My list of stuff I've been doing...albeit not important but it's still "Stuff":
-Riding my bike: I've been really good at being physically active lately, especially since my training partner is an official Iron Man. It helps to have some motivation to move faster rather than at my own pace.

-Running: I've been killing it on these runs. This has always been a part of my daily routine but running 3-4 miles after a 15+ mile ride is a new thing and an accomplishment for me. I can't go more than a day with out running...and I don't even like doing it.

-Trying to eat healthy most of the time: I say this after yesterdays meal. I've been cutting bread/gluten out of my diet for the past two weeks (except for one cheat day) and I've felt a huge difference in how my body digests food and how my stamina has increased a bunch.

-Working: What else is there to say? I hurt people for a living, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad.

-Writing: Music and writing in general. COG has a grip of new material waiting to be recorded and I'm sure the world is just dying to hear it (if only sarcasm could be detected through this nerd box). I'm proud of the stuff I've been writing. I have a few projects lined up and a new idea for a writing project I've been brainstorming about. I hope all these projects see the light of day somehow.

-Doctors: I seriously cannot stand the entire medical field but this new Dr I am seeing is a good guy. I hope he keeps up the good talks because I enjoy paying him 5 bucks to hear about all the stuff going on in my head.

That's about it. There's nothing more to write.

I realize that I start a lot of my posts with "it's been a while" or "a lot has happened since last time...".

So I'll stick to tradition and say a lot has happened since the last time I wrote in this thing.

I am no longer sleeping on a couch (my back appreciates this) and have my stuff piled in a closet. My records and clothing are not in the same boxes and I am not stuck with out a place to invite guests to entertain.

I live in central Orange County now which is good and bad, bad because I live here and good because I live 5-10 minutes away from everything I want/need. I live across the street from a target...need I say more?

Riding my bike has never been easier, since this place is not surrounded by hills like south Orange County. I run around a man made lake that has swans and ducks floating on top of the water...it's awesome.

Me and my house mates make awesome food almost every night and like the same music...so far it's been good...so far.

Why are all my sentences sliced up like this?

I don't care.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm content...for now.

I guess medication is working again.

vexed

Life as of late in pictures:






The shops been kind of slow so I've been reading a little bit and playing games on my phone a lotabit.

Currently reading: the Devils Notebook by Anton Lavey. It's cool if you just want to read him ramble on about his views on society, politics, sexuality, and religion. It's nothing to write home about.

Things needed/wanted:
Steady income
Better self control when it comes to my desire to eat nothing but carbs
Road bike
Trip
Steady income
Creative energy
Did I mention steady income?

Here's some recent acquisitions:







Nothing beats that sound of that needle hitting that slab of petroleum...

decade (and more) of aggression.

This album right here: This album is THE album that can be blamed for my relationship with all things blasphemous, loud, distorted, and heavy.

The year was 1997, Grade 4, 9 years old. Before I listened to Slayer I was a hip hop kid, skated, smoked weed (come from a family where your siblings for the most part were considered "fuck ups" by societies standards an introduction to all things mind altering is bound to happen at an early age), and recorded our selves trying to imitate things seen on TV and skate videos. My memory is a bit hazy considering through my "developing years" I was using substances that killed brain cells before they were even there; anyway I think it was in a 411 video, I saw one of the many skaters wearing a Slayer shirt and that name stuck with me. I knew my older brother knew "metal" kids and traded cassettes that consisted of hip hop music for other "Alternative" stuff. Fast forward a week or two since first seeing that T shirt on some randoms back, I had this album in my possession. I remember it clearly, pushing down that play button that would change my life forever, first thing you heard was the crowd cheering and all of a sudden one guitar starts with an open note of very fast (inaudible) picking, cue drums and bass, them blasting into the very first slayer song I ever heard which was "Black Magic".

