in good ol' Bowie, MD. I'm at the parents' house just waiting for everyone to get up. I'm still on west coast time but it's already 9:00am here!!! Gee -- don't people work around here? Oh wait -- they're retired. LOL. Anyway -- it was a whirlwind weekend with the ENTIRE family in town to celebrate my little neice's 2nd birthday. It was also family portrait day this past Friday. My baby brother and his new wife came down from Toronto to take part in all the "fun". Believe it or not, I also survived an entire day at church this past Sunday! Anyway -- it's time to hang out with all of my friends now until next Tuesday when I fly back to LA. The only bummer is that none of my friends are responding to me. Hmmph. Oh well, time to mow the lawn. WHAT?!? Long story.....
I look thrilled, eh? Even my perennial eye bags had eye bags! I think I got a total hour and a half of sleep. The plane was full and since I was traveling on a space available pass (courtesy of one of my aunts), I was the last one cleared to go for the flight. I really can't complain -- for the equivalent of $50+ I got an aisle seat on a non-stop flight across the country. Oh yeah -- did you notice that I was in the last row right by the restrooms??? It was MOST pleasant after the refreshments were servered and people started lining up for the toilets. Oh well. At least I'm on vacation for the next 10 days. It will be great to visit family and friends again.
It's 3:30am and I've got a flight in 6 hours. For some reason, I can never sleep right before traveling on long trips away from home. After scurrying around the last few hours packing and preparing my 'outfit' to wear on the plane, what better thing should I be doing but post my latest mix-set!?! I actually just finished it last night, but I was too lazy to officially post it here. This mix is typical me ... hope you like it. You can find the full track-listing on my SoundCloud page.
(I'm going back to the east coast to visit my family in Maryland and friends in Washington, DC. I will be away until the first week of June, but I'll probably be blogging on the go.)
(you can mute the sound unless you wanna hear the dog bark)
I took the video above myself from my doorstep. It's called a parol and it's one of the Christmas decorations my family here put up on their house. I will spare you the continuous 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' 8-bit Atari theme it comes with. We were already spoken to by the neighbor.
The holidays are interesting here in Southern California. As an east coast transplant, it's definitely a big plus that I don't have to deal with the bitter cold, inclement weather, and overcoats. It does become a lot cooler than average here, however. The scarves actually start to come out around October when the temps drop below 60 degrees Fahrenheit! ;-) Seriously, though, it does kind of creep up on you. You notice it more at night because the temperature changes drastically. 60 degrees with the sun out in the day is a whole lot different than let's say 50 degrees at night ... by the beach. Trust me. By the time night rolls around, you are just not prepared for it with the coats and things. Just call me a baby -- I'm sensitive!
Anyway -- it's the end of an old year and the start of a whole new one. I've started to get a lot more blog readers. For years I used to think that I wrote to myself. Considering I really don't advertise my musings of a whole lot of nothing, it's not bad I guess. Thank you to all of you who do read. More comments would be most appreciated. Making dj mixes has also become a new hobby of mine. Give me another year -- I'm sure I'll improve a lot. As for work ... well, it's work. There are a few things brewing up for me to jump on when the time is right. Either way -- it involves some change and will eventually be the deciding factor for me to continue living here in Los Angeles. I've been here for more than 2 years and I'm ready for a change. We'll just leave it at that for the time being. What else ...... ? Oh yeah, my relationship with my family has changed a lot (for the better) this past year. We've gotten a lot closer despite being split between coasts. My brothers are all grown up and adults now. My parents are now both retired and have a lot of time on their hands as well. With the birth of my new neice, they've mellowed out big time. Good for them. Better for us. Ha! Lastly, going back home to DC in late November gave me a big boost on my personal morale level. Seeing my family again and hanging out with old friends again is something that I miss. We'll see what happens soon to help remedy that.
The new year is definitely a time for change on many levels. Without the triteness of setting resolutions, I just wish everyone the best and let's start this one out with a bang. Happy New Year everyone!
