here it is my daily life struggle...and if you ever have enough time, go to the archive section and catch up...

all day saturday i spent it in the garage...how you could spend so much time in there?...well let me tell you about it...its not that hard to spend a whole day in the garage if you live under this roof...my dad like ive said before is a jack of all trades...one of his particular trades is a mechanic...yup he loves to work on our cars...he never takes it to a dealer or another mechanic...he has to be hands on and know how about everything about all our cars...its not as hard as you think either...we have manuals that you can get at any auto store (about $12-15) and they tell you everything about your car...so if you can read and have the right tools and youre not too afraid you could do anything with your car...

hey what comes to your mind when you think of your birthdays...the actual day...do you remember what happened those particular days?...i really dont remember being all that happy...i dont remember cake or presents...the ones that stick in my mind were the ones that i spent in the garage working on any of the cars...pretty crappy bday working all day long getting all greased up and dirty...not so happy...

the good news is that i didnt have to work on any of the cars today...what we did in the garage is throw away some of the crap my dad collects...hes a true pack rat...he tries to find a reason to save anything and everything...his motto "keep it, you'll never know when you're going to need it"...i was actually happy to help clean up...you just dont understand how much junk is in there...so any chance that we have to get rid of some of it, we take it...if i ever get wealthy enough ill just buy the house next to ours and let him store all his junk there...and ill definitely buy him a new car...im tired of him driving that p.o.s. i cant stand to look at it...thats the car my older brother and i learned how to drive stick...im scared to think my little brother and sister are going to learn in that thing...it has to have some friggin sentimental value to him or something cause he just doesnt want to get rid of it...time to go out and get lotto...
posted by ryan edu 1/20/2001

i get up at 730am this morn...thats pretty early considering i stay up until 2 or 3 in the morn...i had to take my bro and sis to school...i was struggling to get up...this is exactly how monday morning is going to be for me when i go back to school...i already know it...

a little later i decide to go to school to help a friend find her classes...it seems that all her classes are in the farthest corners of the campus...i discovered new places when looking for her classes...it was amazing...the funny thing though is that my classes are pretty much clustered together...no running across campus to reach the next class for me...i told her to invest in a good pair of running shoes...heheh

after the usual blur of the afternoon along comes dinner time...hmm what to eat?...i see some fish on the counter, so i guess im gonna cook it...i scale it and then de-gut it...lots of practice from fishing...but my problem is how long and what temp to bake it...350 sounds good, maybe for 45 minutes...ill see how it goes...when the time is up the fish is cooked but still need a little more crisping...time to broil...yup and thats how to bake fish...you can add tomatos and onions to the insides of the fish before you bake, if you would like...and badabing badaboom you got a healthy dinner...

well during this fish preparation i get a call from my friend nellie...she starts the conversation with..."i have a weird question for you"...okay..."do you have an oil filter wrench?"...i was like hey, of course thats my line of work...actually anything is my line of work...when you live in this household you are forced to go under this apprenticeship with my dad...hes like a jack of all trades type of person...he wants to be able to do everything and anything on his own...and so i learn quite a bit from him...ask any of my brothers they can testify for me...

anyways i race over there with two types of wrenches...and she finds the one she needs...nellie and mai acutally had everything under control...they had everything done except changing the oil filter...i was suprised to see girls working on their cars and actually wanting to learn...getting down and dirty but hey more power to them...it makes them more independent and more knowlegeable than most people...changing oil is a basic necessity for your vehicle and learning how to do it yourself can save you so much...much props to the new "oil changing master"...

well after dinner and some tv watching i get a call from my friend eileen...she says that a bunch of her friends are going bowling...i thought its friday night i need to get out...so off i go...when i get to the bowling alley there are a few familiar faces in the group i see but there is a whole grip load of new ones...im being introduced here and there...ahh my short term memory is the worst...so many new people and faces...its gonna take a little while for me to learn everyones name and associate it with a face...there was probably 18 or 20 of us there...it was pretty wild...but the after bowling get together was even better...the house we were at had a nice bachelor pad atmosphere...a pool table, a fish tank, a little indoor hoop, a bumpin stereo system, lots of room to dance or just have some wacky fun...let me just say the fun didnt stop until about 2 in the morn with this "animal game" we played...
posted by ryan edu 1/20/2001

im making mad phone calls this morning for the weirdest thing...vcr belts for my 1982 beta machine...yup i said beta not even vhs...thats what my dad wanted me to do today...the whole time im making the call im thinkin why the hell are we fixing up this p.o.s. when we should be getting a dvd player...talk about stoneage the friggin machine ways at least 50 pounds...im not kidding either, you can come over and get a full workout if you would like...hey and not suprising they actually still carry parts for this machine...i find out at night from my dad that we are fixing it for my uncle in the philippines...it seems we have some old family videos on beta thats the reason we're trying to fix it...only if i knew this before hand, then i wouldnt have been so confused why i was making the calls...oh well...

