Santa Paula

Last week one of my co workers asked me if I could go over to his brother’s house and fix the heater. I agreed. Then he told me the house was in Santa Paula, CA. Since he is a good friend I decided to go. So we agreed to go there Sunday morning.

It was kind of an easy job since the problem was only a loose cable that was preventing the burn to come on and start the blower. I got to be outside of LA for the first time in about 5 years.

Santa Paula is a small community that’s growing and made me miss big city LA lots. Thank god I’m back home now.

Rite Aide

Last night I was feeling a little sick. After the gym, went to a local Rite Aid and bought some over the counter medicine. As I was walking to the register, I noticed they were selling lighters with cool graphics. I picked them up. As soon as the lady saw them, she asked for my ID.

I told her i wasn't buying cigarettes, but said she needed to see my ID anyways. I told her I was 26. Apparently she didn't believe me. And asked for my ID again.

I normally don't carry my ID with me, so I had to leave the lighters behind.

This is the first time I buy lighters in a Rite Aide, so I don't know if that's the standard procedure. I always get my lighters from the 7-Eleven and have no problems.

oh, I almost forgot to mention I finally fixed the seats in my motorcycle. Will post pictures soon.

Mexico vs New Zealand in Pasadena

Last Wednesday I went to watch the National Mexican soccer team for the first time in my life. Normally I don’t go to these games because Mexico, for the most part, comes with a very young and inexperienced team to LA. But this time it was different. Since the FIFA world cup will be this summer, they brought the “good team” to Pasadena.

For this reason last Saturday S. called and asked me if I wanted to come to the game with him. I accepted and got the tickets for him, and his brother in law.

Come Wednesday, I got off early from work: at 5. Half an hour later S. Iv. And his cousin Ax. Picked me up and headed to Pasadena.

Since I don’t have any Mexico jerseys, I decided to wear my good old America one. I thought that would be good enough, but once I got into the truck. S. gave me a Mexico jersey (a green one) and he said he did it because he wanted everyone to wear a Mexico jersey.

There were 4 of us in the truck and behind us…S.’s brother in law came with other 4 friends I didn’t know. The plan was to get to the parking lot and from there walk to the stadium together. Nobody expected the parking lot to be that full and chaotic. So we ended up losing contact with S.’s brother in law due to all the cars and him losing cell phone service. I guess that gives you another reason to stay away from Metro PCS.

The four of us ended up walking through the crowded parking lot to the stadium. As I said, it was chaotic. Remembering what happened to us in the 2008 Pasadena Bike Tour (we left the van in one street and no one took the time to read the name of the street. At the end of the race we had to look for the van for another hour at least) S and I made sure everyone knew where we had parked:

Right under the balloon with a number 3 in it.

We walked until we saw a big ass line, so we guessed it was the line to get into the stadium. After waiting there for about 10 minutes. Ivan decided to “peek” if he could get us a better place in the line. So he got out of the line and walked to the front. Meanwhile a drunk guy was making the people waiting in line laugh with crazy jokes. He was drunk. Under his arm I saw a half empty bottle of Patron.

Then Santiago got a call. It was Ivan. He had managed to find a better place in front of the line. We took off. And walked ahead about 50 or 75 feet. We cut in line just about 20 feet away from the main entrance. (just like Santiago and I had been able to do that Black Friday in 2008 outside the Best Buy in La Brea and Santa Monica when he got his laptop)

We thought everything would go smoothly from there on. Things started to complicate when during inspection Alex was not let into the stadium because of his large camera. Since he had been the last of the four of us to get inspected, Ivan, who had been the first, walked without knowing his cousin was having trouble and wondered into the crowded stadium. Santiago had been the second, and I was the third to get inspected. I was the one who noticed Alex had been stopped and not let in. I called out Santiago and told him to wait and went after Ivan, who by then had crossed the line where they scan your ticket.

