Today is the 21st anniversary of selena's death

Look up selena and google and the 1st result is who I am talking about. The mexican pop singer that tragically died in 1995. She was shot by the president(and good friend) of her fan club because well only her killer truly knows why

But I want to focus on selena's life. She was proof that a mexican from a small town could make it big in the music industry and be successful at it. She was for a moment in the 90's, as big as nirvana but for spanish pop music

She followed her dreams and was destined for even bigger things(she sold out astrodome) such as making an all english album and conquering the english language pop charts

It's what makes her death even more tragic among with she was a cheerful(she was always smiling) humble person who did not rely on autotune nor did she diss her fans

Looking at her videos is sad for me as it only makes me wish she was still alive

The people vs oj part 9

This is the 2nd to last episode(yes the last episode is already next week) so the finish line is in sight and the momentum has already shifted to oj's side thanks to the glove play by chris darden. Anyways this episode is about mark furhman

He makes a grand return to the series and in the courtroom but that comes later. A detective contacts a lady(I'm not sure who she was) who has the mark furhman tapes. She interviewed him for a tell all book and supposedly these tapes reveal how much of a racist he is.

There is a lot of arguing in this episode and it brings previous side stories onto a finish. For example, chris finally yells at marcia that she only wanted him because of his skin color and she should have listened to him and not have introduced mark furhman as a witness

Meanwhile johnny is seeming trying to start another riot(this was 3 years after the rodney king riots) as he is gathering protesters to release the mark tapes. Robert shapiro confronts him as he see's what johnny is doing and he does not want more riots.

Chris also has 2 meltdowns in court as does judge itho but they forgive each other but onto the good stuff. Both sides finally listen to the mark tapes(as in cassettes in a cassette player) and it is obvious he is extremely racist(he drops lots of n bombs).

The defense is overjoyed as this further exposes how corrupt the lapd is(maybe it still is) meanwhile chris darden and marcia clark realize mark should not have been a witness in the 1st place as they have to now defend a racist.

Mark returns to the courthouse and he might as well be darth vader or have the imperial march in the background. Every single eyeball in that courtroom is looking right at him. He does not have a single friend as both sides hate him for similar and different reasons.

He pleads the 5th to johnny's questions most importantly when johnny asks him if he has planted evidence. That is the last shrewd of hope marcia had and it is now gone

The jury has turned to believe oj and it is amazing how fast things went downhill for marcia. It is almost like a metaphor for life in that being too cocky will turn out bad for you. The racism undertones of this show are still relevant

I already know what happens to oj but it is interesting to see what the show does next. For example johnny has yet to say his famous line "if it doesn't fit then you must acquit"

My grandpa's funerals was incredibly sad

I mean all funerals are downtrodden events but my grandpa's was especially sad. I didn't attend it because I was busy job hunting(which ended up successful) so now my grandpa is looking down at me and being proud of me

My grandpa was born in mexico and he lived in nebraska, the wake was in nebraska then his body(in the casket) was transported by plane all the way to a small mexican ranch where he was raised and he still has his old house there

One of his wishes was in death, for his daughters to feed the whole small town(which they did on the day of the funeral) and to have a mariachi band play. Not only was there 2 bands, they played the whole time from the feast to the burial at the graveyard

It was made into a dvd which is how I know what happened. The casket was lead by a huge convoy into the cemetery, this is where I could see how much of a presence my grandpa had. The convoy was easily 50 cars long and the cemetery was standing room only

In mexico a lot of graves are above ground so his casket was slid under the headstone that was already built for him. It was slowly (brick by brick) filled up with brick and mortar while my mom and my aunts cried and the mariachi band played. Random people from the town offered condolences to my mom and aunts

What made it more touching is that my grandpa is buried next to my grandma(who sadly, died 2 years before I was born) One of the reasons I didn't go is because I would not handle that moment

Just watching the video is incredibly touching and makes me want to cry. I hope to visit the grave when my sister is older and I can tell her what kind of person he was(she's currently 4) and pass on my memories onto her as she will hopefully outlive the rest of my family(dad,mom,brother,me)

So I got the job

2016 is a big year of changes for me and this is a good one. My interview yesterday went well and I got the job and I'll start next week(it's sunday today)

The last conversation I had with my grandpa was back in january, he mentioned he was proud of my now ex job and I should save money to buy a small car. He also said I should get a woman(yes he said woman) and to take care of my sister. Lastly he said to keep trying and not give up easily as things will get better

Looks like he was right and I'll continue my goal from january to buy either a early 00's ford focus or early 90's ford taurus or I can save more money and get a mustang from the late 90's to early 00's

I consider myself extremely lucky to have this job after all the job hunting I did the past couple of years

Anyways I will show up ready to start and confident

I have an interview tomorrow

Last week (I think it was longer then that though) I applied at a smoke shop in my little town,, well today I got a call to come in for an interview.