The above is a handwritten invoice for some MAJOR repairs on the pick-up truck I drive. A celebration is in order ... NOT! Ugh, what a major bummer to have to go through during this time of year. This is something I was totally not prepared for. Oh well -- there's a long back story on why I'm driving this particular vehicle when it isn't actually mine. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say, since I'm using it, I need to take care of it, right? God bless my parents for giving me some money to help pay this off. Sad, but true. Is anyone 'really' too old to get handouts from your parents???
Yes, I'm back ... home in LA that is. Never mind the fact that it has taken me almost a week to recover from my 10-day holiday back home in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. It was such a whirlwind experience! Other than being home in Maryland and DC, I drove down to Richmond and even took the train up to NYC for a little bit of shenanigans! I got to hang out with my family for the first part of the trip and the later part I spent it with friends. I even got to spend some long lost time with old friends from high school with the help of Facebook! No matter how hard I try to document my experiences with photos, I always seem to forget that I have a camera on hand to take quick snapshots. Either way, fond memories last longer, right? I really miss home.
I'm currently on vacation back in the Maryland / Washington, DC area. I have been here since Saturday and it's pretty much been non-stop visiting with family and friends. There are still like 4 more days left of my 'holiday' and I'm going to make the most of it! In the meantime, take a look at the pic below. It was taken in the middle of DC at Dupont Circle. I'll post more pics soon. I'm so lucky to have pretty decent weather (ie not too cold) with me on this trip! :-)
It's Thanksgiving here in the US! Apparently my family here in Los Angeles 'honored' me with cooking the turkey for dinner. "Erm, I don't cook!" LOL. In the spirit of it all, though, I actually made an attempt. It's amazing what pre-made preparation kits do! Apparently it's all about the stuffing and the brining bag. We'll see! Happy Holidays everyone!
Yeah, if only my luggage were as 'glamorous'. I don't remember if I wrote previously but my 'presence was requested' to be back home for an impromptu family reunion back home in the east. This time back it's going to be during the Thanksgiving holiday. Of course the 'request' wasn't REALLY a request, right? (read: YOU BETTER BE THERE OR ELSE!) To make a long story short, my mom is retiring in the beginning of the next year and will be going back to the Philippines for an extended stay of sorts (at least 6 months I think). With the advent of my newborn niece and my other younger brother just graduating from college in Toronto (and now living there), she wants a new family portrait. Yayyyy!?! Mind you, I actually savor my time back home. I miss my family and friends. I just HATE traveling nowadays. Back when I used to work for the airlines, it wasn't so much of a hassle. Actually the real hassle of traveling standby was just part of the experience. Now that I actually have to PAY for it ... eh, not so much. That's also during during the height of the travel season here in the US. The flights ar expensive. The planes are going to be crowded. Weather issues are likely to be abound as well! Oh yeah, I need not forget how that particular weekend is THE BUSIEST weekend of all in the retail calendar for work. They say the sales on the Friday after Thanksgiving are the key indicators for the overall Christmas holiday shopping season. It took some effort to persuade my manager to allow me some time off that weekend. We settled on me working that actual Friday and then finding a red-eye flight out that night. Ugh. Does anyone want to contribute to the 'Mike's Holiday Travel Fund' ? I take PayPal! lol.
Another holiday has come and gone. It was kind of nice to have it on a Friday this year. I was off. I did nothing, of course, until about sundown when we hit the bar-b-que grill and then lit fireworks in the driveway. Gotta love this part of LA I guess. They're actually legal ... the NON-flying ones that is. There were a lot of those flying ones going on around the neighborhood though. God bless Mexico for those! LOL.
Yup, it's all about the STENDIG CALENDAR. What's better yet is buying it at half price + my employee discount! Woo-hoo!!! (Wow, it obviously doesn't take a lot to make me happy, huh?)
It's interesting how I'm spending the holiday season in LA this year. No freezing cold temps and blistery wind chills for me! Definitely things I don't miss. I do, however, miss my friends and (immediate) family.
Today I stopped by the Beverly Center shopping mall in West Hollywood to see if I could find any good deals of Christmas gifts. Little did I know with stores like D&G, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, and the like I wouldn't find so many of those deals. It was awfully white though. The floors, that is. It was immaculate! Meanwhile, in center court was "Hunky Santa." So wrong on many levels. Only in LA, right? According to the website, he really is hunky. Too bad he was off tonight for me to see for myself.
