“Fools talk shit, but in my face they kiss my ass man.”
- Disappointment….
So I wake up at like 6:45am yesterday (and if you know me, you know that’s a miracle in its own right) in the hopes of being one of the first 100 people in line at the new IKEA so I can get plugged with a free chair. Cause shit, it’s a Thursday and people should be going to work, not to IKEA.
But, I turn on the news to check traffic and find out that there are already about 400 people in line, the first 5 people sleeping in beds they won for being first, and Jerry Rice serving these first 5 breakfast in bed.
Damn. Either there’s more jobless people out there than I expected, or people just LOVE free shit.
- Oh well, there’s always the $50 off coupon.
- On the brighter side of things…
Speaking of work, it looks like I may have finally found a job. Dino emailed me last week about a job fair his company was having so I check it out last night.
Now, all the job fairs that I’ve ever been to were so informal: you wait with like 20 other people in a long ass line, to talk to a recruiter for like 2 minutes, hand them your resume, and you’re done with.
But it was different here. First of all, it was just one company that was there, but, they had different tables set up for their various departments. Then when I got there, I had someone personally tell me about the company as a whole and take me to each table to find out the different aspects of the company and what role each department played. And the weirdest thing was that I had people constantly coming up to me and just talking with me. By the end of the night, I winded up being pretty chummy with a few of the people and talking about friendster (God, can I go at least one day without someone talking about it???), clubs and parties, and mutual friends that we have. They told that they were in the process of hiring a lot of people, and I left feeling pretty confident of the impression that I made on them. (Keep your fingers crossed)
- Have you ever found yourself in certain situations where you take a step back, look around, and think to yourself, “Wow, this is just too dope. And I just can’t believe I’m here right now.”
These kinds of moments don’t happen very often, but I’ve had my share: co-coordinating a dope (and funny) PCN with Sarah; watching certain artists like Mos Def and Saul Williams live on stage and just being blown away by their performances; standing on top of the Empire State Building and thinking to myself, “I’m finally here” (I had been wanting to go to NY for a while); seeing my baby kick and move on the sonogram for the very first time; and this past weekend:
I show up at MILK on Saturday a little after 9:45pm with the homie Jae, surprised to see that the club was already starting to get a little crowded (which was surprising as hell since most clubs really don’t start jumping til like 11:30). I go upstairs to the DJ booth where Deen’s playing and start setting down my crates.
“Damn man, does it always get this packed even before ten o’clock here?” I asked.
“Hell naw man, almost never,” he answered, sounding just as surprised at the early turnout as I was.
I switch off with Deen a little after ten, a little nervous at first. I mean, this definitely wasn’t my first gig or anything, but I was nervous because this was the type of crowd and scene that I really wanted to break into and make my name with. After shaking off the initial jitters, I started to feel more comfortable, inching closer to ‘the zone’. It’s like a game: First, I broke the crowd in early playing the hits they may have forgot: Charizma’s “World Premiere, Wu Tang’s “Ice Cream”, Artifacts’ “Wrong Side of the Tracks”. Then, I went into the sureshots that you know they’d love: some early Tribe, Pharcyde and Nas. Then, when I could feel the crowd getting anxious, I hit em in the head with some dancehall: “Chi Chi Mon”, “Don Dada”, “Row Like a Boat”.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and someone saying, “Damn, slow down dude. You got them going already.” It was Apollo.
“Oh, my bad dude, I’ll slow it down some.”
“Naw man, keep doing it. They opened the back room and people are already dancing!”
I peeked around the corner from the loft and found the dancefloor already packed with people dancing. I checked my cell phone and saw that it was only 10:40 (the back room usually never opens before 11:30 or midnight, since people are usually just getting to the club and are trying to buy drinks).
That’s when I took a step back to take it all in: I was playing at a club that I would’ve killed to DJ at when it first opened six months ago; opening up for some of the dopest DJs that I’ve looked up to for years (and one of them standing behind me encouraging me to keep going); and playing in what’s usually a shitty time slot (opening, when usually no one is there yet, or people aren’t dancing yet cause they’re just having their first drink) but still having a really good sized crowd already dancing.
I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging, but honestly, it just felt really good. I felt like I accomplished something that I had always dreamed of doing.
Next stop: main stage.
- Went rafting last weekend with like 20 other people, which was hella fun.
Aside from: almost drowning and being left to float down the river while Joel’s girly ass calls for help (What the fuck am I supposed to do? I can barely help myself! It’s all good though, now I can tell people I saved your life and your aqua sock); seeing some drunk guy act stupid and try to swing from a rope tied to a tree, fall about 20 feet trying to slide down that rope, hitting his head and back (which made a sickening thud sound), roll in the water, while his friends scream for help, then having a rescue helicopter circle around 20 time for about 15 minutes, only to tell us, “A rescue boat is one the way!” (Uh, thanks… what the fuck are you here for then?); Eric losing one of his slippers and our other boat finding it down the river; being unarmed and caught in the middle of some Vietnam War type water fights; and our bus breaking down on the freeway about a quarter of a mile from our exit and having to wait for another one in the hot ass Sacramento Valley weather to pick us up, it was a dope trip.
The next day, we headed out to the Sacramento State Fair. It was hot as shit, but if it weren’t for the fountain to cool us off (1,2), I may have been grumpy as hell the whole day.
Super big high fives to Mishi for organizing and planning the whole trip (and I seriously mean organizing – with itineraries for the group and everything).
Check out some pictures from the trip here: (1,2,3)
- On our way back from Sacramento, we picked up my sister and her boyfriend from the airport, who were flying back from New York (and that big ass blackout) where she got me this dope ass belt buckle.
In other news:
- Go pick up that new Neptunes album!
But don’t pick it up to support that glory hog Pharrel, cop that shit to support Chad. Not only because Chad is Filipino, but shit, Chad needs some shine too!
On the subject of stealing the spotlight, rumor has it that the 'Tunes are doing some of their own stealing.
- Attention sneakerheads: word is, Nike will be re-releasing the first series of SB’s. Ah, finally my chance at copping some Forbes and Supas.
- Ok, I know I’m somewhat of a shoe whore, but this whole Air Force 1 thing is getting a little out of hand.
- And while we’re on the subject of sneakers, people were breaking into sneaker stores in New York during last week’s blackout. Damn, the shoe game is getting crazy.
- I finally got a chance to reject my first friendster request from some girl whom I hardly even know, and whose brothers hated me (and the feelings are mutual) during middle school and high school.
Man, I clicked that ‘no’ button extra hard, and it felt good as shit.
Like I said before, people got more friendsters than they got friends.
- A couple of people had mentioned to me how trippy those eBay auctions were that I posted a couple months ago. If you like those, check out this site.
- Ever wonder how your high school ranks against others? Go check here.
- Wow, your clothes smell like shit. And this food tastes like shit too.
- This kid is funny and got famous by accident. But I guess he doesn’t like the newfound attention. (High fives to Marcel for the original link)
- Ok, read up on flash mobs and school yourselves. Now, who’s down to organize and do some crazy shit? (I’m hella serious)
- Oooh… Just got word that the Safari’s hit San Francisco a couple hours ago. I guess I’ll be heading to Haight early tomorrow morning to cop me a pair. Holler at me if you wanna roll…
But until next time (whenever that’ll be)…
Thank you, come again…
Ben spoke on it at 6:38 PM
