Salsa Verde fanatic.

If you ever been to a Mexican restaurant, you've surely stumbled upon a kind of salsa called "Salsa Verde".

It's tangy, sweet, and spicy and it taste good with just about anything.. My bro's and I can't get enough of this stuff. It's so addictive..

Time for change.

There's a time when everyone feels like they need something new in their lives..

I can't help feeling that I might drown into a pool of repetition.

Day after day I wake up feeling the same way and thinking the same thoughts. I see the same family and friends every time I leave my house. I feel like I'm not strong enough to make any sort of change, although God knows I want to.

I'm a character in a lame book and each day and night I live through is one page closer to the end of the story.

I don't want to wait until I'm too old to get out of my present rut and make the changes I need to make myself happy. I'd hate to look back in my life twenty years from now and regret I never had the courage to get out there and make the change.

MKE visit.

I went on vacation this past weekend, so I haven't had a chance to blog..

I went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin..

I know, quite strange for a Texan to go to the mid west for vacation.

I have to admit, Milwaukee was one of the most boring cities I have ever visited. All I did there was eat and drive around in a rental, wonderlessly (if that's even a word).. But I also have to consider that I picked the worst weekend to go up there. It was raining the entire time. Not to mention it was also cold. =/

The Sheraton hotel I stayed in was pretty nice. It was located near a highway, the mall, and plenty good restaurants.. I remember driving to downtown Milwaukee at night and seeing few people walking around. I can tell this place was not really a night-time strolling culture. I'm kind of worried it's the sort of city where everyone is in bed by 9pm..

I noticed some pretty suburb areas, as well. Nice architecture and lake front. The people there were mostly friendly.. It was a pretty unique city, but like I said, I picked a very bad weekend to go there. Stupid April showers..

Yeah, yeah..

This video makes me wanna start a food fight. It must be nice to have fun and make music at the same time.. =]

Blink 182 - "I miss you"

"Hello there, the angel from my nightmare
The shadow in the background of the morgue
The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want
Where you can always find me
We'll have Halloween on Christmas
And in the night we'll wish this never ends
We'll wish this never ends.."


Ever miss someone dearly? And it wouldn't matter if they waste time on you because their voice is all ready in your head 24/7..

Pumping gas and iron.

I hate it when you're pumping gas and when you're trying to round up to the next even amount, the gas meter clicks one cent over.

For example, today I was planning on only spending $10.00 even, using my debit card.

As I was pumping, I kept an eye on the meter and as the numbers came close to 9.90, I start tapping the trigger of the nozzle, hoping I can land an even number on $10.00, but nope, it lands on $10.01!

So, as I'm grinning, I hold the gas trigger and shoot for $11.00 even. As the gas meter gets close to $10.90, I start tapping the trigger again, as I'm watching the numbers jump up slowly.. and damnit, it hits 11.02!!

I ended up spending $2.00 more than I wanted to by the time I got the meter to reach an even number of $12.00.. =/

Other than my experience with pumping gas, I've been spending a lot of time in the gym this week. Just getting ready for the Police academy coming up May 3rd!

Calm down...

My birthday is around the corner and I thought a new guitar would be the perfect gift for myself. Actually, a new Camaro would be the perfect gift, but my funds can't cover that at the moment. My friend, Wymond (pronounced why-man) wanted a new guitar as well, so we both took a trip to Guitar Center.

We looked around for 10 minutes until this one guitar stuck out like a diamond in the sky.. The guitar is called "Taylor Big Baby"..



I picked the guitar up and my first thought was.. "Damn, this guitar is feather light".. Then I thought, "This guitar can't sound good.." But once I sat down and played it, I was amazed..

I've played expensive guitars before and the tone of this guitar reminded me of $2,000 guitars. The low notes had a nice deep harmony and the higher notes had a bright, yet warm chime.

My friend liked the tone of the guitar as well, and once he tried playing it, he agreed that it was a nice sounding guitar. Especially for the price, being $449.00. I know $449.00 seems expensive for people who don't own guitars, but you have to understand most nice guitars average $1,000 and more.

We both decided to buy the guitar. One of the sales reps came out from the back of the store carrying two brand new big baby taylor's and my eyes lit up. I was really excited like a kid in a candy store..

But the feeling went away once I picked up my phone when my brother, Eric called.