around lunch time i get a call from my older brother who lives in florida...hes a police officer there in jacksonville (home of limp bizkit)...yeah so we catch up with each other and then we start talking about college, growing up, the circus, cell phones, etc. it was real good to hear from him...you really dont know how important someone is to you until they're far away...i guess we take for granted the times we spend together with people thinking that they will always be so close to us...so this is my consent to all of you out there to go call that family member or that special someone in your life...see what theyre up to, see hows everything going, tell them you miss them and that you care...you really dont know the power of hearing the voice of someone thats thinking of you...

anyways yapping about college...if i win the lotto, ill still go to college...you could quote me on this one...the way i see it, with all this money...you have nothing holding you back...you dont have to worry about tuition, classes, books, parking, housing, etc. as with the majority of college students, our financial woes keep us on a rigid curriculum...we cant afford to take other classes that may not be geared for our majors...but with a cushion of cash you could take any class you ever really wanted to...step away from the straight path and take a detour here and there instead...i mean think about it, when youre picking out classes to take, dont you ever wonder out of curiosity what a certain class was about...or you wished you couldve shouldve but didnt...hey but now you can...and whats the worst that can happen, you take a class and learn something new...but who knows you may encounter something that sparks interest or a passion that you never knew you had...but the majority of us cannot enjoy this due to finiancial bindings...the ability to explore and expand ourselves at a speed we would most enjoy...and so we toil all day long in work and school...like ants...
posted by ryan edu 1/19/2001

errands again...and my dad just told me i got stuff to do for him tomorrow...just great a few more days of break and i gots to run errands...well this morning wasnt too bad...angelo came over and we headed to 32nd (the navy base) to look for a car stereo...after hours of searching...he comes up with something that will fit his budget...it was kinda cool looking for a deck because ive never had to search for one...my 93 accord came with cassette and cd...anyways there are so many brands and features and price ranges...my advice is to work within your budget and stick with a brand you can trust...

after all that jazz i gets home all pooped out...dont you ever feel like that...just tired after running errands all day...but you really didnt do anything physical straining, just driving here and there...yeah so i decided to nap for 2 hours...after a good rest i decide to head to the gym...man i havent been there in such a long time...starting back up is one of the hardest things to do...ahh but when you get into the swing of things its like second nature...i started off pretty slow today but then decided to pick up the pace...bad idea...after a while i started feeling nauseous...yup its a sign that my bodys not yet ready to go full on...oh well, little by little and ill be back in tip top shape in no time...
posted by ryan edu 1/17/2001

i was running errands this morning...hmm something ive been doing lots over break...do this do that...hey it keeps me busy...well as i was picking up some dry cleaning i bump into good ole greg...seems he was running errands in between classes...yup he's another ucsd student like so many of my friends...we havent seen each other in awhile so we decide to grab a bite during lunch...we talked for awhile...lots about ucsd (my school coming this fall)...about playing guitar...our high school days...future plans...what if we had a million dollars...you know the stuff that comes up when you havent seen someone in a long time...well it was good to hear from him again, hes got his head straight and he knows where hes headed...

well after errands i get home to chill for a little bit...angelo gives me a call so we could look for a deck for his truck...he says he found some speakers so the system is next...we head to circuit city, al and ed's, and the good guys...we find one at the good guys but he still wants to check the base tomorrow...

well i just finished watching mission impossible 2...john woo is the man...it was a different style from the first movie but was well put together...there is just something about the scene when nyah first appears...theyre in seville...they got the classical guitar going in the background(my favorite song off the soundtrack)...the women dressed up and dancing their native style...it makes me want to fly to spain...just going to get away from everyday normal life...man that would be cool...maybe ill be rich enough someday when i could go whenever i choose...wouldnt that be something...hey i can dream...
posted by ryan edu 1/16/2001

happy martin luther king jr. day...my monday however was uneventful...didnt do much except roam around my house...thinking of what i should be doing...i did some cleaning here and there...tried to get my scanner to work but that didnt get anywhere...i know its something with my usb ports because i took it over to my friends house and hooked it up to their computer and it worked perfectly...damnit i dont want to have to return it...

