Be Yourself

So tomorrow is my last day working for my job. I have worked there for three years, and five months as a temporary scan tech. It wasn't something I looked forward to every morning, but it was somewhere I was capable of doing a lot of thinking. I have thought about happy moments, and depressing moments. I also had the time to stop and think if I was currently happy with my life. I am not.

I have always pushed for friends to chase after their dreams. People always have a dream job, or hobby they want to fulfill, but some people give up the opportunity in order to make money. Make money? We give up our time, and freedom over our greed for cash? This has always been a topic I can see many angles on, but can't always agree with the people I am talking to. If you make money, while doing what you love, then that's fantastic. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as you love what you do, but if you give up your dreams, and just settle for quick cash, then I don't think I can respect that as much.

Some people need money. Some of children, or have bills to pay. Some have got to this point intentionally, and some haven't. So I understand sometimes you need to push your dreams to the side, and handle responsibilities, but some people feel like they need to waste their whole life trying to become rich.

What happens when you become rich? Does all your problems disappear, and you finally get to live a great life? There is a higher rate of suicides amongst the rich, then the poor. Doesn't sound like money can buy you happiness. It can buy you fake friends, fake relationships, and possibly give you fake power, but at the end of your life, you still have ate, slept, walked, and bled like the rest of us.

So that has led up to my plans. I have spent three years, and 5 months doing something I have never cared about. I am thankful for the experience, and the money that has helped me pay my bills, and the gas I have used. Now it is time to do what I want to do. I don't want to settle for any random job I can get, because I think if something is going to take up hours of my life, then I better enjoy it. So after tomorrow, I plan on traveling. I want to see what I can, and enjoy the beauty of life.

I have made arrangements to stay with my friend for a month in Sacramento. I am not going to have a car, and I am not going to depend on anyone else but myself. I plan to travel on foot, and see all the things I can see in sac. After that month is over, we are going on a road trip. I know Portland, OR is for sure, but I am hoping to also go towards the East Coast.

My biggest interest in life is traveling, culture, and meeting new people. I want to look at all strangers as potential friends. I want to camp all over the place. I want to hitchhike, and I want to share meals with people I just met. I want to see local artist perform. I want to be invited to special events, and most of all, I just want to live. It is time, because I am not getting any younger.

I will return to a new job soon. I know people will look at this a "disgrace to society" and "the problem with America these days." But in reality, I feel sorry for the people who haven't lived yet. Have you found yourself, or did you live out everyone else expectations? Be you. Wake up in the morning, and ask yourself "If I was to die today, would I be satisfied with my life?," and if the answer is no, then change it.

Opinions are like assholes, we all have one

I haven’t written anything in awhile so I thought I should write what’s on my mind. Right now, the thing that seems to be bothering me the most, is I do not understand how people think they are more ‘important’ then others. People will rave with anger, until things become how they want it. Who the hell made you the boss?

Growing up, I tend to be “the fly on the wall.” I like to sit in the background and just analyze what is going on around me. I have came to the conclusion that, people, like to bitch. It even gets as bad as people bitching, about people bitching. Of course, we all complain. I mean what would life be if we never spoke up and put our two cents into things, but life can not be based on what one individual thinks is right. I mean, even Gandhi had controversial opinions in his younger days.

Life will never revolve around any of us. If you don’t like something, then change it for yourself. If you don’t agree with something, then that’s okay, you have the right to feel that way. Just don’t go pushing off your ideas as facts onto other people. Life is too short to be stressed out over people not agreeing on your perspective.

Take it for what is. To some of you, your going to take this as me, bitching. :P

When The Lights Go Down In The City..

Well it has been a busy weekend. I was scared of nothing happening for my four days off work, but I accomplished to enjoy it. Started it off by walking 6 miles in the rain from Kaiser, to my older doctors office, then back home. Then managed to get out and take BART to San Francisco for another 6-7 mile walk around. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera for any of these walks, but enjoyed having these moments for memory.

I know walking in the rain doesn't sound appealing to most, but the rain doesn't seem to bother me much. I had a doctor appointment on Friday, and my brother decided he would give me company for the walk. So got to Kaiser, and found out the news I wanted. (I found a lump on my neck, so wanted to get it checked out. Found out it is just an abscess, and was given medicine to take.). So after I was done there, decided I better make a deposit on my bill at my old medical provider. I was recently accepted back to Kaiser, but before them I was on CMSP. I have a bill that I have to take care of, so I make payments. This walk seemed like it was kind of far, but decided that we had nothing else to do.

My brother and I talked about all sorts of things. Talked about the highs and lows in life, and just talked about what ever crossed our minds. We grabbed a bite at Nations Hamburgers, where I made a mess of myself with a chili cheeseburger. I was trying to cut it, and somehow pushed chilli onto my sweater. After eating and washing my sweater off, we was off to head towards to the doctors. My aunt lives along the way, and my cousin just had a kid. So we decided to stop by there real quick, to see the new addition to our family. We didn't spend too much time, but it was cool to spend some time with family.