The security lady told Alex to go back to the truck and leave his camera. He asked her if he could just take the large lent thing off. She said she needed to check with his supervisor. So all of us waited there for about 10 minutes. After the supervisor came, he let Alex in and all of us walked in looking for the right gate.

But before anything, we stopped to buy one of those horn things where you have to blow really hard. To everyone’s surprise. It was harder than expected to make any kind of noise come out of that thing. Alex had no problem, I, however, was only able to blow into it without any kind of noise.

We had come in through the North entrance and were right in front of the 11 gate to get in. We walked in and the guy who checked our tickets to us (Santiago and me) to go to the other side of the stadium because our seats were there and told the others (Alex and Ivan) to look for gate 14 since their seats were there.

Now we are good Mexicans we’re not going to just give in that easily. Heck, we came together and were planning to watch the damn game together too. We had already lost half the original group (remember, the other five guys in the other van who we lost contact once in the parking lot?)

Walked to gate 12. Again, the guy told us to same thing. Walked to gate 13 and the same. Once we got to gate 14 the guy let Ivan and Alex in, but told us to look for gate 28, which was at the exact opposite end of the stadium.

Finally defeated and with roughly 35 minutes before the start of the game, all four of us got together and talked. We all agreed that if for any reason we got separated again, we would meet in the North entrance of the stadium and if it wasn’t possible we would meet in the truck which was right under the number 3 balloon. “Si se arman los madrazos, nos vemos en la salida norte o en el carro”

They went in, while me and Santiago practically had to run to the other side of the stadium. Time was running out and it was chaotic as hell. People walking in all directions and lines of people everywhere. Almost right in front of gate 20 I got a call from my brother asking me how was the game. I told him the situation and said I could not hear him due to all the noise. Mean while Santiago was calling someone.

It turned out to be Pablo, a mutual friend, cousin of a mutual friend in high school. After hanging up, Santiago told me to hurry because apparently Pablo had managed to go around security and was saving us a couple of seats behind one of the goals.

Found gate 28 and went in. The place was packed. You could hardly move. Eventually and from the distance, Santiago was able to spot Pablo. He was sitting way down close to the field. We finally got close to where he was, but now there was another big problem. A security lady was checking the tickets before you could go down the isle. So we waited closeby, pretending to watch the field and letting people go ahead of us.

Suddenly, he lady got called and got distracted. So we when down the isle. There was Pablo with two girls I didn’t know. And he sat there hoping no one would come around to claim those seats.

It was a good match…specially because Mexico won 2-0.

After the end we went back to the truck and waited for Alex and Ivan. The traffic was terrible going back to Hollywood. We ended up meeting Ivan’s wife, Lizbeth and Santiago’s girlfriend Jannet in a pizzeria near Sunset at around 11 pm.

It was a good night worth remembering.

Now there are a couple of pictures.

Updates

There’s so much to write about, but at the same time, there’s so little time to do so. First, some updates.

The Brazilian looking girl at the café went back to being cold and distant after the Valentine’s Day incident. In fact, I had not been able to go there until this passed Sunday. She didn’t say much, just took my order and gave me the change. As if nothing had happened. I’ve decided to leave things as they are with her.

Tomorrow, Wednesday March 3, we are going to the Rosebowl in Pasadena to watch the soccer match between Mexico and New Zeland. S., his brother in law and I got the tickets this Saturday for $30 each. Chances are I will be posting pictures about that.

We are planning to take a soccer ball and play outside in the parking lot…who knows, maybe Aguirre will see us and decide to take one of us to South Africa instead of Blanco or Marquez. Hey, anything can happen, right?

Lastly, Sunday I finally replaced the clutch cable in my motorcycle. The old one wasn’t broken or anything. It is just that I like to put new things on the stuff that drives me around. Only god knows when was the last time the clutch cable had been replaced. Now I know.