Anyways thanks to my previous employment in the waterpipe smoking industry I now have experience and am familar with things like dab rig and recycler and percolator.

I am nervous of course but I really hope I get this job, it's part time hours and close by(I believe it's 1.7 mile away) and I need a job.

Retro fridays and airbud

Airbud is a movie about a golden retriever that can play basketball, it would later be made into a franchise where he plays different sports and has kids who talk and become crime fighters.

But that's getting too far, let's stick with the 1st movie. It is about a boy who has a single mom and a sister. Obviously he's lonely a lot as the movie makes an effort to point out. On the other side of the coin is a single man(no this isn't a romantic comedy, he doesn't hook up with the mom) who has a golden retriever dog and they both work as clowns.

This movie always made me want to dress up a dog as a clown, Anyways mr clown is a jerk to what would later be named buddy. He stuffs him in a dog crate that would fall down in the middle of the road. Josh's mom(yes that his name) would stop then here is where my memory gets hazy

I think the dog just randomly shows up at josh's house and he has to hide him then his mom later agrees to keep him. Oh wait I got too far ahead, josh is playing basketball by himself and that's where he discovers buddy can make a shot if he throws the ball at his snout.

He lures him closer at 1st by laying a trail of vanilla puddings. In the meantime mr creepy clown guy is searching for his dog while buddy makes the elementary school basketball team(it was middle school and he wears 4 shoes).

Things come to a head when they both want him so it's up to a judge to let buddy decide. Being a disney movie it has a happy ending and buddy ends up with josh and mr clown gets arrested

Retro fridays and nba showtime

NBA Showtime is widely considered the 3D true sequel to nba jam(yes I know there was an nba jam 3D) so it has a lot of similarities

If you never played an nba jam game, it's 2 on 2 basketball with exaggerated physics and gameplay. You can easily soar about the backboard and fouls are harsher. There is no fouling out so onnce you get 5 fouls the computer shoots a freethrow that is worth 3 points.

Showtime has the nba on nbc license and the iconic theme song. The gameplay is the most addicting part especially with cheats such as no goaltending and unlimited turbo. Those codes have stayed with me for a decade.

The best part is the create a character which you also get points for stats for your wins. I have a maxed out 7'11 270 lbs grey horse that is a beast. You can use horse heads or mascot heads for your character.

I got this game in 2001(or 2002) at toys r us and I still play it a lot because of how addicting it is

The people vs oj part 8

This episode is the weakest so far but still a very good episode because of the strong acting and writing. It is mostly about the jury and how they are slowly going crazy.

It starts off with some jurors getting special privileges from certain deputies at a hotel. It is similar to chinese water torture in that slowly, cliques of jurors talk amongst themselves and over analyze every little action. We are given a glimpse into the living environment and see through a flashback that the jurors were actually excited to be on the jury.

For example, the black jurors were taken to ross and were given less time to shop compared to the whites who were taken to target and had more time. All of them are fed up with the 8months and going length of the trial.

They couldn't read magazines or books or watch tv or movies unless it was approved. There wasn't much to do in their hotel rooms. Judge ito decides to rotate the deputies as a way to get fair treatment for the jury.

Marcia gets fed up with how things are going in court leading to her plans to get potential not guilty jurors dismissed. One of them was only a juror to write a book about oj while another one took a picture with oj. Johnny see's through this and he fires back at marcia.

The last back up juror to be called up to bat ends up being a woman called the "witch"(if I remember right) and I think she'll have a big impact because she has convinced a jury to switch sides.

