Just a Thought
When I was little, I watched this movie called La Bamba. Remember it? Yeah, it was about this Mexican singer named Richie Valens. When I saw it, I didn't think much of it, but it was a good movie about his rise to stardom and his untimely death. Kind of line Selena. Anyway, now that I think about it, the guy who stars as Richie is Lou Diamond Phillips. Isn't he like Native American or something? At least that's how I thought of him. A deeper look into his life reveals that he's just one-eigth Cherokee, and according to IMDB "Is of Spanish, Scottish/Irish, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, and Cherokee ancestry." So why in the fuck is he playing a Mexican guy? I bet they were pissed off to find out he got the role. "They" being the well-respected and honorable Mexican-American communities. I got all pissed off in the shower just thinking about that. Just sticking any guy into that important role.
I haven't told a lot of people - since I don't keep good contacts anymore - but I'm a substitute teacher now. I'm working on earning my credential, but until then, I'm a sub. Sometimes it sucks, but most of the time it's pretty nice. Like today. Today I subbed for a gym teacher, and let me be the first to say that it's fucking awesome. It was at a high school with two other teachers, and all you do all day is watch people run the track. That's it. For six hours a day. Sometimes they have the kids play basketball. And you'd watch them do that for six hours a day. The guy I subbed for doesn't have a sixth period, so he goes home early. I took his lead and left early too. Five hours of what I'd call something far less than babysitting. It's almost loitering. The best part is the students listen to me and follow my directions. In most classrooms I sub in, not many students are as cooperative as these gym students. It's nice. Also, the gym teachers are exactly what you'd expect them to be when the students aren't around. They cuss a lot and talk about stupid shit. Pretty nice bunch.
California is nice... enough. Sacramento is completely and utterly ghetto in many locations. Many people that I've spoken to say that it's because it's the capital where lots of government jobs are located. Kind of like D.C. in a way. There are areas of extreme poverty - not like Sudanese or Somalia dirt poor - and there's a lot of crime. A lot. Like this evening on my way out to dinner. This helicopter is flying overhead blaring stuff out of its loudspeaker. I guess it's the sheriff with a warning about a DANGEROUS ARMED SUSPECT WHITE MALE WHITE T-SHIRT BLUE JEANS BE ON THE LOOKOUT and it circles my neighborhood repeating itself multiple times. Kind of scary. Makes me want to stay inside. And it's not just that. There was this random shooting outside of the house that left a bullet hole in my dad's van. There's the constant blaring of the sirens, choppers overhead with their searchlights sweeping the surrounding houses. My next door neighbor knocking on my door and asking if I've seen anyone rob her fucking house the day before. I dunno, shit like that. Also, the gangs. Sacramento has gangs. I guess the two main ones are the Mexicans that crossed the border a while ago, and the Mexicans that crossed the border... now. I don't even know what they fight over. Probably the same shit I saw in Gangs of New York.
California is also pretty ridiculous at times. In the past week, I've gotten honked at twice for making a full fucking stop at a stop sign. I don't care if there's no one around me, I'm not just going to run it because you used your horn. Also, drivers here are probably acutely allergic to using their turn signal because they just turn randomly and without warning. Like this one time Wendy was driving along the freeway, this guy right next to her just made a sharp turn at 50 MPH and SLAMMED into the divider. For no reason at all. Well, he might have had a seizure from his turning signal allergy. One thing I can't fucking stand about California is their obsession with rims. Tire rims. As long as it's shiny or has spinners, they will put it on their 87 Chevy or whatever crappy vehicle blaring their rap at max... with their factory speakers. And this low-rider. This low-riding truck took about a minute to get over these two speed bumps. It was really painful to be stuck behind this retarded early-90s piece of shit that they thought would look sooooooo much better humping the ground. Fuck them. No wonder their car insurance is so high. Good news is that they can't afford it, and new legislation passed that would make it illegal to drive without insurance taking away their license. OH YEAH, THEY PROBABLY AREN'T DRIVING WITH A FUCKING LICENSE ANYWAY.
