skullblog

skullblog tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1 2008-09-08T02:43:49Z the life and times of the calavera contingent Movable Type 3.33 <![CDATA[são paulo day 1: arrival and family]]> tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1758 2008-08-21T07:39:43Z 2008-09-08T02:43:49Z

kalavinka

no wheels? make your own bus! we arrived in são paulo this morning and were surprisingly greeted by my distant relatives at the airport. they came to pick us up--very nice! we changed some cash at the airport so we could pay for our hostel. then they meant to drive us to our hostel but they went the opposite way to their parents' home instead and we go to spend some time there and meet the family. they live quite a bit away from central são paulo and so it was nice to see an alternate to the concrete jungle. one street we drove on for awhile isn't serviced by buses so i got to see something typical for there but not where i'm from. guys will hang off the back of trucks in order to hitch a free ride. a lot of them are trying to make their way to the subway metro station. they hop on when the cars have stopped or slowed down. it's not like they're asking permission from the drivers either. it's a very dangerous way to make your own bus. staying with my distant relatives were several people from washington dc and one kid from london. when we arrived, a couple of them had just pulled apart the family dogs from fighting and it wasn't a pretty sight. the losing dog was covered in blood. the other dog has killed another dog in the past. after an hour or so they drove us to our hostel and we blew pretty much all our cash on paying for the room. we walked over to avenida paulista and checked it out. it's mostly businesses but it's a major street and worth checking out to familiarize ourselves with our new environment. we have heard so much about the dangerous of this city and country that we're being really cautious but we needed to go to the atm to get more cash.

veganized pizza

it was still early but we were already hungry for dinner. that's something you can't do in latin america as they eat late and party late. we saw a small take-out pizza place on the way back to our hostel and there were workers working away. we tried to order a vegetarian pizza without cheese but the lady wasn't happy with us. none of us speak portuguese. twiddle thumbs is trying to use her spanish skills to get through somehow but it's proving difficult. the lady whips out one of their to go menus and points to a section and i realize that she's saying they're not open yet, that they open at 6pm which is 10-15 minutes from now. we go to the corner place that serves food and drinks and is open now. we have a drink there and wait, go back and order the pizza. we take it back to the hostel and it's pretty good except it doesn't have any tomato sauce. it does have hearts of palm which we've only had once or twice before. we had no idea you could put it on pizza. that combined with the sesame seed crust, it's a pretty damned good pizza!]]> off to south america! tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1757 2008-08-20T07:51:51Z 2008-09-07T23:14:19Z

we're off to south america. i'll be able to cross off another continent from my list. this trip is twiddle thumbs and dani to brasil and argentina. i've always wanted to go but my excuse for this trip is to...

kalavinka

get a mac! to get down there, we flew from lax to dallas-ft. worth and then down to são paulo. while waiting for our flight at lax, one of the monitors that show flight information was down due to a failed drive on the pc connected to it. it was one of those "get a mac!" moments so i stood in front of the monitor, pretending to hold a sign (photoshop is handy). while we were doing this, an old man stared at the monitor and his boarding ticket, trying to figure out which gate to go to i guess. it was pretty funny. everytime someone started at the monitor, they looked really lost and it just made us bust out laughing really hard. when we were sitting at our gate, we saw a guy that looked just like the "i'm a pc" guy in the mac commercials. i was really tempted to give him $20 to go stand by the failed monitor drive to pose for pictures. when we were in dallas-ft. worth, we took a break to eat some food. this is the first flight where they told us there are no vegan options (?!) so we're trying to manage the best we can. while eating some veggie burgers, we started laughing again because we were joking about all of our last names. if someone looked at the passenger list, they might think it's some elite rich kids travelling together. this is because my last name happens to be a rich family in america and my friends have names of mexican presidents.]]> nisei week 2008 tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1756 2008-08-18T07:17:10Z 2008-09-07T22:42:47Z

kalavinka

me with kitty-chan today i attended the nisei week parade in little tokyo, wearing my first yukata. yukata is traditional japanese summer clothing that is basically a light kimono. i bought one recently because i wanted to get into the summer spirit japanese style and wear it for nisei week. mission accomplished and i am happy about it. i didn't take a lot of pictures this time as i was more focused on video taping it for my new podcast naruhodo japan where i teach japanese and discuss a bit of nikkei stuff (japanese descent people). at this point i'm thinking that i'll do a special video episode every now and then where i cover nikkei events. what i think is really gonna be cool is to compare nikkei communities around the country and around the world, especially since i'm about to travel to south america and visit a couple nikkei communities there to celebrate 100 years of okinawan immigration to brazil and argentina.