I couldn't listen to hip hop for a long time after my first encounter with Slayers music, it was too..."slow" for me. I'm not going to lie, the imagery on their first cd I ever bought scared the shit out of me (Which was the Haunting the chapel EP). This time in my life I had given up on praying to a god and not caring about a life after death. I was young, what the hell was a pentagram? Reading lyrics about the devil, priests dying, hells demons killing priests, churches burning, and everything that could possibly kill everything I ever knew was complete and total annihilation of my senses.

My love for Slayer has not gotten weaker at all through out the years, I still listen to this album from time to time and each time I do it takes me back to that first push of that play button.

minor place

Straying away from the internet slowly but surely.

I've been in the middle of what some call a "life improvement" stage. I don't see much improvement but I am trying to keep that positive mental attitude.

I got the Iphone 4 and I couldn't be happier. My days are now spent playing words with friends and brain challenging games. It keeps me busy at my brain numbing job. Good job...Steve Jobs.

I've been writing a lot of music for a lot of different projects I've got up my sleeve, hopefully one day I will unleash these songs and people will gang up on me and hate them.

That is all.

All's well, ends.

Advocates Anonymous

I suppose now's a good a time as ever to update this.

I have been hooked on watching Sex And The City, my lovely friend Tia introduced me to the series and it's taken a hold of my life. The only thing that I've really learned so far is that relationships aren't possible, at all. It's always fun to try and beat that game though.
I've been working a lot...trying to figure out what I'm doing with my self but anytime my mind goes in that direction I end at the vision of a tombstone; I'm just trying to figure out what I'm going to do from now until then.
I've acquired some new gear due to my working a lot, downside is I still don't have a room to put all my stuff in. The only thing this artist is starving for is a bedroom.
I've recently went off my medication in hope of making COG's new lyrics a little more...potent? One of the dumbest ideas I might have ever had but I tried and failed. I'm feeling the effects of it right now. So much so that I don't want to write anymore. Irritability...it's a motherfucker.

force the hand of chance

It's been a while since I've written on this thing. It seems like a lot has happened since the last time I've been on this thing; somethings not worth mentioning, others shouldn't be mentioned. I'm in my room (not mine or even a room) listening to the kids outside yelling, screaming, full of life. I remember when I was like that and at random times I feel that way. I always wondered where the hell that part of me went, trite or not...I feel old.

Two weeks ago a friend of mine, Brian Fyfe passed away by a self inflicted gun shot to the head. Brian and I were never really close, but I have known him since I was young and going to shows. He had recently started coming to the shop to hang out more often and he always had a way of making people around him feel good. That's what I remember Brian as, he is and will always be one of the top 3 funniest people I have ever met. I got the news in the morning when I was out and about and when I found out I had to sit down. I couldn't believe it. He shot him self while drunk, playing with a shotgun, in front of a couple of our friends. It's such a tragedy that he had to go out like that and I think that's what really hit home. One minute playing with a gun the second gone from this world. I haven't felt that affected by death in a long time. I think about him sometimes and it hits me that he's never coming back into the shop to talk shit with us and it just weirds me out. He will be missed.

In other not such downer news, the new band has been writing like crazy. We just wrote an EP and are now 2 songs into writing a full length...we still have not toured yet and I don't really plan on doing so until we have something other than our demo out. This next release will blow our demo out of the water. Not even comparable at all.

I think that's all for now. Let me try to get into the routine of writing in this more often, don't hold your breath.

yours falsely

My last post is all over the place, I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that (obviously 100 things at once).

