Enjoying Art

Hello One and All,

I miss enjoying art. I remember when I used to draw everyday when I was a kid. I even drew while I was in class (not art class either). I remember one time in class waiting for the teacher to write on the  chalkboard in the back of the room so that I could run up to his desk and steal some blank white sheets of paper to draw 18-wheeler trucks on. I would draw two or three a day during class. I feel bad for stealing his papers. I feel worse for making fun of his dentures that sometimes would fall out of his mouth when he was screaming at us because we were behaving badly. That class was one bad class, and we were the good class. We were so bad, the principal of the school made the entire class stay for detention one day, including our teacher because he couldn't handle his class. I think we pushed him into early retirement.

April showers bring May flowers, and allergies.

Somewhere along the way, the path to my childhood dreams became blurred and other things began to take focus. I was stuck thinking, "All that paper I stole and trucks I drew for what? For nothing!" Art has been the easiest thing that I've known to do. Some people are good at science. Others are very good at Calculus. They don't have to think to solve problems. Me? I did have pretty good grades throughout school. However, Art was the subject that came easiest to me. It just clicked. I miss doing that.

I'd take a nap here if I was a bee.

Shiny stuff just hypnotizes me.

Adult world sucks when you have bills to pay and mouths to feed (granted they are puppy dog mouths, but they're still mouths to feed.) Fortunately, I can say that my job offers me the financial flexibility I need to pursue my art dreams once again, and it also offers me the time for that pursuit. I just need to retrain my muscles to be able to convey the mental images into something visually concrete.

Me and my fake tattoo.

This is the last major art work that I did. It's a life-size, self-portrait in charcoal and pencil. I did this in December 2001.

Who knows where I would be if I had followed my art dreams. If I had a chance to do it all again, I wouldn't. My appreciation for art now is great because I did not have the luxury of doing what came easy to me. Art never evolved into a career for me. But now, I will enjoy it as a hobby. Who knows, maybe someday it will become a second career for me. Nothing is ever too late to do.

BLAHG you later!

Summer Grilling

I went to a barbecue the other day. It was awesome. It reminded me that I need to get my grill ready for summer grilling in the spring.

The ka-bobs!

This bird was watching our every move...and our food.

The food tasted great and smelled so good like smoke. So did us all. It seems that no matter where you stand, the barbecue smoke gravitates towards you. I ate my shirt with some BBQ sauce. It was scrumptious!

I took a picture of a Canon with my Nikon. Heh! Heh!

Shoes were off.

Good food.

The sunset cast a beautiful light, making vivid shadows on a linen curtain. It quickly turned the mild afternoon to a cool night. So a fire was started.

Sunset shadows.

The fires of the night.

Overall, a good time was had by all. You can gauge the fun by the amount of broken things afterwards,  like wine glasses, the fire pit/pot/dish also broke.

Too much vino?

Summer times are good. They're even better when it happens in the spring.

BLAHG you later!

Cheat Day

Hello to all Cross Fitters out there.

It's been three months since I started doing Cross Fit, three times a week. I'm happy to report that I have lost 10-11lbs (it fluctuates), and I seem to be more leaner-looking. I have no idea what my body fat percent is and really don't have a desire to know...at least not yet. Once I get rid of more chunk, then I'll reconsider.

I've been keeping to a strict diet as well, a modified version of the Paleo Diet. Modified only because I am taking supplemental whey and casein protein in powder shake form. Basically, I cut out: grains (bread, cereal, bread. I know. I love bread.); dairy (milk, cheese, stuff that my stomach couldn't handle anyway); legumes (any beans, peanuts); tubers (potato-looking veggies); processed foods, sugars, did I mention bread?

Here's what I CAN eat: meat (beef, pork, poultry, fish); veggies (leafy stuff preferred); fruits (any kind in moderation); nuts (any nuts except peanuts or cashews); and berries (almost anything that ends in "-berry" is acceptable, I think); and water.

CHEAT DAY. I had a cheat day a couple days ago. I ate whatever I wanted just because. The stuff tasted SO GOOD! I had pancakes, biscuits, italian cream cake with cream cheese icing, chocolate truffles. It was DELICIOUS! Apparently, my stomach didn't get the Memo about the cheat day. It refused to participate and quickly asked all its new visitors to leave. So much for enjoying a cheat day.

It's back to the old strict diet. Maybe this time I won't have a cheat day. Instead, I'll  have a cheat snack once a week or every two weeks. I'll make sure to hand deliver the Memo to my stomach next time.

Check out the WODs (Workout Of the Day) from Grapevine Cross Fit in the Cross Fit Gallery.
It's tough, but I love it!

BLAHG you later!

We Got In!

It was another successful year for attending Texas Rangers Opening Day baseball without having tickets beforehand. Here is my Opening Day adventure story.

We showed up to Rangers Ballpark almost three hours before game time. The moderate to heavy traffic was the beginning of the electric vibe running through the streets surrounding the ballpark. The other was the smell of grilling throughout the entire park grounds. Tailgaters, by now, were pretty buzzed. A few were flat out drunk. Some never even made it inside the ballpark.

Our quest was to find 2 good tickets to get into the stadium. Almost immediately, we ran into a scalper who thinks this is Game 7 of the World Series, and is offering us two tickets at $200 bucks per ticket. I looked at him and said,"Yeah, I'll come tomorrow night if I don't get in today." Needless to say, our search continued for a couple hours, but everybody was overpricing their tickets. Some ridiculous people wanted $400 for upper deck tickets. Some said their tickets were close to the field by the bases, but the seating map showed they were in the crevices of the stadium. Some guy would have sold his ticket for a six pack of beer if his friends wouldn't have talked him out of it.

By this time, my brother and I are getting hungry and a little desperate. Luckily, a group of fans that were tailgating that DIDN'T have extra tickets offered us some of their fajitas and beer.

They were kind, so we hung out with them for a little while. We offered to pay them for the food and beer, but they refused to accept. I told them I would share the photos I took with them. That seemed to be a reasonable enough offer for them. We were so thankful to them and their kindness. It helped refuel us as we continued to search for tickets.

Thirty minutes till game time and we still had no tickets. By this time, everybody is starting to make their way to the ballpark. Only the severely buzzed and drunk people who are trying to maintain their balance are staying put. We walk against the flow of traffic and all the desperate scalpers are suddenly visible, trying to get rid of their stash of tickets still drastically over-priced. By the way, apparently, in the underground world of scalping, there is a correct way to use your hand if you want to PURCHASE tickets or sell tickets. Right hand to buy, left hand to sell. I don't know. I'll research that before next year's opening day.

We finally bought two $25-tickets for $70 a piece down from $100. It was the lowest we could find and they were in the upper deck. Not exactly what we wanted, but at least we were going in.

Once inside, it was like attending a game for the first time. The ambiance was electrifying. It was flowing with red, white, and blue colors, and a strong patriotic fever. Our seats turned out to have a pretty good view of the entire ballpark.

We met colorful people.

Drank some beer and ate food.

And to top it all, the Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-5. It looked so good on that new gigantic scoreboard.

Can't wait till next year again. Only next time, I need to get more camera gear and a fake press pass to make it down to the field level.

GO RANGERS!

BLAHG you later!