yukata for all!

what was cool was that i was one of the few people in yukata so i got stared at. maybe they thought i was some super otaku gaijin 'cos with this mixed blood face, people don't think i'm japanese. thinking that just made me laugh inside. also, when we busted out the super cheap video camera and i'm talking into it like a reporter without a microphone, we really got stared at. maybe they were staring because the "super otaku gaijin" was speaking japanese? i dunno. with our diy setup, there's no way we could have been confused for a real production crew. in the evening, i ran into a girl with her pet dog and both were in yukata! i had to take a picture. i've seen japanese sites that sell clothing for dogs like that but to see it in person was great. one day i'm gonna own a dog and have it wear okinawan clothes. that would be too cool/cute.]]> naruhodo japan tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1753 2008-08-08T20:27:49Z 2008-08-09T19:31:57Z

it all started 3 months ago. my friend who's learning japanese mentioned using podcasts to learn japanese so i decided to check out this whole podcast thing. what i found were several podcasts that really didn't teach much japanese or...

kalavinka naruhodo japan. i've never done a podcast before and i'm learning as i go. there are technical issues of course. it all started with the recording and microphone issue. do i record directly to a computer or to another medium first and then bring it over to the computer for editing? do i record directly in garageband or use it only for mixing the podcasts? which microphone do i use? the medium will partially dictate the microphone? do i get a regular one or a usb one for the computer? at first i went with usb but i just didn't like it. the stand it came with was a lie and the mic itself picked up more background noise than what it should have actually been recording. i'm not a master at recording but i'm not a complete idiot either. i know i can't expect much for $100 or so but that product was not good, which was disappointing because i think the company is decent for computer music consumer goods. my mom had a digital voice recorder and after using it once, i decided that's the thing for me and immediately ordered one. so that's what i'm doing: recording to a digital voice recorder with built-in usb, transfer it to the computer, edit the file, mix it down in garageband. i did a little bit of research by listening to other non-japanese podcasts. i have been listening to some portuguese lesson podcasts for my upcoming trip to brazil but i haven't been listening to it lately so i can't say i've actually learned any portuguese. what i have learned from them and other ones are that i want to stay on topic, i don't want it to be excessively long and filled with pointless things, i want it to have decent audio quality, and i want it to be useful. hearing myself speak is quite painful and i'm very critical of my japanese accent and the level of my voice. it feels very strange to talk alone in the house and i do it quietly so that needs work. besides coming up with show topics, the first thing i did for the podcast was try to come up with some jingles. i figured the show needs a theme song. i dusted off my guitar, plugged it in and just started jamming like crazy. i was playing straight for 4-5 hours before i finally took a break to eat, hours past my regular mealtime. the first thing i played was very heavy, considering what kind of stuff i used to play when i would actually practice guitar. my wrist got tired quickly too but i just kept going. i came up with 5 different short riffs just for fun. i didn't want anything too japanese, nothing stereotypical. but i had to of course record one thing very japanese. i'm also aware of copyright issues, which is why i wanted an original theme song. the japanese thing i recorded was traditional so there are no copyright issues. i'm not sure if i'll ever use it but i have it if i need it. i believe that teaching is a great way to learn something. by doing this podcast my japanese will improve as well as my geek skills. i think i will also become more active in the japanese-american community. that is because the purpose of my podcast is to teach/share japanese language and culture from a nikkei perspective. (nikkei are japanese who live abroad and their descendants.) i think this is a unique point that the other japanese podcasts do not offer. i hope to chat with some nikkei and cover some nikkei events for the podcasts. one way to make it more authentic japanese, (because you can criticize me all you want for being only half and born outside of japan), is to feature issei (first generation immigrants, that is to say those that were born and raised in japan). mostly this will be done through a regular segment featuring my mom. (you can also criticize that she/we doesn't speak standard tokyo japanese but the whole point of learning about another culture is to expand your world and there are many aspects of japan so it's a bit narrow-minded to only focus on tokyo/kyoto.) another reason why i started the podcast is lately i've thought about becoming a japanese teacher for high school students in america (or elsewhere?), which would mean going back to school to get certified and i'm not sure if going into debt is worth it. i mean, will i even like it? will i be good? will my students benefit? doing a podcast is a great way to find out. i've also been trying to help people with their questions online for a couple months now and since several people found my advice useful, i proceeded on with the podcast idea. answering questions by typing is one thing but you really need to hear japanese being spoken. that is another reason for the podcast. i have already begun video taping some nikkei events in los angeles for a couple special video podcast episodes. (again, something i've never done before so it will be a learning experience.) i'm really looking forward to my south american trip so i can report on nikkei there and compare the communities. from now on, wherever i go, if there is a nikkei community i think i am going to cover it for the podcast. in a mad rush i designed and ordered business cards which i could pass out for the podcast. they arrived yesterday (much quicker than i anticipated) which is why i pushed myself to debut the podcast. i can't wait to use these during my trip. i said that if the printers did a good job then i would praise them. they did. if you ever want business cards, then i recommend gotprint.com. i picked them because i wanted a printer in the los angeles area in case there was any trouble and i had to go to their office. in my quick internet search, i just couldn't find a local place open when i was off work. i also couldn't find an internet place that was decent quality, decent price, and that i could trust. i took a leap of faith with gotprint.com, paid a little extra for rush and fast shipping, but am very pleased. the extra $5 was really worth it for peace of mind to know that i have these cards for my trip. anyway, if you are interested in it, please check it out. i welcome all comments and criticism but please try to make it constructive and don't break my fragile heart. this is only the debut episode and i have many more ideas. it's a matter of finding time to prepare it as well as gathering people who agree to be interviewed. i'm really proud of following through on this idea. i have another project i started 1 year ago but never completed. i've just been too lazy about it. naruhodo japan: the podcast for learning about the language and culture of japan from a nikkei perspective.