No use crying.

resescitate

These past couple of days haven't been too bad. I've been exercising, eating good food (tasting, not health wise), spending quality time with a very select few, and keeping my self artistically satisfied. I came up with the idea of writing a death note and keeping it in my wallet, just in case my time to inevitably go pick daisys sneaks up on me. I suppose it will be my last "goodbye" to everyone who thought they didn't say goodbye to me. I suppose in theory it's a sad concept, but I think it's a good idea. I think my time on social networking sites is coming to an end. If it does come to an end, I will keep this around just so people know what I'm up to (who cares?).
I think I will go take some pictures tomorrow, I've been wanting to lately, I just don't have the means (car) to. Which reminds me, fuck driving. I have the worst luck with cars. This past weekend has left a very bitter taste in my mouth. Running out of gas, on the way to the gas station having the car over heat, waiting until 4 in the morning for my car to cool down. Granted I had good company with me for those dreadful hours, but it was a lot of stress and it was something I've dealt with far too many times. Hey cars, fuck you. Fuck paying for your gas. Fuck your keep ups. Fuck you. I need you though. Orange County is a complete shithole with out a car, you need one (to get out of this shithole). Maybe I should get a motorcycle, then my death note will probably be seeing the light of day a little sooner than I'd imagine.

you will suffer

I'm ok now, I think.


You can even make a piece of trash worth it, it just depends on who's poor enough to try to fix it.

teen angst has followed me into my 20s

The title says it all.

When I was a teenager (13-15) I was the complete opposite of what I am now. The "solid" core group of friends that one would have loved to have when they were younger and in those prime social ladder climbing years. Something changed, sophomore year I was at school about 40 percent that whole year. I was notorious for not being in class, my teachers were wise to what I was up to and they knew I had bigger things planned (sitting on my friends couches, playing guitar, watching stupid movies, band practice). Fast forward to Junior year, I found my self at a continuation school, with none of my friends (some how they went on to become seniors and didn't really have to worry about anything), in a whole new surrounding with a bunch of people who didn't know who I was. I was the third of my family to go to Serra, it was notorious for letting kids smoke on campus, fights at least once a week, gang members, pregnant teens, and things of the like. I'm not trying to make this place sound bad at all, I grew up in the kind of lower class areas of San Juan, none of this was new to me, but in a high school setting? It was completely foreign. There I was, I didn't even have a cell phone then, nothing to keep me occupied except my note book with Morrissey lyrics written on it. I was always that nerdy kid that came to class early and just sat there. I was the only straightedge kid, the only kid who was vegan, the only kid who listened to hardcore, that had any idea of some kind of "sub culture"...I was alone. Over time I made some friends, some came and some went, some went on binges, some went to jail, some committed suicide, some had their kids...the place was a revolving door of fuck ups and I wasn't ashamed to be in it. I lost touch with a lot of my friends back at the old high school. I felt like I had nothing in common with them and for the most part it was true, that isn't a slide against them...I was just doing my own thing. I got my first real girl friend that year. She was on the complete opposite side of the spectrum as me, and that was my first mistake. She used drugs, she didn't know what hardcore was, she was vegetarian though. In retrospect I think I liked her a lot because in my time of being alone after having had friends, I needed someone that was there for me. I'd like to say my family was there, but they weren't, they won't always be and I understand that. So we dated, she broke my heart, you know the story. Then began the toxic relationship that went on for about a year. I look back at those times now and I laugh, when all I could do then is cry and want to die. I was truly alone, heart broken, and I didn't even know what to do anymore. Like I said though, I've gone through worse things since then, and I laugh at that now. I found a lot of good music in that time in my life, I lost a lot of weight, I started to get into my pattern of being reclusive for long periods of time. I wrote a lot of music and I wrote a lot. I go back to those writings even now and I cringe at how bad I was feeling, probably just like I will to this. I don't hate her for it, I was always the kind of person that got over friendships fast and found other things to occupy my time. Now I see her in passing and don't acknowledge her, due to my spiteful nature, I hope it stings a little. We don't care about each other anymore and I'm kind of glad, cause both of us are train wrecks now.