For some reason, after I reinstalled the gas tank (I had to take it off in order to replace the clutch cable) this weird noise started. It is a very low vibrating noise, however, just now I took off the tank again, and put it back. Took it out for a test drive, and everything seemed fine. Lets hope that solved the problem. I’m very “special” when it comes to taking care with the things that matter the most.

Oh, and I almost forgot I finally shipped my brand new computer back to the factory to be repaired. Some factory defects with the mouse buttons and the touch pad. Hopefully I’ll have it back next week.

Hey Novela, here is a kiss for you xoxox

Valentine's Day 2010--Part Two

When I came back from the bathroom and got to walk in front of her, she was preparing the order of the guy who had come in as we were hugging. She had her back to me, but turned her head to me and our eyes met. She smiled at me and I just kind of grinned at her. When I got to my seat, I started talking to that other girl…and that’s when things got interesting….

To be continued…

By then I had finished working in my designs and I was wasting time by chatting in the DAP chat room. Novela and Maelo were there. So it was just three. 5 minutes later I started talking to M, the how Armenian looking girl behind me.

By then I knew she had a boyfriend. So I was just talking to her because I didn’t want to give the impression I lost interest in her when I learned she had a boyfriend. But I did lose all interest in her after all.

We are talking and Ma, the brazilian looking girl is at the counter looking at us…and suddenly she takes out the piece of paper I gave her and waves it at me. And I think I heard her say “You’re mine. You said you love me baby”, but I could be wrong. She is waving the piece of paper and smiling at me in a playful way and I’m looking at her.

I was supposed to be talking to M, the girl seated behind me, but I got distracted by Ma, and this M noticed. So she turned around and saw Ma. By then, some customers had come in and Ma was talking to them.

“Ok, I have to keep on studying”, said M.

“Ok, I’ll talk to you later” I said, but I kept looking at Ma, who was attending the new costumers, but turned to me and smiled while our eyes met again. M noticed I was still looking at her and turned to Ma once more, and returned to her computer.

Normally I don’t go after girls who look like Ma. DO NOT GET ME WRONG. Ma is a very beautiful girl and there’s lots of guys after her. She even has a stalker. The thing is normally I prefer girls who look like Alizee. You know, fair skin with dark eyes and hair, and not like a hot brazilian volleyball player.

So not really knowing what to do next, I turned to the chatroom where Maelo89 and Novela were talking. I explained the situation. There Maelo89 told me to go and talk to Ma and ask her out. For some strange reason I did what he said. I got up and went up to her with the intention of asking her out. But I couldn’t walk up to her and pop the question; I had to play it cool.

I got close to where she was, by then there were no customers at the counter. I asked if I could ask for a favor.

She looked at me as if she was annoyed by something and added.

“You see, I got to clean this place” reffering to the café and with an attitude. “What is it?” ended up saying.

“I was going to ask you to read my hand, I wanted to know if there are going to be any major changes in my life at around age 25, but never mind” I said and was preparing to leave when told me to wait.

She grabbed my hand and read my hand, but did it with an attitude. More as if she was being forced to do it. She took out a pen to drew a little line in my hand and said:

“Yep. This is the life line. There’s a big change in your life at 25”

“So, that means I’m going to get the apartment?” I asked

“There’s a big change coming your way” she said but looked at M, the girl I had been talking to all night. For a second I got the feeling she was jealous. I ignored that and just thanked her and left. I was mad at myself for the way she had acted. Annoyed. It is not like I was going to just start talking to her for an hour before asking her out.

So I said “fuck this bitch” and I was angry at myself for listening to Maelo’s advice and not my gut feeling of just ignoring her like I always do. For some reason every time I try to get close to this girl, she acts annoyed. But sometimes she acts really sweet. Like the whole hug incident. First she hugs me and tells me she really like the note I gave her, and then she acts all annoyed at me.

Wtf? Is she bi polar or something? I don’t think I’ll try to do anything with this girl ever again.