Finally, after we left there, we managed to reach our destination. It took a little longer then an hour to get there, and one minute to put money towards my bill. From there we decided to follow the train tracks to one of the main streets that take you to my house. Along the tracks, there was some nice sights to see. We saw sheep, trains with graffiti, and crossed a bridge with running water. Overall, it was a pretty good time I spent with my brother, and surprisingly, we didn't argue once. That is actually a big deal for us.

Then three days after, we made it to San Francisco. I have been trying to adventure out that way for a few months now, and it's been pretty hard since I don't currently have a car. My dad allowed me to borrow the car, and my brother and I head towards the BART station. BART is Bay Area Rapid Transit, which is our version of subways. I personally have always enjoyed the BART, and I liked the idea of not having a car to get around San Francisco. This time we was going to explore on our feet.

We got off at the Embarcadero and decided to just walk. We managed to find some nice parks, man made waterfalls, and things we wouldn't normally have found if we drove. We decided we wanted to go to China Town, but ended up passing it. So we journeyed back and found it. I have always wanted to go there, but never made it. This place is packed. The sidewalks are busy with tourists, locals, vendors, shoppers, everything. The thought of Chinese food sounded delicious. My brother decided to have chow mein and BBQ Pork. I went next door, and got three pork dim sums. I made my decision off of Andrew Zimmerman's tip, "If the place has a line, the food must be worth waiting for." And it just so happens, that was the best dim sums I have ever had. From there we checked out a few of the shops, found a pet shop with a giant parrot, and a gift shop with butterfly knives and fire crackers.

After we was done with China Town, I wanted to head towards Fisherman's Wharf. I love to get the Clam Chowder bread bowl, and watch which ever artist is there to perform. The artist of the night was One Leg Chuck. I love this place because there is so much talent that never reaches the radio. I have seen great performers every time I come here, and One Leg Chuck did not disappoint. He performed genres like reggae, then would switch it up to rock n' roll for his next song. I listened for about 20 minutes, and had to buy his cd. After a brief talk, he wrote his email on the cd, and said keep in touch. From there my brother and I was off to Ghirardelli Square.

I have been looking forward to getting a hot chocolate from Ghirardelli on a San Francisco night for a while, and it was accomplished. After purchasing it, we head towards the beach on the bottom of the hill, and just absorb the scenery. From there you can see the Golden Gate Bridge, and city lights all over, while listening to the waves crashing onto the water and sand. It was much needed. We spent about 45 minutes here before we decided to head back home.

Overall, I'd like to say, it was a good weekend, and a great time out of town. San Francisco has always been one of my favorite escapes. This has been the first time I have gone without a car, and a specific destination. I learned that you get to see a lot more things from being on foot, and will probably continue adventuring on foot, unless of course I have specific places to go to. Hopefully for the next adventure, I will have a way of taking pictures.

A Breath of Fresh Air

I have finally accomplished on getting out of town, and going on an adventure. This time to Santa Cruz, Ca. I was happy to receive a text from my friend Serena, asking me if I'd like to tag along on a trip to the Mystery Spot, and the Beach Boardwalk. So on Saturday, about 11am, Serena, Jake, Sage, and I was off to have fun under the sun.

So we started off by attempting to find the Mystery Spot, which just trying to find it, became a mystery. We spent some time lost on random roads, but I really enjoyed it because I go to see a lot of amazing scenery. After arriving to the Mystery Spot, we found out that we had an hour wait before our group was going to going to be able to take the trip, so we decided to go for a hike into the mountains across the parking lot.

Sage seemed motivated to find a banana slug, something I have never heard of before. She mentioned that if we was to find one, that you can lick it, and your tongue will become numb. Less then 5 minutes into the trip, we happened to find one. She was quick to pick it up, and Serena and Sage had no hesitation to lick it. I was kind of in shock to see them do it, but at the same time amazed that they simply didn't care that it was a giant ugly snail, on the side of a mountain. Jake and I refused to attempt to lick it, and began on our hike.

As soon as we started walking off, Serena and Sage was talking about how their tongue was numb from licking the snail. I decided that if we was to come across another, that I would have to try it. As soon as I said something, we happened to find another one. I kind of regretted what I just said, but decided "Hey, what the hell." I can honestly say I never licked a slug before, but there is a first time for everything, right? It was awkward, but unfortunately, my tongue didn't go numb. After attempted twice, Sage and I decided to put the Banana Slugs onto our face, and take pictures.