podcast meishi

]]> cavalera conspiracy: the brothers reunited tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1752 2008-08-06T15:12:22Z 2008-08-08T18:55:21Z

kalavinka

tour poster last night we went to see cavalera conspiracy at the house of blues on sunset. the band was formed by the reunited brothers who formed sepultura, max cavalera and igor cavalera. both have since left sepultura. if you know the history of sepultura, well it's a very touchy issue that contradictions arise, blame and lies, and that the brothers have left, each at different points in their careers. we have seen sepultura live and soulfly live but it was after max left. this was our first time seeing the brothers play together and it was really powerful. when they played the first sepultura song of the night, i got goosebumps. i was never a max fan and i didn't mind when he left but when igor left it was a real blow. personally i think their egos got too big and communication went down the toilet. when igor left, he was going to be a hip-hop type dj. i don't know how you go from being one of the best metal drummers to that, which is why i was disappointed in the guy. to hear that the brothers reunited was great but the album was not so good. i could tell though that the songs could be very heavy live and i was right. it was really cool that they also played a nailbomb song. again, this is a delight for the old school hardcore type sepultura fans. i'm not saying that's me because i'm not the metalhead, but time passes quickly and i've been a listener for 13+ years now. becoming a fan took a maybe a year. i had to break down my stereotypes of metal and open my mind. sepultura opened me up to metal. and this show was the closest i'm ever gonna get to seeing old school sepultura. at the very end, after playing "roots bloody roots", they played a bit of that song really, really fast to get the crowd going wild. it was pretty good. it was like going from 33rpm to 45rpm... or maybe 78rpm! during the show there were guest appearances of max's kids. first was richie, his step-son. i already knew he sings and it was just ok. sorry kid, you have a long way to go to reach max's level. not that max is the best, but his vocals are powerful and he has good stage presence. the places was really alive and probably the most "metal" of shows i have ever been to. max's son igor also played. i had no idea he played drums and damn if he truly isn't little igor jr. that boy is damn good! but you can probably imagine the pressure of growing up a cavalera kid who wants to play metal or maybe is forced to play metal. i'm not sure. all i know is, that family has the potential to churn out a great metal band of teenagers. ah, i should mention the opening band. we missed the very first one, incite. it turns out that is richie's band so i guess i am a little curious to see him sing his own songs. perhaps he has more power that way rather than trying to sing alongside max. after that it was bury your dead, throwdown, and dillinger escape plan. the guys from dillinger are nuts. it's one of the few times i've seen a band endanger audience safety. i could tell he wasn't trying to hurt anyone, but someone could have gotten hurt. the staff were all over him to stop him. he was throwing the mic stand and monitors into the audience. he also leaped into the audience and was throwing chairs into the audience. the guitarists were running around, jumping on speakers, flinging their guitars all over the place, etc. i wouldn't be surprised if the guitars have hit the singer before. it was really close. i also saw roy mayorga in the audience. he's been the drummer for soulfly (took a picture with him during their first tour) and a substitute drummer for igor. the reason why soulfly sucked at singing sepultura was because igor wasn't drumming. i don't know if roy got better and i never saw him sub in sepultura, but he just couldn't handle it during the first soulfly tour. i also saw a lady with a baby with those big headphone/earmuff things to protect their hearing. probably it was igor's new wife and kid. i went to the show wearing a t-shirt and socks from igor's clothing line cavalera wear, which is only sold in brasil. all i wanted was for igor to know i was wearing it, but how? after the show, we were walking back to the car when out popped igor and his daughter right in front of his. this was my chance! "igor! great show! i'm wearing your t-shirt and socks" (i lifted up my jeans to show my sock). "thanks", he replied. that's all i wanted. he knows. i must note that these are the best socks i've ever worn. as a ren type person (that is from ren and stimpy), i am in desperate need of stay put socks and these are them for sure. when i go to brasil, i am stocking up on more of these babies! i guess the question now is: where do the brothers go from here? is cavalera conspiracy a one-off thing? will they make more albums together? will they fight again? will soulfly continue? now that they're together, will they fight sepultura for the legal name? will igor move back to the usa? maybe some of these questions have been addressed in interviews but i don't follow bands like that anymore. plus, words and actions are two different things.