Valentine's Day 2010--Part One

On my last entry I wrote I was going to go to the Café and see that brazilian looking girl and ask her out. Well, that night I went to the Café and she was there, but at the last moment something told me to forget completely about her and pretend nothing had happened. So I did.

I sat in a table far away from her and when I ordered, I just said “Hi” and nothing really happened.

Then I didn’t go to that café for about a week or so. Then yesterday, Valentine’s Day night, I decided to go there.

As I walked through the door I saw an open table in front of a good looking girl. And in the back, there was “Ma” (the brazilian looking girl) who looked at me. I put my stuff in the open table and headed to the counter to order. Ma was talking to a guy who was just there to socialize, the same guy who was there last time. As I got closer to them, she headed to the counter because she was talking with the guy at one of the tables in front of the counter. I looked at the guy and we both went “Hey”.

I turned to her and ordered. Made one small joke and she laughed a little. Headed back to the seat in front of the good looking girl.

When there I noticed she must had been about 5’5” and about 140 lbs. Light skin with very dark long hair and dark brown eyes. She looked Armenian. So I started my routine.

I took out my computer and started to unfold the AC adapter cord and turned to the girl behind me. I said “Hey…”

And before I could say anything else, she said, “Yes, I can plug that for you” Reached out her hand to me expecting the AC cord.

I said, “No. What I wanted to say was ***insert A-material line here***”

And she starts to laugh.

“What’s your name?” I asked

“M. And your’s is?”

“Juan Carlos and ***insert another A-material line here****”

And she is laughing again. “Well, I hope that works out for you”, she added.

“I’m going to let you finish what you’re doing and I’ll talk to you later”, I said. Turned to my computer and started to work on my design as I always do.

About 20 or so minutes passed and I turned to the girl and said, “***insert A-material line here***”

Laughing she says she was there just studying for a test she was going to have the next week.

“So, you are going to be a doctor, eh?” Suddenly from the corner of my eye I see Ma at the counter looking at me talking to this other hot girl. She is just there staring at us. I ignored that and kept talking to M. and making her laugh. More costumers came in and she got busy.

Then I told M I was going to finish what I was doing and I turned to my computer again. Worked for another 20 minutes and suddenly something very obvious hit me. It was Valentine’s Day.

So I took the receipt Ma gave me when I paid. In the back of it I wrote, “Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you”. We used to pass out notes like that. Once she gave me a note that read “I love you” and I responded to that note with one that said “I know”. She started this note thing because I used to say “Thanks, I love you” whenever she would hand me the change when I paid for my drinks or the stuff I was going to eat. But I have gone over that story in a previous entry in this same blog.

Well, I folded the receipt and headed to the counter. To my surprise, the guy she had been talking to was gone and there was no one, just her. She looked at me and smiled. I handed her the note and said she could read it right then.

She opened the note and read. To my surprise she went:

“Aaawww.” She looked at me with those big dark eyes and that good girl expression on her face, and I felt I was in heaven. Her body language was like that a girlfriend has when you give her a present she likes very much. “Thanks so much” she said and slowly walked to the part where there’s an opening in the counter so you can get out to the serving area. There she hugged me and buried her head in my chest and I put my arms around her. As we hugged I could also feel her boobs against me…nice J. Then, I noticed she was looking at the door, quickly turned around and noticed someone had come in. She headed back to the counter and told me I was very sweet.

I answered “I know” and kept on walking to the bathroom feeling all confident and shit. Once inside the bathroom and after having peed I did a little victory dance; NFL style. Hey, I got to feel her boobs and that’s worth celebrating. I know you would had done the same I was wearing a bit of the Prada Milano perfume G gave me for Christmas. I wonder if she smelled it and if she liked it.

When I came back from the bathroom and got to walk in front of her, she was preparing the order of the guy who had come in as we were hugging. She had her back to me, but turned her head to me and our eyes met. She smiled at me and I just kind of grinned at her. When I got to my seat, I started talking to that other girl…and that’s when things got interesting….