There is a minor sequence where robert kardashian goes to pick up his kids(yes those ones and we see kim and kourtney kardashian in the background), he realizes that oj is guilty and feels ashamed that he is going to get a not guilty charge. He cries in kris's(yes that kris) kitchen with her while she comforts him in a touching moment

This was extremely touching especially for kris who showed him a little compassion. The episode ends with some of the jury coming out dressed in all black in a manner similar ot a funeral. Judge ito realizes he's lost control of the jury and schedules a recess. The next scene shows a detective getting a phone call and him taking down a note that mark furhman is going to perjure himsel

Retro saturdays and tekken 3

"chhhhickeeeenn"  Anyone who has played tekken 3 on the ps1 at some point in their life has picked up a piece of chicken that was randomly floating on the street

Those words are uttered when you snatch it and thus instant nostalgia is born

Tekken 3 like it's name says, is the sequel to clayfighter ok I kid. It improves upon tekken 2 in many ways. There are more characters and the floaty jumping is gone and now you could step side front or back

When it was released it was a huge thing because fighting games at the time limited you to a 2D plane. My favorite character is jin and marshal law and gon(a little dinosaur with a turtle shell)

The endings for each character were fully fleshed out CGI movies that somewhat made sense. Oh this game added a tekken volley ball and tekken force mode

Vollyball is what it's name suggests but your still fighting your opponent and you can't cross the "net" Force mode is a beat'em up side scrolling game similar to final fight

Retro fridays and egm2 magazine

EGM2 magazine is something I hold dear to my heart. It's hard to do it on here but it's name is actually egm squared as the 2 is small and in the upper right corner of the magazine

It was a spin off from electronic gaming monthly and it focused more on cheats and walkthroughs and tips. Which is what I liked most about it because a lot of bigger games had maps in egm2. I had a subscription from 1997 to 1998(I would check the bill me later box)

Waiting for the mail each month and hoping I would get my new issue was one of my biggest joys of my childohod and it is an incredibly addicting feeling. It honestly can not be replicated with ebooks. I also got a subscription to nintendo power and disney's adventures but that's another post.

Obviously I have strong memories toward the issues from 1997 and 1998 especially the mortal kombat 4 cover which I got at a stater bros newstand and the banjo kazooie cover and the last/1st issue of egm2/expert gamer.

If you were to somehow find a copy nowadays it still holds up well although of course the references are dated.This is also the 1st issue I got in the mail

It's back to job hunting for me

Ok first off I did not quit my job. The rent went up and my boss/owner of the company decided to move the store to an office that's closer to me.

The move was supposed to take a week but it looks like the company folded or my friend is right and the owner is testing out the new location before comitting to it.

I can't afford to be jobless so I been searching on cl with no luck. So today I tried the job section of the puente hills mall site. I quickly came up with a game plan.

I'll apply online at subway and wetzel's pretezels and call tomorrow for the trendy gift store (it only says to call and ask for a certain person). I'll also apply at ross and toys r us(as a last resort)

Back in jan I did not expect to be job hunting again in march but here I am. It seems like fate tempted me and laughed at me

I have to update my resume and print out copies of it too which is more fate laughing at me

The people vs oj part 7

Part 7 continues the trial and focuses mainly on various conspiracy theories and most importantly, OJ TRIES ON THE GLOVE!

This episode starts off with things not going well for marcia clark and chris darden. I don't remember much because it seems like filler. Oh they seem to have a spark and there is a weekend off so chris invites her to his friend's bday party in oakland(it's about a 9 to 10 hour drive by car which is presumably what they took) At the party (in a bar) a guy gives his theory that oj was framed

Marcia lays waste to that theory by simply plotting out how impossible the situation would be and how inhumanly fast the LAPD would have to operate. Chris also brings up the glove to marcia as a way to catch the dream team off guard.

They seem to have gotten separate hotel rooms and they have an awkward good night/goodbye but there is no kissing at all(maybe they will in this series)

I forgot to mention that marcia now has straight hair so her mini jherri curls only lasted 1 episode. Throughout this episode, marcia keeps turning down the glove idea(she's smart in doing that) while chris keeps insisting.

During a recess in court, mr shapiro calmly walks up to the gloves and tries one on. i'm not sure how he did that without being noticed as it was a courtroom but ol' danny zucco is always smooth. He realizes it is too small for his hand.

In a private room, he measures his hands with oj(who has smaller hands then robert) then they quickly get the idea to have oj try on the gloves while gleefully feeling the momentum turns towards them

Lee Baily has the idea to have marcia and chris bring up the glove because this would further hurt any credibility towards them and he also brings that up because he is a fat jerk who loves to see people in pain.

At the court we see chris bring up the idea to have oj try on the gloves and..................oj complies meanwhile robert and johnny high five under the table.