cavalera conspiracy

setlist: inflikted sanctuary refuse/resist (sepultura) beneath the remains / inner self (sepultura) nevertrust arise / dead embryonic cells (sepultura) propaganda (sepultura) wasting away (nailbomb) terrorize desperate cry (sepultura) biotech is godzilla (sepultura) black ark (with richie cavalera) (jam) attitude (sepultura) ultra-violent territory (sepultura) troops of doom (sepultura) (with little igor cavalera) roots bloody roots (sepultura)]]> serj tankian solo show tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1751 2008-08-03T07:59:16Z 2008-08-08T18:22:04Z

kalavinka

serj performed in white with a top hat we just came back from seeing serj tankian's solo show at the wiltern. the opening act was bitter sweet, a wanna be portishead lounge act that i could have done without. serj did join them for one song. serj's set was good but all it does is make me miss system of a down. i didn't like serj's intro to the song money. he mentioned the greed of money or something. i can't remember. i just remember thinking he's a hypocrite because he bought his new zealand citizenship. he wasn't allowed to purchase a home there (a lot of foreign celebrities get rejected for various reasons) and the next year or so i hear that he's become a citizen. obviously, he paid his way into the country. visas and citizenships can be bought for most countries. it requires a large investment in the country that most of us ordinary folks cannot do, or at least none of the people i know. to top it off, during the encore serj covered the dead kennedys. i would have preferred he sing "california uber alles" to show that he's still one of us despite becoming a kiwi. setlist: the unthinking majority feed us lie lie lie saving us baby sounds of war sky is over (miso soup song) praise the lord and pass the ammunition girl (beatles cover) money charades (jazz jam) elect the dead honking antelope beethoven's cunt encore: holiday in cambodia (dead kennedys cover) empty walls]]> shuffle the shuffle tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1750 2008-08-01T23:41:30Z 2008-08-02T00:09:22Z

i saw someone else do this in their blog and it amused me so i'm doing it too. you play your music, you write down the first line, and have people guess what song it is. my itunes would be...

kalavinka july netflixes tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1740 2008-08-01T05:39:48Z 2008-08-01T22:48:09Z

wow, i must have really been busy this month because i hardly watched anything from netflix. i did actually go out to the movies once too! there are times when i feel like upgrading my netflix plan but since i...

kalavinka turning japanese tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1749 2008-07-30T07:27:17Z 2008-07-30T17:52:07Z

tonight was the night of 1000 yukata. ok, not that many. i bought a yukata, which is like a light kimono japanese traditionally wear in the summer and around the house. it's summer so i want to wear a yukata....

