Reflections and Recollections

So the holiday season is almost over and I'm glad to see a new year approaching for a fresh start... as if people really keep their resolutions. The holidays have been a big headache with the last minute shopping, odd work schedule, and keeping lunch and dinner committments with so and so here and there.

The biggest headache for the year ender happened about 3 days before Christmas. My car was parked at work and some fool backed his pickup into my car. Its not totalled or anything, just a huge eyesore dent, but this is the kind of stuff you don't want to deal with even if it doesn't cost you a dime. So I run out of the office after a co-worker tells me and I see some dude shaking his head looking at the mess he made. The guy was very apologetic so I wasn't going to go off on him since that wouldn't solve anything. So I just told the guy to go back in his car and get his insurance card for me to photocopy and just take it from there. So about 1500 miles later, my car gets hit. Back in July I walked into a showroom to take a look at this thing and was put on a 30 day waiting list that seemed to last forever, now I have to send this to a shop to have it fixed. The wait begins again.

The year was quick and interesting. I am 26 years old and just a year ago I felt like I was still 22. I don't know what happened but I finally feel my age. I guess the past couple of years I was denying my age and still felt like I just graduated from college or something. I guess when you're still a teenager, the wait to reach a certain age seems to take more than a lifetime (maybe everyone gets excited to be of legal age to do the things we want to do), but at a certain point, life seems to fly like you have no more time to enjoy the worry free moments of childhood without responsibility. As far as resolutions I set at the beginning of '04, I don't thing I set any goals for myself. I have done things that I thought I would never do, but today, like one year ago, I have no idea what this coming year holds. Good luck to us all.


Being the movie and music addict that I am, I can't close out the year without sharing some of the things that impressed me. Thank God this isn't a new decade otherwise this list would turn out to be like one of those Y2K 3 day long top 500 songs of the decade countdown that you heard on your local radio station at the turn of the century.

Well, my days of being a couch potato and having a free ongoing Blockbuster freedom pass have occupied a lot of my late nights. I must have gone through over a two hundred movies this year and the ones that moved me the most were:

5. Napoleon Dynamite- flippin' sweet...gosh!

4. Garden State- Zach Braff is a hack, a trying to be Wes Anderson or Cameron Crowe director... but the story is awesome.

3. The Bird People of China- Okay, this movie came out in Japan years ago but only reached US soil this year.

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- this got me thinking for days

1. Before Sunset- all your puppy love "what ifs" and feelings on celluloid. Of course you need to see the first to feel this one.

Of course, I have yet to see I Heart Huckabees, Closer, Oldboy, and I'm getting impatient waiting for 2046 from Wong Kar-Wai to hit this side of the world.



A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the soundtracks of my life. This has been my soundtrack of 2004:
5. College Dropout from Kanye West- this is so played out but I love it

4. Crunk Juice from Lil' Jon- Okaaaaaaaaay...!

3. Garden State OST- The Shins, Nick Drake, and Frou Frou on one disc, how can you go wrong?

2. Give Up by The Postal Service- emo meets electronica could never be better! Actually this came out in early 2003 but got more play this year.

1. Ghosts of the Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon- everyone NEEDS this little indie album. Hope you can still find it. Check out Mark Kozelek's older work from when the Red House Painters were still around. For the past six months, these discs are the only thing I listen to at night.



In 2004, I've been impressed by these products:
5. Halo 2- This game kicks ass 100 times more than the first... I wish I was sober whenever I play it so I can enjoy it more.

4. Church key belt buckle from Urban Outfitters- The ultimate survival tool for beer drinkers. I still need to get one... damn thing is always sold out or on back order. (I just checked the site. Looks like it's back.)

3. Apple Airport Express with Airtunes- iTunes in surround sound on the home stereo system. Thanks Steve Jobs. (Why are PCs like air conditioners? Once you open windows they stop working...)

2. Taco Bell Caramel Apple Empanadas- Heart stopping goodness. To the guys at McDonalds, this is how apple pies should still be. Too bad you decided to go health conscious.

1. Motorola V3 RAZR- So what if it's just an ordinary phone in a cool shell. Thats the point, it looks cool.



...And the disappointments of 2004:
5. M. Night Shyamalan's The Village- I loved it. I praised it on my blog. But he made suckers out of all of us and pissed off the majority. Come to think of it, this makes it bad ass.

4. Bay Area football teams- people in NorCal may as well forget this season.

3. Josh Childress' play time with the Atlanta Hawks- I was lucky to meet and talk to this guy a couple of times while he was still at Stanford and I was excited when he told me he was going pro but the city of crunk keeps him on the bench too long.

2. Nokia NGage QD- I have this thing and was impressed the first few weeks and got me addicted to Tiger Woods PGA Tour again. A huge improvement from last year's taco model but this thing is so buggy and is a piece of shit if used as an actual phone.

1. Kevin Smith- Each movie you make you sell out more and more.



Well, the start of a new year is fast approaching. I'm just at home with Rho and J waiting for this hectic year to come to an end. For me, this year was one busy rush to the point just last week, I felt like I was working myself to the last limb. Several cigarettes and Rockstar energy drinks later, I find it fitting to end this year laid back in the place I rarely have time to relax in.

I have a few glasses of wine that can still go in my system before 2005 drops.


Happy New Year to everyone!