Happy New Year, 2013!

December 30, 2012



With two days left of 2012, I don’t think that there is one person in the world who isn’t thinking about the past year. Everyone makes mistakes and experiences failure. Everyone has successes, that they trumpet to the masses or that they live with in silence.
In general, people just go through their daily lives and a few even get into such a pattern that often times, they aren’t even aware of what day it is.
I think that is the type of person I am. I live for my days off. It’s not that I have this awesome agenda for my days off; it’s just that it is the break up of the monotony that is my life. Two days that I can do something different. Of course, these two days in themselves are monotonous as well.
Think about it; we work all week for the weekend. The weekend comes and we spend it doing totally different monotonous things.
My weekends, which happen to fall on Thursday/Fridays, usually go like this:
Sleep in an extra hour…
Take Chico out for his walk
Nap for a little while longer
Catch up on Twitter and Facebook
Go out and pay my rent and buy groceries
Come home and nap some more.
Laundry
Nap some more
Clean up my room a bit
Surf the web
Go to bed,
Get up, do breakfast, make my lunch, go to the gas station
Go to work…
This is how it is almost every week. I guess one could call it being in a rut.
Yes, my life is so different now from my life in California. Well, maybe not. But, at least when I was back in Los Angeles (The San Fernando Valley, actually), there were a lot of things to locally do.
Back home, I spent a lot of time cruising book and music stores. I loved being able to go the Northridge Mall on weekends and The Northridge Mall Farmers Market on Thursday nights during the Summer.
There were restaurants, movie theatres, bike paths at Balboa Park, theme parks and all sorts of stuff to do.
I spent time with my friends, went camping, took day trips and it seemed that there was always something to do. There was always some place to be. Perhaps it is that I was younger and always willing to try something different. The Southern California lifestyle was always full of action. Living in the Valley, I was centrally located to everything.
Universal City Walk, where I spent quite a bit of time.
I used to hang in Hollywood, The Beverly Center, The Grove, and The Strand on Venice Beach. I spent time biking in Santa Monica, I spent weekends at Disneyland; after all, I had to utilize my annual pass, didn’t I?
Mom and I would take day trips to Tijuana, Mexico (just across the border from San Diego), just to do some light shopping and have lunch.
There were weekends in San Diego, and week long trips to San Diego with friends and their disable clients. Some of the most fun times I have ever experienced.
There was always something to do; somewhere to be and, people to be with.
My life was very different.
This unfortunately, is no longer my life. This may appear to be sad to read, but my life now is quite lonely. I have acquaintances that I have met at work. A couple of people, I do consider to be friends, but everyone is so busy.
Most of the people I work with are either younger or older than I. This makes it hard to actually build relationships and find someone to actually become involved with.
The fact that I am quite comfortable in being a “loner” does help things. However, I have to admit that I miss having long conversations with my friends back home.
2013 is upon us. I don’t have many regrets anchored in 2012. The usual things…
Not saving more money, not taking such good care of myself and not taking or utilizing the opportunities that have presented themselves.
I’m lazy; and always have been.
At my age, I should be in a different place in my life; I should be where I was 8 years ago. I had a home, luxury cars and a career. I no longer have those things.
I won’t say that I miss them, but perhaps I should still have them.
I told myself that when I left Northpoint, I would have a job with little or no responsibility. I have that now, of course with that, also comes the decreased amount of income.
So, with 2013 upon us, the question comes up: what next? What goals do I set for myself for the coming year? The obvious answer is: I don’t Know. I am comfortable in my life,
however, I am aware that I do need to make some changes in my life. Do I attempt to move up in my company, where there are opportunities? Do I continue to go on as I do, with no real goals in life, except to spend as much time with my family; or do I try to make more friends and spend time out of my very comfortable man cave? There are so many questions that I have for myself in the next year. Quite honestly, I have no idea where I’m headed in 2013. I do know that there are things I need to take care of, personal problems with the law, nothing that big and notorious, but things that are annoying and must be dealt with quickly.
There are things I must address with the State of California. I have been at their mercy for far too long.
I’ve never been one to make New Year Resolutions, per se, however I do try to focus on being a better person and make efforts to better myself in some way throughout the year.
I’m not sure what it’ll be this year. Maybe to try to save a bit more money;
or even perhaps to focus on working more this year. Perhaps, I’ll try to take on more responsibility at work in the coming year.
Some people focus on acquiring relationships; getting a boy/girlfriend, meet new people and such things. For one, I’m too old to aspire to such things. Relationships don’t work for me. It’s too bad, because I would like to have a special someone in my life; someone to share a quiet moment with, go to the movies with; someone to wake up with; and not necessarily involving sex, perhaps just some good company; companionship.
I believe that these are not things that we work for; that we aspire to; but I think these are things that we need to be on the lookout for. I think that opportunities present themselves during our daily journeys and we either notice them or not. I for one can be pretty oblivious. I am quite bright; I function well into the genius level; but I’m a bit dense sometimes. I have a sharp mind, ready wit and notice almost everything; when I want to. I think my mind just works differently now. I spend a lot more time humoring myself in my own mind. I find the world to be a wondrous place filled with some awesome people.
I also recognize the evil that exists. All one has to do is turn on CNN; or just pay attention to ones surroundings.
I work in what is supposed to be the Happiest Place on Earth. For being that; there are a lot of awful, mean people who come through our turnstiles. I witness it everyday.
We get visitors who are not at all happy, and appear to be interested in making those around them just as miserable as they are.
Tomorrow is New Years Eve day. The last 24 hours in 2012. We survived December 21, 2012; what was supposed to be the End of Days, at least according to the MAYANS.
We are still here, thank the Lord above. I do believe that tomorrow is not guaranteed. I believe that everyday is a gift; a gift to be cherished. Unfortunately, for myself; I spend too much time focusing on all of the negativity that is present in our world. I have mentioned before; I am a self confessed news junkie. If it’s happening somewhere; I want to know about it. I pride myself in being well versed in all that happens in the world. I spent my youth reading TIME, NEWSWEEK, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, US, PEOPLE and various other periodicals on a weekly basis. Though I did all this; I was always surprised to find that I knew so much about anything that was going on in the world. I could become involved in almost any conversation on almost any topic instantaneously.
I can’t do that so much anymore; though I still get my weekly TIME magazine, I don’t read it as religiously as I used to. I think I’ve become bored with politics, world issues; especially because things in our world have only gotten worse. Death, destruction, infanticide, homicide, ethnic cleansing, all are just getting worse in our world. I believe it will continue to do so.
I am wondering what 2013 is going to hold for us; what will we experience and discover?
What path will humanity take? Will she become more benevolent; or malevolent? Will human beings learn to love, protect and cherish one another or will it continue to search for ways to destroy one another? There are so many questions that we all have. There is so much to think about; so much to aspire to.
For the next day or so, I personally am going to sit and contemplate what I hope to accomplish for myself in the next year of my life on this planet. I will continue to be grateful for all that I have, but mostly for all those individuals that are in my life on a daily basis; for these truly are the riches that I posses. The people in my life are the most important things I have. The things I cherish most. I think I will work on finding more ways to care for them in every way possible. That is how I am going to spend my next year. It sounds like a productive way to spend my life.
Happy New Year everyone; may we all have a healthy, prosperous and peaceful 2013; we deserve it!