Other than that, things are dandy. The neighbors across the street just had a ceremony celebrating a civil union between one of their daughters and her girlfriend which is pretty cool. But then this random dude totally drove his vehicle into our green waste bins scattering all of our lawn clippings throughout the street and breaking our containers.
Goddammit, Sac-Town.
I haven't told a lot of people - since I don't keep good contacts anymore - but I'm a substitute teacher now. I'm working on earning my credential, but until then, I'm a sub. Sometimes it sucks, but most of the time it's pretty nice. Like today. Today I subbed for a gym teacher, and let me be the first to say that it's fucking awesome. It was at a high school with two other teachers, and all you do all day is watch people run the track. That's it. For six hours a day. Sometimes they have the kids play basketball. And you'd watch them do that for six hours a day. The guy I subbed for doesn't have a sixth period, so he goes home early. I took his lead and left early too. Five hours of what I'd call something far less than babysitting. It's almost loitering. The best part is the students listen to me and follow my directions. In most classrooms I sub in, not many students are as cooperative as these gym students. It's nice. Also, the gym teachers are exactly what you'd expect them to be when the students aren't around. They cuss a lot and talk about stupid shit. Pretty nice bunch.
California is nice... enough. Sacramento is completely and utterly ghetto in many locations. Many people that I've spoken to say that it's because it's the capital where lots of government jobs are located. Kind of like D.C. in a way. There are areas of extreme poverty - not like Sudanese or Somalia dirt poor - and there's a lot of crime. A lot. Like this evening on my way out to dinner. This helicopter is flying overhead blaring stuff out of its loudspeaker. I guess it's the sheriff with a warning about a DANGEROUS ARMED SUSPECT WHITE MALE WHITE T-SHIRT BLUE JEANS BE ON THE LOOKOUT and it circles my neighborhood repeating itself multiple times. Kind of scary. Makes me want to stay inside. And it's not just that. There was this random shooting outside of the house that left a bullet hole in my dad's van. There's the constant blaring of the sirens, choppers overhead with their searchlights sweeping the surrounding houses. My next door neighbor knocking on my door and asking if I've seen anyone rob her fucking house the day before. I dunno, shit like that. Also, the gangs. Sacramento has gangs. I guess the two main ones are the Mexicans that crossed the border a while ago, and the Mexicans that crossed the border... now. I don't even know what they fight over. Probably the same shit I saw in Gangs of New York.
California is also pretty ridiculous at times. In the past week, I've gotten honked at twice for making a full fucking stop at a stop sign. I don't care if there's no one around me, I'm not just going to run it because you used your horn. Also, drivers here are probably acutely allergic to using their turn signal because they just turn randomly and without warning. Like this one time Wendy was driving along the freeway, this guy right next to her just made a sharp turn at 50 MPH and SLAMMED into the divider. For no reason at all. Well, he might have had a seizure from his turning signal allergy. One thing I can't fucking stand about California is their obsession with rims. Tire rims. As long as it's shiny or has spinners, they will put it on their 87 Chevy or whatever crappy vehicle blaring their rap at max... with their factory speakers. And this low-rider. This low-riding truck took about a minute to get over these two speed bumps. It was really painful to be stuck behind this retarded early-90s piece of shit that they thought would look sooooooo much better humping the ground. Fuck them. No wonder their car insurance is so high. Good news is that they can't afford it, and new legislation passed that would make it illegal to drive without insurance taking away their license. OH YEAH, THEY PROBABLY AREN'T DRIVING WITH A FUCKING LICENSE ANYWAY.
Other than that, things are dandy. The neighbors across the street just had a ceremony celebrating a civil union between one of their daughters and her girlfriend which is pretty cool. But then this random dude totally drove his vehicle into our green waste bins scattering all of our lawn clippings throughout the street and breaking our containers.
Goddammit, Sac-Town.