The gloves don't fit on oj because he isn't trying very hard and he's stiffening his hands, you can almost feel the air go out of the prosecution team's airship

There is a side story where robert kardashian (in a nod to the theories that he took the murder weapon in a bag) opens up "that" bag with a.c. or who I presume is ac(he might have been recast) and they are both relived to find only clothes inside it. Also mr kardashian is slowly coming to grips that it might have been oj because there are no other leads on who else might have done it

Robert shapiro has more tension with oj and johnny cochran but that is quickly forgotten after the glove scene. Oh and there's a huge part of cochran's past. He used to be a wife beater(maybe he still was in 1995) and he was married with to 2 women. He shuts down the press "you all should be ashamed of yourselves" but the news is out there

Retro saturdays and official playstation magazine

In case you have vague memories of OPM, it was that magazine that was playstation only and came with a demo disc and it was encased in a plastic wrapping and it cost about 6.99 or 7.99 from my blurry memory.

I got my 1st issue when I got my playstation back in fall 1999. It was orange and had a ps2 on the cover, the demo disc was the only game I had for months. I got to know thrasher skate and destroy and twisted metal 4 and test drive offroad 3 very well.

Even today just looking at that cover or a opm demo disc takes me back to those times. The magazine was often purchased just for the demo disc.

Sadly, opm shut down and playstation magazine(psm) took over the opm name but didn't include the demo disc and I believe the 2nd coming of opm is also gone

Retro fridays and super mario rpg

2 days ago super mario rpg turned 20 years old. I have very fond memories with this game and it's one of my most favorite games ever. When it came out I rented it at hollywood video(it was next to earthbound and it's huge box) on a rainy day similar to today.

I quickly put it in my snes and started it up, I was amazed at the graphics in the intro video and it made me pumped to go back to bowser's castle. The music is the best part among with the graphics.

The turn based battles are fun with timed button presses among with random enemies like donkey kong, floating carrots, dogs and flowers. The storyline is that a huge sword crashed into bowser's castle and claimed it as his own and kicked him out.

As mario you have to rescue the princess then help out bowser(yes he joins your group and it was mind blowing at the time). I never beat the last boss but I can reply over and over the whole game simply because of the music and how charming it is

Retro fridays and chrono trigger

Unlike most posts, I did not grow up playing chrono trigger, the 1st time I played it was the nintendo ds version. It is incredibly addicting and I like the battle system. Instead of taking turns, you can attack when a meter fills up.

I also like the time traveling plot and the ability to take various time ports to different eras. I have never beaten it but I did enjoy my time playing CT.

The unique box art(it was drawn by a famous artist) sets it apart but so does the game play. Today is also the 21st anniversary of it's release

 

Retro fridays and alanis morisette

If your like me then you mostly only know alanis morisette's jagged little pill album. Which is not a bad thing because of how great that cd is. I mostly like you outta know even if it's about uncle joey.

I love blasting it while driving and it still sounds very fresh and people say to themselves "Oh I remember that song". It's something I highly recommend you do at least once .

Ironic is another song I really like among with all I really want. Alanis morisette is someone who if you were to listen to her music, you could feel the 90'sness of it.

Most recently she did an acoustic version of jagged little pill and now she's just mildly annoyed

Retro fridays and tmnt tournament fighters

by tmnt I mean teenage mutant ninja turtles. This game came out in what I assume was the waning popularity of the original heyday of tmnt. If you never played it, it's a fighting game in a similar manner to street fighter 2. Oh also it's on super nintendo and sega genesis and nes(but it's rare).

Besides having the 4 turtles as select able characters, it also has shredder and a robot and a shark and a flying bat thing(I didn't watch the cartoon) and a triceratops.

A loose battery terminal connector changed my plans

Before I jump into the main story I should flash back to wednesday of last week. The truck battery finally died (after 3 years of ownership) so me and my dad got another one at autozone. The employee that was installing it also put in a new terminal connector(aka the clamp part that has a screw going through it that connects to the battery)

However he did not have the right size screw for it(it was a little too small) further leading to my current pickle. He somehow got the screw to stay in place with the terminal connector and me and my dad went home. Once at home he put a screw near the C part of the terminal connector so it would stay tight and not move around

That was that and I quickly forgot about it until today. Being home alone, I went to the mall with my good friend crystal and her brother and his gf(she'll say she's my best friend) then to bk. Once we got our food we went to the truck and it would not start. Not even the radio would turn on nor the doors would lock or unlock.

I tried lots of things until I got to thinking about the battery, I didn't have any tools on me so I hit the terminal connector with a snapple lid and this got some power so I was able to raise the windows before it rained.