well hopefully tomorrow will be better...i only have one more week of break till school starts up again...oh how im not looking forward to school...i wish i could be on break forever...nah that would make me stoopid...i needs to get my edjimikashun...im going to college to get more knowledge...
posted by ryan edu 1/15/2001

sunday its church day...why is it so hard for me to stay awake?...i know i should be wide awake but i just cant do it...only if there was more singing dispersed here and there...that would help me out...hmm ive thought about joining the choir but do you really want to see me dozing in front of everyone with my head jerking and trying to play it off that i wasnt falling asleep...come on i know everyones done it...nope i dont think i would want to embarass myself in front of the whole congregation...only if there was more singing involved...

anyways after church my family decides to go to mt. laguna to check out the snow covered mountains...the snow is all due to a recent rainstorm we had...ahh damnit there's a line to get to the top of the mountain and on top of that an hour wait...well we drove about 50 minutes to get there so we waited...eventually we make it up there...and it was just plain beautiful...everything covered in a blanket of snow, the scene was so picturesque...

well we spent most of the day there making snowmen, having snowball fights, taking pictures, making snow angels...(almost as fun as making "grass angels")...sliding down the hills on huge plastic cover...this whole experience made me feel like a kid again...when i was living in new york it would snow every winter...icicles would hang from our house, our backdoor would be frozen shut, there would be at least a foot of snow on the ground...i actually had to walk to school in these conditions...when it snowed it was just too much fun...and yes there is a difference between man made snow and the real deal...you just know it...i guess you have to experience it to know what im talking about...so if you want to experience it you might want to make a trip to the mountains sometime soon before it all melts away...and remember, don't eat the yellow snow...
posted by ryan edu 1/15/2001

i wake up at 10am...im supposed to be at a friends house to be helping her move...argh im gonna be late...i eat breakfast get ready and im out the door...when i get to her house i find out that her dad and her other friends that were helping had already left...doh!...so im chillin at the house waiting for them to come back...it looks like they're getting ready for lunch...pancit and barbeque...a combination you cant go wrong with...man im gonna eat and i havent even helped out yet...i feel so bad...so after lunch its time to rock and roll...i strap on my weightlifting belt and im good to go...we haul her couches night stands and chairs into a truck...with 6 guys workin together we pack the u-haul pretty quick...unloading is even quicker when we get to the storage area...everything just flies out of the back of the truck working in an assembly line...we were actually having fun doing all the work...it was like a scene out of snow white with all those happy hardworking dwarves...with a quickness we finish around 3 in afternoon...

speaking of moving...im not so happy to say this but im an expert in the area...ive moved quite a bit in my time...my dad was in the navy and so the relocation was all a part of it...i moved from cali to new york, new york to virginia, virginia to texas, and texas back to cali...a move is pretty hard to undertake...imagine yourself in your home right now...you live comfortably knowing you have friends maybe family surrounding you...school is going smooth and work is right there...could you just pick up and start a fresh in another state...maybe across the country...its pretty devastating i think...especially at a young age...you really dont understand whats going on, things arent always explained...all you know is that youre leaving your friends and you're going to whole new place...that means a whole new house, brand new school and no friends where ever you're headed too...

now lets say you've been living at your new house for a few years now...everything is back in order and you have that same comfort that you once felt before...school is great, work is wonderful, your friends...its seems like youve know each other forever...now that you have everything going for you...its time to pick up again and move to a new place...do you think you could handle it?...maybe once or twice right...try about three or four times...thats what i had to go through...just when you feel stable and situated, the floor beneath you drops and youre busy trying to get situated once again...it's a total nightmare starting new every 3 to 4 years...as of right now ive been living in san diego for 6 years...and even within those 6 years ive moved from a different house into the one i currently live in...i still have stuff in boxes...i guess i got tired of unpacking them only to pack them up again...

ahh but theres a lighter side to all this depressing shiznit...i cant say that i would give up all the memories experiences and friends that i have gotten because of the moves...it has molded me into the person that i am and i am better because of it...i still keep in touch with some of my friends and i do look forward to one day going back to all the places ive lived...i guess thats what life's all about...the experiences...
posted by ryan edu 1/15/2001