Eric: Phillip, why did you take my f*cking car?!
Me: *looks at the time and suddenly realized Eric has to work at 10pm* Crap! I forgot!
Eric: Damnit! I'm gonna be late for work! What the F*ck were you thinking!? You know I had to work tonight and you still take my car!
Me: My bad man, I'll head home right now.. I forgot, sorry..
Eric: What the f*ck man! Where the f*ck are you!?
Me: Guitar Center.. I'll go home right now..
Eric: Damn, I'm gonna be late 'cause you're 30 minutes away and I have to be at work in 30 minutes!!
Me: Calm down... I'll try to hurry home, ok?...
Eric: Man, don't ever use my car again!
Me: ...Okay, that's fine...But I think you're overreacting and need to calm down...
Eric: It's my second day at my new job and I'm gonna look like a piece of s*it because of you!
Me: *sigh* Whatever man.. ::I hung up the phone::

I asked the Sales Reps to hold onto the guitars until tomorrow and they said they would. Then we pretty much ran out of the store and rushed home to drop off the car, but Eric had all ready called my mother to bring her car over to our place so he can use hers.

I understand that you don't want to be late to work because it shows poor work ethics, but come on, you don't raise hell about it. I told him I messed up and I forgot, but to still go off about it like he did is plain immature...

Awkward..

My friend and I were talking about awkward moments during the ride to the gym.

David: Have you ever coughed and farted at the same time?
Me: Whaaat?
David: Yeah, when the pressure from coughing pushes out a fart. Have you ever done that? I've done it before, it's embarrassing man..
Me: No.. I think it's awkward when you walk into class late and everyone stares at you.
David: Yeah, but I'll tell you what's awkward.. When you're in class and when you stand up, you realize you have a woody.. That ever happen to you?
Me: Um.. No. *awkward silence*

Fear versus life.

Fear stops us from doing what we really want to do in life and it kills us. Fear protects, but also kills. I admit, I'm afraid of public humiliation and what other people think. Afraid of telling people what I think to their face, without skirting around the issues.

Ever thought of what would happen if for just one day, you were straight to the point, in everyone's face, blurt out everything you really think about that person. What would happen?

Life could turn beautiful. You could feel free from all bullshit. I try to be myself, with no fears, nothing..

Have you ever..

Thought of something funny and started laughing out loud in the presence of others?

I do, all the time.

They normally ask me what I'm laughing about..

But most of the time they would just repeat what this guy says..



=]

Smoke and Mirrors.

I bought the new album by Lifehouse... and I love it! =]

My favorite songs off the CD so far are "From where you are", "Had enough", "All in", and "Falling in".. I'll rate the album a 4/5, overall.

When I first heard the track, "Hanging by a moment" by Lifehouse in 2001, I knew this band was gonna make it big. Their music is so introspective, which is also what inspired me to write my own songs. A lot of their songs are about love and pain, but they have so much meaning and feeling behind them.

For example their song, "Whatever it takes".. The lyrics go:

"There's a million reasons for you to go
But if you can find a reason to stay
I'll do whatever it takes
To turn this around
I know what's at stake
I know that I've let you down
And if you give me a chance
Believe that I can change
I'll keep us together
Whatever it takes"

You can't sit there and read that, then say those lyrics don't appeal to you in any way.. I wish I had a girlfriend I can play that song for because it has so much meaning to me and I feel like that is the approach you should take in any relationship. Recognize the differences and do whatever it takes to make the relationship work..

Imagine yourself in a band, where you play music in front of 25,000 fans and everyone knew the songs you sang before you even started to sing. Plus, the fans sing along so loud that you can't even hear yourself singing. What a crazy lifestyle it would be.. I respect Lifehouse, no matter how under-rated they are..

Twilight Zone. Not the Saga.

I slept late last night.. again.. and when I woke up, I thought I entered the twilight zone.

For those old enough to remember "The Twilight Zone" episodes..

If I heard Rod Serling's voice announcing in my bedroom, the creepy intro, "You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension, a dimension of sound, dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas... You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone..."

I would've pissed all over my bed, seriously.

What caught me so off guard was when I looked at the clock in my bedroom. No, the arms of the clock weren't spinning counter clock-wise or anything bizarre of that matter, but the time was different from my alarm time.



As you see, it reads about 12:09.. And my alarm time reads..



2:15.. So, this was tripping me out. I know for sure that I don't do any hallucinogenic drugs or any drugs, period. My assumption was that maybe the battery off the room clock is dying..

So I walk to the bathroom and look at the clock in there.



It read 1:15, what the hell.. Did I just wake up today and turned into a nut case over night? I ran into my room and grabbed my cell phone off the charger. I frantically picked up my phone and looked for the time on it, but the phone starts rebooting. Son of a..

Before I start getting too carried away, I sat on my bed and took a deep breath. I patiently waited for my phone to finish booting up and saw the time matched the clock in the bathroom, 1:15.. I felt relieved to find out I wasn't going crazy, after all.. I just needed to readjust my clocks..

Oh, how crazy would it have been if my cell phone read something different from the other times.. Imagine how crazy the world would be in general to lose track of time.. =/

Exhibit Magic.