Butttt and this is an important but, as soon I tried to start the engine it was like the battery was disconnected. I didn't have any pliers so I used the red part of the jumper cable to "crimp" the terminal connector. I waited 12 mins with my friend then I tried and it started and success. I was able to drop her off and make it home before it rained

Tomorrow I am going to go to o'reily's in the morning to get 1 or 2 replacement terminal connectors(they look like a C and connect to the battery) I been looking and it seems to be a simple fix. I'll take rags and pliers and wrenches in case fate likes to tempt me and the same thing happens in the parking lot.

So I was saved from having to call a tow truck(which would have been a lot of $$) but I had to cut short my hanging out with my friend all because of autozone and my dad. 

The people vs oj part 6

The 6th episode focuses on marcia clark's decent into madness. Ok it's not that exaggerated but she does start to crack down from the pressure. I was close to going to sleep before 10pm therefore I was half awake for the 1st 30 mins and I don't take notes so my mind's memory is what I'm using.

I'm not sure how it happened but marcia clark and chris darden start slow dancing to ease the stress. Oh I do remember mark fuhrman's testimony. The meat of this episode takes place in the courthouse so the robert's and jonnie don't say much among with oj.

I believe that rosa lopez testified first and she quickly melted down. Well not quite but the tide turned toward marcia because of the complete destruction of rosa. She was only going to be in court 1 day because of her travel plans that she has not made and has no reason to leave.

Mark fuhrman is up next the following day(we see a scene where the dream team is drinking at a bar and F. Baily comes up with a great plan) and is quickly put on the spot but F. Baily. He brings up the N word and asks Mr. Fuhrman if he has ever used that word against blacks.

He keeps the pressure on until well I don't remember what happened but there was another recess(there's about 2 or 3 of them in this episode) oh and marcia cuts her hair short in this episode. She didn't have the curls until the middle of the trial but in the show she already has them.

Therefore she just got shorter hair while making it even curlier.  The episode ends with marcia going back to her office and crying while chris comforts her while she states she's not used to being a public figure.

A quick update on me

My grandpa had a wake in nebraska last week(it's where he lived since 2000) then his body including the casket and all was taken on an airplane and flown to mexico. He wanted to feed the whole small town with a party so that was this past weekend. Next up is a small gathering and prayer tomorrow.

The past week has been extremely stressful for different reasons. Virgin mobile phones at walmart require you to activate it at the store under the plans walmart wants not the normal virgin ones. My dad had a virgin mobile plan so he tried to transfer a new phone to it but nope because of walmart.

He got a cricket samsung galaxy which I activated pretty easily but there was a small hicup that my dad didn't buy a top up card. The truck needed a new battery and there was more problems with it that are now fixed but at the time it wasn't funny how things kept going wrong.

There was other issues too with brake pads but that is also fixed. Things are now turning up better this week and my dad leaves for mexico on thursday morning so I will be home alone because I will pick up my family from the airport

Look at this 90's couch potatoe

Everything about this picture screams 90's, from the chip bags to the square small tv to the vhs movies on the shelf and the boy's clothes and hairstyle.  This actually looks fun if only I could time travel

Even the news is retro this friday

A knife has been recovered from oj simpson's old brentwood mansion. Actually it was found in 1998 by a construction worker who then gave it to a cop who kept it in his house all these years. It's no secret there is corruption at the lapd but this should be a much bigger scandal

Whose to say other cops in other cases didn't do something similar and there would be lots of innocent people currently incarcerated simply because important evidence was taken from the scene.

It feels weird seeing a new press conference about oj simpson in 2016 but it did bring back a lot of nostalgia

The people vs oj part 5

The 5th episode(already) is about the trial now in 1995. Now it gets good but 1st it starts off with johnny cochran getting pulled over while driving in what is presumably rodeo drive. Despite him wearing nice expensive clothes and driving a expensive car, the cop treats him like a criminal until he runs johnny's registration.

The cop lets him go but not before calling him an assistant D.A.  I'm not sure how that is an insult. Ok now onto the good stuff which is the trial. Chris darden tries to give a speech about people not using the n word in the court but he fails to make much of an impact and comes off as timid. Johnny, of course gives a much more powerful mini speech.

The court scenes didn't take up the whole episode. Chris darden interviews mark furhman who comes off as artificial and a racist. Chris keeps pestering marcia clark to not allow mark to take the stand.

OJ's house gets made over to appear more wholesome to the jurors and yes it is extremely rare to have the jurors visit the home of someone on trial. Oh carl douglas had some sort of heart attack or stroke in the courthouse.

This leads to a chain of events where marcia appoints chris darden to take his place. I don't remember how the episode ended but it was still captivating to see everyone in the courthouse just battling out while the judge acts like a parent