kalavinka

summer yukata i went to my mom's help so she could help me put it on and teach me how to do the obi (belt). this is my first time having japanese clothes as an adult. as a kid a couple of times i had a yukata but of course i didn't put it on or think about making sure i was wearing it correctly. if you don't put on these clothes often, you forget how to do it and that's what happened to my mom. she had a large plastic container full of yukata, kimono, and obi. it was one of those "i'm saving this for my daughter" things and i had no idea about it. i thought she had a few of her own which would be way too small for me. anyway, so we tried the one i bought and then she had me try on several more. perhaps on the 4th or 5th yukata, my mom started getting the obi right or close enough. it just takes practice. to put on the yukata correctly so that everything is tight, i don't think i could do this by myself. after we had put on the first one and were examining it in the mirror, my mom's boyfriend came home and he was shocked to see my dressed up. i said in japanese, "i'm pretending to be japanese" and they laughed. my mom said i'm not pretending, i am japanese. that was a special moment because usually she treats me like i'm some adopted kid who's not japanese, that because i am half and grew up in america, i'm american so i can't call myself japanese. (the phrase japanese-american doesn't exist to her i guess.)

winter kimono

after that, i put on a yukata that i recognized from old photos, one my mom wore when she was young. my grandmother made it, i didn't know. it kinda fit better than the one i bought but overall i need to lose weight for these fucking clothes. i thought it would be awkward to wear traditional clothes but in some ways it was very natural. i guess it's because it's half my heritage. it just felt right. it did feel nice to wear something my mom wore when she was young. it was special. another outfit we tried on was a regular kimono, but not the full thing. it didn't look right, the color doesn't match my skin tones. but then they put on me a winter coat for kimonos and it looked alright. this could be my new year's outfit. tomorrow my mom's friend is gonna teach my mom more about wearing traditional clothes because she does it more often than my mom. and i'm going to go back and we're going to try this again. i have plenty of time until nisei week to practice putting this on to get it right.]]> i have no friends tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1748 2008-07-28T06:13:47Z 2008-07-28T06:30:47Z

so friday wasn't a good day for me. i broke down crying because i thought that "i have no friends", at least no one in my area to hang out with and no one at work to have lunch with....

kalavinka girlbar and like all themed nights there, it didn't really live up to it, so my friend says. i really haven't been there enough to make that observation. for me every time the music is pretty much crap but i go to go. that and because you can sign up for the list and get in for free by a certain time. however i will say that it was good to be out of the house and after awhile, one of the go-go dancers became eye candy. or more like it was really interesting to watch the same people go to tip her. last night i went out again, but this time with a friend i haven't seen in awhile and i got to meet her fiancée for the first time. man those girls are dangerous! after 3 mojitos i thought i was done for the night. normally i only have 1 drink. 2 is really pushing it. well after 3 drinks i went to the bathroom and when i came back they had another one to put in my hand. stupidly i downed that one too. the club really wasn't playing my kind of music, especially not the kind i'd dare to dance to, but i did it anyway and that's part of the fun. only my stomach was mad at me this morning and though it was growling for food, it couldn't hold onto it. it wasn't pretty. i haven't drank that heavily to the point it made me sick since i was a teenager and back then it was a lot more than 4 drinks. probably the worst part about it was that i was the driver! no, i didn't drive drunk but i certainly didn't feel 100% sober. i could still feel a tingling buzz in my fingertips. everyone did get home safely though. i wasn't even going to go out with anyone last night. i was just going to go by myself to see what latina night was like. but since i got mentally fucked up on friday, twiddle thumbs made me a play date and got in touch with our old friend and so that's how i ended up going with friends. she also insisted that i make a new friend that night. well i met the fiancée so that's a new friend for me. at least i hope i can say we're friends after both getting trashed. ^_^]]> las victimas at safari sam's tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1747 2008-07-19T21:43:44Z 2008-08-01T04:29:03Z

last night we went to go see victimas del doctor cerebro at safari sam's in los angeles. it's on the other side of sunset boulevard that i never go down for a show. free parking and close to the freeway....