To be continued…

Gavilan o Paloma

I’m starting this post on Monday, February 1st, 2010 and the time is 2:58 pm. In the outside sitting section of one of the many Cafes in Sunset Ave here in Los Angeles.

Sunday night I went to a café, you know, to fish. When I got there, at the counter there was this girl that kind of flirts with me…well, we kind of flirt with each other. We’ve been doing that for about a year; since she started working there.

For those of you who have followed my blog since I started it, I’m talking about the Brazilian looking girl who works at the café . Remember the one I held hands with, first in a playful, and then as a “sexual tension situation” kind of way? And the one with whom I used to pass notes as if we were in the 3rd grade? Well, that one. I posted the whole incidents in previous entries.

For about 4 weeks I’ve had been ignoring her every time I went to the café because…well, I don’t even remember why I started to ignore her aside from making my order with her, but I haven’t really talked to her that much.

Ok, so she was there when I got in. I looked at her and she looked at me. She smiled and I kind of smirked at her. No one else was waiting to be served at the counter, but she was working on someone else’s order.

“It’ll be just a minute” said to me.

Nodded at her and waited. The place was almost full and there were very few tables open. I had left my stuff on top of one table that was open, but had no chair. I though it was going to be ok because right next to that table there was another open table with two chairs available.

I’m at the counter waiting to be served and suddenly two girls come in. A chubby and Asian looking girl and a skinny blonde. They take the table with the two chairs, and I noticed I was screwed because there were no more chairs.

Then, one guy packs his stuff and gets up, leaving behind an open table with one chair right in front of the counter. So I went to the other table and got my stuff and put it on top of that other table. When I went back to the counter I see the blonde girl is waiting for the Brazilian looking girl to finish to make her order. I just stood there and didn’t make a move.

When the girl at the counter finished, looks at me and says, “ok?”

I turned to the blonde girl and told her she could go first. She smiles back and thanks me. Orders whatever she was going to have and leaves

The blonde girl only asked for a tea so the girl finished fast, turned to me and said

“Sorry to have you waiting for so long”

“That’s ok, I let her go first”

She smiles and says, “You’re a gentleman”

“That’s what I do, I let pretty girls go first”

She laughs and asked me what I was going to have. Made my order and added:

“You know, I really missed you last night”

She smiled and looked at me with a good-girl expression on her face. Then I asked what was going on with the girl who got to work there the night before

“The new girl?”

“Yes. She made a big deal out of nothing”

“She is just like that, she makes a big deal out of nothing”

Just Novela and 8-bitPanda know what was the whole problem with the new girl because I was in the chatroom while it was taking place. Any question, you can ask any of us three.

I went on with my business and tipped her a dollar.

About an hour passed and I was working on my designs, I was almost done with it when I heard someone saying something to me. It was the girl at the counter. Didn’t really understand what it was. Apparently she said I had been the only one who had left a dollar and wished everyone was like me.

Then a very tall guy, with a thick beard comes in and starts talking to her. He didn’t order anything, was there just to socialize. I ignored that and kept on working on my stuff.

Then the guy leaves and the guy who was sitting at the table behind me leaves. I felt someone sitting at the table, turned around and it was the Brazilian looking girl. She looked tired and I said.

“You look like you need a nap” She laughed and answered she was really tired.

“Go ahead, do it now. There’s no costumers coming in”

She smiled and it seemed to considered the idea for a second or two.

I started asking her about her job search. She answered it was really hard to get into the publishing business at this time. Then said she was doing an internship at a company. She looked kind of depressed because she didn’t know if they were going to hire her or not. The company where she is an intern is suffering some financial issues and she didn’t know what was going to happen next.

I looked into her eyes and said:

“You are going to get that job”

She looked at me and smiled.

“You know how I know you are going to get it?”

“How?”