I learned a big life lesson my junior year, never rely on anybody.

rewind

today I had one of those "episodes". wake up, look in the mirror, hate what you see, move on with your day...or do you? your day drags on like paint dripping down a wall. it hasn't been like this in a while. you tell your self it's just an off day (but you know the feeling all to well) and it'll pass. look at the clock thinking half an hour passed by, no it's only been 5 minutes and you still feel the same. hopeless, depressed, anxious. maybe changing your medication routine wasn't such a good idea after all. your body needs to adapt to the sudden change and over time (which still seems to be going by slower and slower) the feeling of numbness will take over again. it's gotten worse since the last time i felt this way. i remember all too well that feeling of discomfort, not wanting to be around people, but not wanting to be with your self. it's a movie with the same train wreck of an ending being rewound over and over. then it hits you, you're now dependent on medication, something to sedate you, something to control you and now the stress builds on top of the weight holding you face down in that water. a year ago i was sitting at home in a closet writing the same thing i'm writing right now except with the help of meds. i'm not sure if it's worse now or if it was worse then. you can try to talk to me and i can pretend to listen, but i simply do not care. nothing going on inside of my head except the constant thought of trying to catch up with my self. complete apathy is the theme of the day. you don't care what you say, what they say, where you are, how you are, give in and give up. nothing matters anymore, life has no meaning for the day and you're as good as dead. you're no longer a functioning member of society (you never were) and if you looked in the mirror one more time you just might get the urge to vomit. it's ok though, "it'll pass" and tomorrow will be another day. i wish i had a dollar for every time i heard that one. your friends, your family, your loved ones, they don't matter today, you don't matter and you want the world to know.
maybe changing your medication routine wasn't such a good idea.

5:40 and counting.

It's been 3 weeks since my parents left to Mexico on their annual vacation. Each year in mid January they leave to the nice little state of Puerto Vallarta. Here it is tourist galore, rich Americans coming to spend their precious money on one of Mexicos "americanized" cities. Now, before you jump to any conclusions, my parents aren't rich, I'm sitting in their house that has holes in the roof, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath room, 5 people living here (one of them being me on their couch). My dad is from a little ranch right outside of the big tourist attractions; here you can find some of the best handmade tortillas you can ever have the chance of eating. Dirt roads, brick, adobe, and wood houses line these make shift roads. I remember when I was 11 when we drove into the ranch everyone knew who we were...we were the Mexican kids born in America, they all waved at us...I felt like I mattered then. I haven't been there since then and they still ask about me. Regardless, this is off the point by 1000 words...so I'll stop right there.

I've been sitting at my parents house for 3 weeks straight cherishing my time alone, reading, writing, playing guitar, watching family guy every night before I fall asleep, and on the rare occasion stay out as late as I want (I don't have a curfew, I just want to respect my parents and not be slamming and opening doors in the middle of the night). I find my self with a familiar feeling, somewhat nostalgic about how I used to feel when I was a little bit younger, just being alone in a room and listening to music or simply staring at a wall. Loneliness is like meditation to me, I don't want to talk, I just want to think, I don't want to be around anyone, I just want to get inside my head; these are the kind of things a chemically imbalanced person wants (needs). I've spent a lot of time alone with my self since I was younger, even when I wasn't alone I was always inside my head. You can talk to me and I can carry a conversation with you but what you say will mean nothing the second it leaves your lips, because I'm inside my head. The leaving of the present time started when I was younger, I was always scolded for something; fighting with my brother, making a mess, you name it I did it. Eventually the need to just get away from all the "Talks" while I was being scolded was to think of something else, not at the yelling going on right in front of my face. Fast forward 12 years and I can't even control it. This kind of thing pisses people off and it pisses me off that is pisses them off. It's a lose lose situation. Writing when I'm in my head produces some weird results, this isn't one of them, but my other blog hosts those thoughts.
I've been teetering on being a social or wanting to stay in and cherish my time alone, the end results never really leave me satisfied. I suppose I'll have to live with those choices, maybe sleeping would suffice, but what a waste of time.

I've suddenly lost the urge to write anymore...I'm rambling anyway.

I suppose that's an update.