kalavinka victimas del doctor cerebro at safari sam's in los angeles. it's on the other side of sunset boulevard that i never go down for a show. free parking and close to the freeway. inside is small but not bad either. if you wanted to just chill out and hang out at some tables you could do that on the first or second level but don't let that fool you into thinking the place is big. i'm bad with capacity estimations but i'd say 300 people. i called ahead of time and cameras are ok. their online menu says they have a couple vegan dishes but when we were there we didn't see it on the menu at our table and we weren't hungry anyway. but with all these factors, i may fall in love with this place. i really wanted to be up front and take pictures. victimas shows are crazy so i'd have to be insane to take my nice camera with me. the way i see it, this is my one chance to take some nice photos so i might as well take my nice camera. also tonight is another chance to get my rare records signed. i thought i would be tired going to a show after work but amazingly i was fine. i guess sitting down for the first 2 opening acts helped. everyone else was too. i was beginning to think the crowd was dead and only their for their friends who are the opening acts. i wondered if anyone even knew the headliners! the first band was called abcde because they couldn't think of a better name. i think that shows you the quality of the music as well: "F"! next was el manifesto which were a really good reggae dub kind of band. it started to get repetitious and in the anticipation of victimas, towards the end i just wanted their set to end. but i wouldn't mind catching them at another gig. the final opening band was sector libertad. i was confused by these guys. they didn't do any self promotion at all. they never said who they were or any upcoming shows. very odd, very unlike an opening band. for this band is when the crowd got out of their coma. for this band we all went to the front. for this band the crowd started to go a little crazy like they do for victimas but you could tell most were saving their energy. the performance by victimas was everything you could want or ask or expect of them: intense! they blasted through the songs and didn't do an encore. they gave what they had and were done. for photography, it was a nightmare. i already knew it'd be nuts and it was. most of the time i spent protecting my gear from the band and the crowd. i knew there would be flying liquid so i brought a hand towel. i did have to use it a couple times in addition to my usual lens cleaning stuff. the lighting is low and action is fast. the shots i did manage to take are plagued with motion blur and light trails. i had to use flash. i didn't want to but i had to. the action was too intense that without it i would only have blurred shots. however, i must note that the best shots were without flash and in the dark. this is thanks to chipotle's costume which has lights on it. when he was standing in just the right way, i was able to take photos of him in the dark but lit up well enough by his costume. there were a couple songs i didn't know. it turns out one of them must be their new single because they have a video for it. the other two, i don't know. abulon introduced one as "miedo" and the other was sung by ranas and he seemed to be saying something about 'rock n roll'. i have all their albums and though i might not be as familiar with the last one, i swear these two songs are not on their albums. as far as i know (and it's very little), the band really doesn't have b-sides, at least i've been hard pressed to find any singles besides 1 track promos. so perhaps these are glimpses of their next album. inbetween trying to save my camera and my own life, i was trying to write down the setlist! can you believe it? crazy me. i would quickly put down my camera and pick up my phone to type in a note. i didn't have much time. the crowd was only "still" for few seconds inbetween songs. i tried to memorize 3 songs in a row to quickly abbreviate them in my phone. it worked though. i put my camera strap around my neck and my water bottle in my camera bag with it closed up in case i was ever pushed hard or had to leave so that i had everything with me. my one mistake was loosening up the slack on my camera bag before victimas started. during the band prior i had plenty of room and lately due to the poor ergonomic environment at work my shoulder has been hurting. it's the same shoulder my bag hangs on diagonally so i loosened it up so it wouldn't hurt so much. during victimas's set, we were so squashed that the extra slack made the strap fall off my shoulder several times. if i was pushed hard enough, the strap could've fallen off my shoulder and caused the bag to fall down and trip me up. in all the madness, i did get a boot to the head but my only injury is a small bruise on my fingernail from when i dug my nails into a girl going over my head. i dug so hard my nails started to bend backwards. i should've used my thumbs--what was i thinking?! after the show, we went back to the car to get the records. we waited by the open door and their van was parked right in front. fans were waiting but not crowded so i walked to the prime spot. i'm sorry but i have to get my records signed and this is my best chance. no one complained to me though. in fact, a staff member saw what i was carrying, was shocked, and said for sure they'd sign it. relief! i got staff backup. later, the guy pointed to me that the vocalist is starting to come out and said it's ok that i go on in. lucky! so i went right in and started ripping the plastic off the records (they're open records but the shrinkwrap is mostly in tact as protection) and busted out my marker for the singer. he spelled my name wrong on the first record, oh well. he seemed a bit drunk and was going to go into a long story about how this is an old and rare record. you know what dude, i know. i started to cut him off, sorry. i just wanted to make sure we had time for him to sign both records. i also had the first pictures i took with two of the members. both of them commented how old the photos must be because they look so young. not really, only 3-4 years ago. actually, i blogged that concert. we had some camera malfunctions (my fault) as i gave my camera to twiddle thumbs to take a picture of me with abulon. we had to do it 3 times (the first 2 were blurry) but it worked out because the 3rd one was definitely the best. then some more members came by, notably tuco was giving everyone kisses (super drunk) and i had chipotle sign my records (he too was stunned). when ranas came by he was in such a hurry that we had him quickly sign our pictures. he didn't have time for a picture. but outside some fans convinced him to take a picture so i told twiddle thumbs to stand behind them and i'd quickly get one in too. only, that group took forever for their photos. seriously, this guy is in a hurry and you're taking how many photos? like i can complain with my abulon incident. anyway, point is, i got my shot and she got hers. it felt like a short show but we are both happy! here's some of the pictures i took:

the stage at the start of the show (blurry)

abulon

abulon and light trails

ranas and light trails

bam, abulon went down!

