Christmas Bells are Ringing... on TV.

This Christmas has been great! I got way more than I ever expected or wanted for Christmas, and I have so much to be thankful for. This past year has been a crazy one, with what I believe to be nearly dying, loosing most of my hair and the rest of the madness that went with getting as sick as I did, I was a lot more in-tune with what Christmas means (sad, I know).
I was pretty bummed that for the first time in the last two years I could finally go to Grandma Jean's in Big Bear for the family Christmas but it was canceled due to weather. Though I missed G-Ma's, Lucas and I got to challenge the Martinez girls to a grueling tournament of Cranium. After the three games they game out victorious, but we were able to beat them once, a feet mere mortals have still been unable to do. Then Tuesday, Mar and I went to dinner with Kyle! We had Mongolian BBQ and watched GOLTV. We later exchanged gifts, Mar and I got Kyle Glenn Beck's book An Inconvenient Book, and he got Mar a cool Andy Warhol Jackie-O purse and this cool book called Infidel. Afterward we went back to Kyles house for some nerdy political talk and some FIFA 2007.
The next day was Christmas Eve with Mar and the fam which was just as great. There were lots of laughs, and Angel made the best enchilada's I've ever had. I got some "Clean" clothes and some pretty "Fresh" gifts. The best part was seeing everyone's faces with the gifts they got. I don't know why, but I looked forward to this the most, I don't know if it was the fact that I didn't have much money this year, so I tried to make sure the gifts I got were good ones, or just because I was more in the Christmas spirit. I was so happy that Mar liked her DS Lite, it was way hard for me to keep it quite and not tell her, especially when ever she would say how bad she liked Darlene's or when we went into the video game section at Target. Don't get me wrong though, I got a ton of great gifts myself! Here's what I scored: Some super comfortable Guitar Hero Pajama pants from Angel and Mario, Two nice sweaters from Momcella (one blue and one brown and white striped), James and Kristen got me the new Fall Out Boy album Folie a Duex as well as an awesome Gap cardigan (black and grey), Marcella bought me a sweet (RED) shirt (which i'm currently wearing) and a Jedidiah shirt which was stoked to get because I haven't seen any of their stuff in a couple of years. She also got me Scrubs season 7! I am now complete as James would say. I seriously got so much great stuff it was awesome, I didn't deserve it.
Today we celebrated Christmas day Hamilton style! We started off by watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and opening our stockings. My mom likes to give us candy every year, and this year she was sweet enough to get me candies that wouldn't kill me... basically no chocolate. I got Sweet Tarts, a box of Sour Jelly Belly and Life Saver's Gummies. I also got a pair of Wii sleeping shorts, and some chapstick. After stockings we moved right on to gifts, the dogs got their individual stockings with bones as well. I got Pushing Daisies Season 1, slipper socks, two pairs of Dickies shorts that I wanted (Khaki and Black), a huge Bob Marley poster/banner, Pajama bundle (Shirts, boxers, and pants) and a gift card for Target. My dad also took my Nixon watch in (without me knowing) and got the battery replaced, got it cleaned and a new band put on it.
As we all played with our new stuff in doors since it was raining, Mom cooked dinner. We had delicious Honey Baked ham, stuffing, Yams covered in marshmallows, brocolli, and baby potatoes. After dinner, we lounged for a bit and my dad suckered me and my mom into a game of Monopoly (which most people know, rarely does the game end on the same day it was started). Finally we all got restless and decided end the game when I had the brilliant idea to do something i've been wanting to do for a very looooong time. The videos are below enjoy them. As for me i'm done. '08 it's been a tough one for me, but the next year holds lots of promise, i'll be attending CSUSB (hopefully) and also i'm believing for a good solid new job. I plan to spend more time with family and friends as well as readjusting my priorities (more about that in time). Sorry if I went crazy with the links but it's fun for me. Until next time, good luck exploring the Infinite Abyss.

Lights so bright, palm sweat and blackjack on a Saturday night (Leaving Las Vegas)

This past Saturday, my family went to Vegas for the long awaited celebration of my cousin Lauren's (a.k.a. Lo-Lo) birthday. On the drive over, we stopped in Baker to grab a drink and stand in awe of the Giant Thermometer. My mom bought the each one of us a scratcher, I won six bucks on it!