“I can see the future. I know how to read hands and I already read yours”

She is just there looking at me.

“Do you want me to read your hand?” I asked. I have only read one book about palm reading. And I did it because David DeAngelo suggest reading stuff like that and dream interpretation because those are topics that attract women. The $18 I spent on that book were worth it. Thanks David DeAngelo!!!

I took her hand and started to decipher what I could from her hand. I told her she was a very stubborn person. She looked at me and with a kind of a half smile on her face. Like I had really nailed it. I went on to tell her she liked art, but not just art in general, but a very specific branch of art because of the conical shape of some of her finger tips. Once again, she smiled.

“That’s it” I told her.

“Just that?” She asked.

“Yes, I haven’t finished the whole book about palm reading” I responded and she laughed.

“Ok, now let me read your’s” She said and took my hand.

Then something weird happened. She told me that at 2, 4, 10, and 12 important people had died. And that at 19 something really big had happened. Assured me that event really changed me and it practically is the point where my life started.

Trying to keep my cool I asked that if death could be interpreted as changes because at 10 and 12 and specially at 19, important changes had taken place in my life.

“It could” she answered.

“How do you know so much?” I asked and before she could say anything I added, “Did you read the whole book already?”

She laughed and said she has read many books about this.

She went back to reading my hand, pointing with a pencil at a line said, “This is the love line. People who have a long line and turns up pointing at this finger (the index finger) turn out to be very good love partners. They are supportive and generally good”

“Are you trying to say I’m not a good partner?” I asked.

She didn’t answer the question but added, “You need a girl that is different, not just any girl will do it for you. You need a special girl”

Then the tall guy came back. He had brought her food. She went up to him and talked at the counter. I put my ear phones back on and started to work for about 5 seconds, then something told me to look up…at her. I didn’t know what she was saying to the tall guy, but she was looking right at me while talking to him. The guy noticed this; he was giving me his back, but turned to me. He caught me by surprise and I looked away. It was weird.

He left about 10 seconds later. She came back to her place at the table behind me and started to eat. I kept pretending to work for a minute or two.

“So, what happened to you at 12?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Only if you want to tell me”

So I told her what had happened to me at 12. It was around that age when I moved.

“To here from another city?” She asked.

“From country to another country”

“From where to where?”

“From Mexico City to here”

“Oh”. Right then a random guy she knows, approached and offered her a banana shake to go with the food she was eating. She politely declined. And some costumers came in.

It was getting late, and to leave her hanging on her sit, I decided to leave before she came back. That’s another thing I learned from David DeAngelo. Before I could get all my stuff in the bag, she came back to her place.

“Ok, I’ll see you later”

“Have a good night” She said

“You too. Maybe next time I‘ll be able to tell you more things about you from reading your hand” She laughed and I left the place.

Monday night I texted and talked to G. I want my palm reading book back, damn it! Now I really need it. He said I should ask her out. That she is giving me all of the right sings. I normally don’t date girls like her. She is not really the type of girl I am looking for. Don’t get me wrong. She is very beautiful, there are lots of guys after her. She told me she even has a stalker she met at this job. But normally I go for the fair skin dark hair and eyes kind of girl…you know, the ones that look like Alizee and not like a hot Brazilian volleyball player.

Right now the time is 8:03 am Wednesday morning. Chances are I’ll see her tonight when I’m out fishing. And I have been considering the idea of asking her out. G told me I have nothing to lose. Sometimes we do seem to “click”, but others she seems cold and distant. And she normally is that way when I try to get close to her, but for some reason, when I ignore her, she tends to be sweeter. You know…wink and smile at me when our eyes meet and we are in opposite sides of the coffee house.

The time is 8:08 am and I’m trying to come out with a way of asking her out without looking like I’m trying to get close. I think I got it. Now I have to wait and see if it works this night or not.

Either way, you will hear about how things went in the next entry. And maybe one day I’ll finish writing the last part of the Busy Week saga.