So we continued our hike, and got to see pretty nice scenery. It was much needed exercise for me personally, and I got to enjoy the outdoors, which I have been wanting to do for some time now. After about half an hour or so, we went back to the bottom of the hill to wait for our turn at the Mystery Spot. I have always seen the bumper stickers on peoples car about the Mystery Spot, but I have never heard anyone talk about it. So I was excited to see what this was all about.

The Mystery Spot is a place that breaks the laws of physics as we know it. They start by telling us that compasses seem to not work properly when you are within this 'circle' of an area that claims to have some sort of magnetic phenomena. They show you objects that look impossible to be even, then prove to you that it is. They had a piece of wood that they angled from a window of the cabin, and showed that the leveler proves that it is completely straight even though one side looks to be higher. Then to top it off, she takes a ball and puts it in the middle of the board, and it rolls off the end that looks higher. She even used random objects from the crowd, including water, and someones chap stick. Each time, the object would roll off the 'higher' end. Then you get to explore the cabin shown in the photo, and just have fun with physics. We all seemed to really enjoy the Mystery Spot. Then from there, we was off to the Boardwalk. *This picture of the cabin was not taking by us.

We showed up to the Boardwalk, but we didn't have too much sun left. We decided to spend some of the sun we had left, on the beach, and then make our way to the rides after. Well little did we know, the rides closed at dark even though the whole place was lit up. I, personally, am not a fan of rides, but Serena and Sage seemed to be looking forward to them, so that kind of sucked. They managed to get on one ride before it closed, but after that there wasn't anything else open. We still had fun hanging out at the beach, and just being out of town.

We ended the night with dinner at the end of the pier at a place named "The Dolphin." It was a pretty small restaurant, but the food was good. Then from there, we was on our way back home. I had a lot of fun with good company. There was nothing but laughs, and finally a chance to be around a lot of positivity. It meant a lot to me to be able to get out, and not feel stressed at all. The whole group is pretty funny, and never seem to come off negative. I like forward to hopefully going on more adventures with them.

-J

More Than What Meets The Eye

I live in a town where we complain that there is nothing to do, but sometimes you have to go beyond "the norm" and see what else is out there. It is easy to complain about what we don't have, but what about what we do have? I mean if we don't make the effort to find what else is out there, then we can't really sit around and complain about it.

I live in Fairfield, Ca. Population is 103586 (Census of 2009). We are approx. 45 miles between both San Francisco, and Sacramento. We do have a mall, a skate park, a few kid parks, and the HQ of the Jelly Belly. Outside of that, there isn't much to do if your under the age of 21. So, on Saturday, My brother, Anjelica, and I decided to go for a walk and take pictures.

There is things I would have never expected to see in a small city with a pretty big population. We was not completely prepared for this trip, but we was ready for whatever it took to have a good time. At one point, we even had to attempt to build a bridge to cross some water. After we managed that, we was off to an area that we have been before, and that I personally enjoy going to.


There is a place, that many house-less people consider home. I have been to this place a handful of times, and it makes me feel "away from home.". I will post pictures, but attempt to keep the location private. I have had nothing but a good time here, even once seen an otter. There has been a few that have not been able to see the same beauty that I have seen here. I find it really interesting the way these people have built their homes using whatever they could find. The whole area, sometimes, can be covered with self made homes like you see in this picture.


We ended the journey walking down a calm path. It is pretty peaceful and feels like a lot of people in Fairfield probably don't know about this place. The path usually has running water to the left of it during the rainy season, which makes it a great place to free your mind. There is no lights on the path. So it does get really dark, but it is worth the journey.


This journey has shown me that there is more than meets the eye, if you take the time to look for it. I am not saying all these places can be hours of fun everyday, but there is always more if you take the time to look. I enjoyed spending the time with friends and family, and hope others can find some sort of excitement in whatever their town has to offer.

Poem from Boo

what does my world consist of!? well your facing it right
my son was tired of being the center of attention so he escaped in the night
no sweat, since then all i got is a cold heart thats seeminly empty
since the world had nothing to evolve around the grass was no longer green w/ envy
eyes still set on me?! pupils in search of the answer, yearning for truth
well since people were afraid to go out on a limb the trees returned to their roots
you wish to drink from the cup of knowledge, but that opportunity has diminished well
because my waters were tired of having ricks thrown at them they left us in a living hell
i see your thirsty, wanting nourishment for the seed planted in your faith
but it would seem that my scenic landscapes landed an escape
people come and go, but you dont jump the gun so its just you and me
which reminds me the wind no longer bullies me ever since i tried to shoot the breeze
what im gettin at is that your people view my world w/ the same glare
what if i wanted to mimic you!? picture me w/ a blank stare...

-my friend boocifer.... gosh damn..

I dream

i fear whats not there
i listen to what i cant hear
i vision what i cant see
i dream of being what i cant be