We stayed at the Tropicana, though it's old, it was the funnest to play at. We went and saw the Folies Bergere show and it was actually really really cool. All of us were surprised. Here is the view from our room.

We didn't really see my cousin too much, she and her friends that came with her were out clubin' until three am. Thus why there are no photo's of her. Since she and her friends split, her brothers went to the rodeo with my uncle and my dad was heading to sleep, I decided to hit up some of the Casino's i'd been wanting to go to. I wanted to head up to Ceasar's Palace to stop in the Paul Frank store, as well as to return to Treasure Island since I haven't been there since I was thriteen and I know they've missed me. Unfortunately it started to rain and it was a long walk; I was not going to be stuck walking down The Strip in my blazer when it started to pour.
All together I played the entire day on forty bucks, then I went back to the Tropican to "my" monopoly slot in hopes to break a twenty to pay back my dad. The way the game was set up, if you got a certain combination you got to roll dice for free spins. While the machine was "free spinning" i continued to win more free spins, all the way up to 43 free spins. While it was doing this I was still winning money. I didn't have to do a thing, it just kept spinning on it's own and I ended up winning sixty six bucks! As soon as my spins were spent, I cashed out, tipped the drink lady five bucks paid my dad back and was up a few more bucks than I came with.
The next morning my we had a hillarious Champaign brunch with my family and my parents insisted I play roulette. It was a great experience, but I lost twenty bucks super quick. So while my dad continued to play, I dropped a dollar into a random slot and won twenty bucks! Then I played the twenty bucks and lost it. All around it was a great twentyfour hours. As we left, I saw the world largest In-n-Out sign.

It was a fun trip, especially seeing as I didn't really lose much money and I got to hang with family I haven't seen in a long time. Until next time, enjoy exploring the Infinite Abyss.

Have a good time this reunion, and drink some wine like Communion

Sorry it's taken me so long to post up some pictures and stuff from last weekend's trip to the family reunion in Havasu. While driving for three and a half hours I saw several fun sites, and I'd like to share them with you. Enjoy.

First I'd like to prove to Marcella that I am a rebel and occasionally do break the speed limit (mind you the limit was 75).

This was the majority of my view.

This is the Solar Field out towards Ludlow. This has actually been out there for quite a few years but I forgot all about it.

This is my crossing the Colorado River like in the movie Easy Rider.

Typical sunset photo

The third Deathstar. I'd like to know what Sith Lord is trying to do this.

Here is a short video of me pulling up to my Cousin Jimmy's fort of a home.

These are some pictures of his awesome new house that he built. Sorry if some of the pictures are blurry, it's still a gorgeous house none the less.

Someone should be caught and held responsible for this bloody mess

Today as I was walking to my car to get lunch I passed by this girl who was wearing a shirt that said "I'm not Irish, but Kiss me anyways" (click the link for all your promiscuous non-Irish apparel needs) and I finally realized why sub-consciously I have loathed type/text tee's. These shirts often contain one-liners that I have heard so many times that they now annoy me or they are instructions to do something that I would never be allowed to do because of social norms (the girl from earlier is a perfect example).
First I'd like to look at text/type tees. These can usually be purchased off-line or at your local Anchor Blue. These are usually a plain colored shirt with sayings such as "That's what she said" or "I Love Lamp". Yes these sayings are funny when coming from the mouth of Steve Carell, but not when I read it from your shirt. Your chest does not exude comical inflection nor does it usually pertain to anything that's going on at the moment it's read.
Like I said earlier, these shirts are usually cliches sayings or quotes from movies and such. A lot of times there are shirts out there that try to make fun of the text/type shirt with some "ironic" saying like "Keep staring I might do a trick" or "Stop reading my shirt". If you think these are as stupid as I do, why do you purchase them? There are also shirt that have sayings that make absolutely no sense, for example my dad has a shirt that says "It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys attack". Now granted this may pose a threat to Fiero but I think I'm pretty much in the clear.
The Second problem I have with this fashion faux pas is that when ever I have called someone out on their shirts instructions they get upset! I'm sorry but if you ask me if I have a problem because I'm staring at your shirt, when it says you'll do a trick, I better see some David Blaine kind of magic. If not I should have the right to scream out "Bait and Switch" or sue for false advertising because you wasted my valuable time with an illusion that you would entertain me. I know I'm being to literal with these shirts, but what if I was to actually walk up and kiss (not that I would) this non-Irish female who is advertising free kisses? Well, if she thought I was cute enough to over-look the creepiness factor of what I just did, I would probably get away without a problem. More realistically she would scream rape, blow her whistle and I would be sued and kicked out of school for sexual harassment. Honestly, what am I to do?
Text/Type tees will more than likely never go away. I will just have to wait it out and fight all urges to call these passersby. However I still blame Wham!