the new drummer

ranas rides the crowd

the guitarist

a guitar moment

bam, ranas went down!

me and abulon

chipotle playing 2 saxes

ranas and his tongue

ranas about to jump into the crowd

ranas and abulon rocking out

tuco

chipotle and a stage hand

ranas on the drums

setlist: muñeca armadillo tamalera miedo? paquito brujerias rock n roll something? (ranas singing) nahual yo no puedo el cadaver del amor guayaba ella se muere ya tus amigos celos esquileto]]> no geta for me tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1745 2008-07-16T06:24:58Z 2008-07-17T03:45:29Z

i have always wanted a pair of geta of my very own, you know, those wooden japanese sandals. there were a couple pair at my grandmother's house in japan and when i lived there i would wear them for walking...

kalavinka

getas come and getas go ]]> cool laptop tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1744 2008-07-09T05:21:22Z 2008-07-09T22:23:43Z

over the weekend i bought something for my laptop that has been on my list of things to get ever since i bought my laptop 4 years ago. it's the belkin laptop cooling pad and boy does it do wonders....

kalavinka belkin laptop cooling pad and boy does it do wonders. it's a little laptop stand with a fan underneath powered by usb. you just set your laptop on top and plug in the usb fan. then it keeps your laptop (and your lap!) much cooler than if you were to not use it. i can't tell you how many times i have burned my thighs or become really irritated from all the heat my laptop generates. now i can sit there cool, calm, and collected instead of being a raving bitch. my entire online persona might completely change thanks to this purchase! .... or maybe not.]]> la soledad para siempre tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1742 2008-07-07T16:35:07Z 2008-07-30T22:36:27Z

i was going to post something along these lines a couple days ago but now i think it's completely true. in the past year or so i've noticed that all my friends (with the exception of perhaps one) have done...

kalavinka i was going to post something along these lines a couple days ago but now i think it's completely true. in the past year or so i've noticed that all my friends (with the exception of perhaps one) have done one of the following (if not more): got engaged, got married, had a kid, bought a house, and that kind of "grown up" activity... things against my code of life. (i used to say that if my friends got married or had a kid i would stop talking to them but it only happened with one because we never really had that much in common to begin with.) so it seems that that old cliche of getting older has hit me now. that "everyone but me" thing... truly youth has left me now and there's no going back. in some ways it makes me want to completely shrug off this old life for a new one but the new one will be the same because no matter where i go, everyone my age will be in the same position. they are shacking up and settling down. i don't know how long i can live by the ideals i set for myself as a teenager; as a young adult they were altered a bit though still on the same trajectory. i guess i just have to go along with the changing tide of life and learn to adjust or drown in it. independence day at the beach tag:www.calavera.com,2008:/skullblog//1.1746 2008-07-05T19:59:30Z 2008-07-21T16:05:28Z

kalavinka

fireworks lighting up the beach last night we went to go see free fireworks at the beach. first we hung out at a friend's house where we had dinner and margaritas. then we walked over to the beach for the free fireworks show for independence day. i've never seen fireworks from the beach before so that was cool but it was a free show which means it was a lame show. we could see several other cities giving a free show as well. when we got to the beach, one in the distance was ending. then ours began. after that, in the distance on the other side, we could see two, possibly three more shows in progress. next to us was a lifeguard station and they had one of those red buoys used for rescuing hanging up. i thought how funny would it be if i went up there and had my picture taken, perhaps mimicking borat. there were some people up there and i was waiting for them to leave but they never did so i finally just walked up there. "can i help you?" oops, there's actually lifeguards working here! in all my years growing up in LA i have never seen a lifeguard on duty. i didn't think they really existed. "i just wanted to see the view from up here." yeah, that seems like a viable excuse. they had taken the buoy down at that point anyway. no picture for me.]]>