Lindsay invited me and my brother's to the Houston Museum of natural science. I am sad to say that the museum hasn't changed much since I was a little kid. I'm not a museum nut, but learning is definitely the best thing a person can do for themselves..

We decided to check out the 'magic' exhibit. They had a lot of videos on display, showing past magicians performing their creative tricks. A popular magician I learned about was Harry Houdini, an escape artist. This guy could get out of strait jacket's hanging from an upside down position and escape from being handcuffed, and trapped inside a box that would quickly sink into a lake and emerge free of the box and handcuffs within a few minutes..

I also recall seeing a video where a known magician, Richard Hatch performs a magic trick involving cups and balls. I heard this trick is the world's earliest recorded forms of magic. There were also live performers at different stops in the exhibit, which was kind of fun watching. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to record anything with my camera. Overall, we spent about 2 hours there before we got tired of walking around. I think magic is one of those things that can inspire people of all ages to learn about the science behind it..



This is David, Me, Stephen, and Eric..



By the way, it was Lindsay's 24th birthday, so I bought her a chocolate ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. This thing is a chocolate lover's dream..



Dangit, I accidentally poured grape juice on my t-shirt.. but anyways, happy birthday, Lindsay!

I love you, Mary Beth..

If anyone read my past post about my new hand gun I bought, you'd know what I'm talking about in my title.. I'm a dork, I know..

I went to the gun range today and I have to say I'm in love with my new hand gun (Sig P226 Elite). The trigger action is smooth and the gun balances well in my hand after every shot. I couldn't be anymore satisfied with my gun.

This is what I first shot at about 15 yards..



The scattered shots near the bottom were my first couple shots. I quickly adjusted after, but I noticed I had slight trigger pull to the right..

Here is another target at 15 yards..



I think the gun was pretty accurate. I'm not the world's greatest shot, so my targets are not example's of the best the gun can do. The gun is heavy, but absorbs the .40 cal rounds easily. Also, it's easy to get the gun back on target after each shot..

I miss those blue eyes.

I heard this mellow song on the radio today by Colbie Caillat and thought I'd cover it while it's on my mind..

Not so April Fools.

I wonder who was the smart aleck that started this tradition of playing jokes on people every April 1st..

I'm not so big into playing jokes on people, even if I hate them. I remember watching this TV show, where a group of guys put a so called 'joke' on one of their friend. Basically the 'friend' was approached by police officers and then arrested. The guy getting arrested didn't find out that it was an April Fools joke until after wards..

I can't imagine the stress and suffering they caused their friend. This wasn't funny at all yet, the guy getting arrested acted like it was funny in the end just because someone yelled out, "April Fools!"..

Earlier today I got a call from my friend, Lindsay, saying that David was involved in a car accident. She briefly mentioned that his car got hit by an 18-wheeler at the intersection of Clay and Kempwood. I calmly asked if he was all right, and she replied nervously, I don't know, but can you please drive up there and check it out..

So here I am driving down the road with my brother, Stephen. While I'm driving, I realized that there is no such intersection of the streets, Clay and Kempwood.. My first impression was, is this a joke? I immediately called her back..

Me: Hey Lindsay, did you say he was at Clay and Kempwood? As far as I remember, there is no intersection of those streets.
Lindsay: Oh, is that what I told you.. I'm sorry, I honestly don't recall if it was Clay and Kempwood or something else.. David called me using a random person's cell phone and after he told me, he hung up right away..
Me: Okay, try calling him back from whatever number he dialed from, but for now, I'll try to drive down both streets and see if I can spot him.

I continued driving down Gessner, which intersects with both Clay and Kempwood, and as we past both streets, there is no sign of ambulances, tow truck drivers, or 18-wheeler. Lindsay calls me back 10 minutes later.

Lindsay: Did you find him yet?
Me: No, I haven't..
Lindsay: Hmm, do you think David is the type that would play an April Fool's joke on us?
Me: I honestly don't think so, but if he is, this isn't funny at all..
Lindsay: Okay, lemme try calling that number he called me from one more time because they're not answering..

I slowly convinced myself that this might be a joke. Plus, if it were as serious as it sounds, David would've called her back shortly, at least to check up on the status of where we were. As I start heading back home, Lindsay calls again..

Lindsay: Phil, I am so sorry. I just got a hold of him and he told me he's at the intersection of Clay and Campbell..
Phil: Ohh, okay, I know where that is..
Lindsay: I'll meet you up there.

As we approached the accident, it surely wasn't a joke. David's car sustained minor scratches and his car battery had died. Other than that, no one was hurt, which is always good. I just hate to have the mind set that there was a possibility of a joke being played into this when situations like this should always be taken to a serious matter.. =/