Until next time, good luck exploring the Infinite Abyss.

Carlton= Progress+Change... YES HE CAN!

Okay, so I had a lot of free time between adding songs to the play list. With that extra time I decided to do a lot of crappy quality Photoshop stuff. Enjoy.Then all the Carlton stuff got me thinking. Doesn't Suge Knight look exactly like Uncle Phil?

Watch me as I gas that, fo' dot six Range

Alright I'm driving out to Havasu Saturday after work. It's a four hour drive so I'm taking recommendations for a playlist I'm making to help the drive go by quicker. Give me as many suggestions of artist or songs to add to the list. I'm open to all styles of music and when I say all, i'm not one of those people who are like "I like all kinds of music except for country and classical...". Here's what I've got so far:

I look forward to your help, until next time good luck exploring the Infinite Abyss

Is the 'Good Life' better than the life I live when I thought that I was gonna go crazy?

For some reason, there's been a few events that I've been thinking a lot about lately to hold on to hope.

1. "I'm back to Vegas cause I always had a passion for flashin'"
   > When I was young, it seemed like our family had this tradition of going to Las Vegas for a weekend when ever one of us kids turned twenty-one. When I turned twenty-one, we did not do that. Don't get me wrong, I had an amazing twenty-first birthday and I am extremely grateful. However my cousin Lo-Lo's older brothers both had there's in Vegas and now it's her turn. I have been wanting so badly to go for the past year, and I have no clue why, but I am a bit afraid i'm getting my hopes up for nothing.
2. "Now my grandmama ain't the only girl calling 'BABY!'"
   > Though working at the church was great for so many reasons, they have this obsession with Jesus' supposed "birthday" (sarcasm for you who didn't catch that). This is completely understandable, however, this often resulted in me working the weekend before and the weekend of Christmas. My family also has this crazy tradition where the whole family spends the weekend at my Grandma's in Big Bear the weekend before Christmas. I have missed out on this tradition for the last five years. This seems like it'll be the first year in a long time I'll get to re-experience the drunken UNO games, the wild LCR games where winning $30 is better than Vegas, and the possibility that it will snow and on the way home my cousin will once again rearend my uncle.
3. "Having money isn't everything... not having it is."
   > This one is kind of weird. For one reason, I'm starting to realize that money is becoming the most important thing in my life. With the growing desire for material things, money is starting to become my mammon. As I continue to look for a better paying main job or a possible second/night job, my dad keeps trying to get me to become an entrepreneur and start a cleaning/childcare business. Don't get me wrong they're good ideas, but I don't have the time or energy to put into that kind of a job right now. Money just seems to be a big issue right now. I think for the first time it's actually taken an effect in my life. All I know is that by the time I get a new truck/x-terra, I will have paid off the balance on my credit card, and have a steady enough job to pay for car payments and school.
   

Apparently the weights of this world have started to show through. My parents and Mar continue to ask me why I seem down or distant and to be honest I don't mean to let it show, It's just a very odd time in my life. I've never been in a situation like this. Immediately after high school I had a job and i've kept steady well-paying jobs since then, while always keeping $1,000+ in my savings. Now that that cushin has been deflated, I am forced to depend on GOD for my provisions. While He does miraculously continue to provide for me it's something I'm not used to.
Well that's it for this update of life in the Infinite Abyss, until next time, good luck.