Newtown, CT

Just a small note about the CT school shooting.  As tragic as it was, the search for the reasons is most likely going to be futile.  Evil doesn't need a reason, just opportunity. I often wonder how many individuals who engage in heinous acts have any idea of what they do. I would imagine that the number is low.
With the tragedy in Newtown, this past week, everyone is understandably upset.  Let this not lead us to rash decisions.  We will mourn the loss of the twenty innocents who were taken away so early from us.  We will try to understand why; though I don't think we'll ever come to any conclusion.
Some individuals who commit these types of crimes have an agenda, or have been desensitized of violence and carnage due to immersion in movies and video games.  That's what happens when a society relies on television and SONY to baby sit their children.
Still some, have an emptiness; something needing filling. Performing some sort of evil deed, may help alleviate this hollowness.
Personally, I feel so sorry for the individuals who were taken away so young; I feel even more for those that they left behind. May the Lord smile upon them and ease their suffering.
More and more, people need to understand that we ourselves, are responsible for our own safety. We cannot rely on the police and other law enforcement agencies to provide our daily protection.
What occurred in Newtown, CT isn't something that was unexpected; I think the part of the country that it occurred in is surprising; but, not that surprising. Columbine, Aurora, Tucson, Virginia Tech, The Amish School in PA and so many others have been leading up to this. This occurring at anytime is a tragedy to say the least. This occurring during the holiday season just makes it that much worse.
My heart, filled with sorrow goes out to them. I hope during this Season of wonder and fellowship, that we can all remember these unfortunate families in our prayers.
Merry Christmas, everyone; may God bless us all.

The GOP and Latinos...

               HEADS UP:

This posting may have some elements of politics… That being said; It is NOT my intention to offend anyone. I am not like that. This is strictly my opinion based on my observations….

I am going to make some explosive statements here; but they are informed explosive statements. I will attempt to explain everything in due time when an avenue makes itself convenient.

I am a true American. I am a mixture of many cultures/heritages. I have grandparents from Spain, Mexico, Italy, and The United States. I have great-grandparents from even farther away.
I grew up in a small unincorporated area of Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley. Pacoima, California; is where I called home.
When I was little, and moved into my neighborhood on Louvre Street (we pronounced it loo-ver), sometime around 1968. It was a nice little neighborhood. Predominantly Mexican families made up the neighborhoods of the area. As time went on, I and my family lived our lives and existed in our little house in Pacoima, California. I am the product of a private education; primarily in Catholic School; but then private colleges as well.
I didn’t have a lot in common with the kids in my neighborhood and as a child I was sickly so I didn’t go out too much. I didn’t have many friends in the neighborhood, except for a few that lived down the street, who attended Catholic School also, but a different one. In retrospect; they weren’t really friends, but I didn’t know the difference. The thing we had in common was that none of us fit in with the other neighborhood kids. We didn’t go out and ride bikes and stuff like that. We didn’t play tackle football on the asphalt. We didn’t take off at all hours to see what kind of trouble we could get into.
Believe me; there was lots of trouble to get into, even in the mid 70’s. Now all of this info is going to lead to a question that has been asked quite a bit since the Presidential Election a couple of weeks ago.
The Republicans, GOP, has been asking themselves and everyone else, how do “we” reach out to the Hispanics? Good question… is there an easy answer; no.

I think the greatest problem for the GOP to overcome is that they are trying to lump all people of Latin decent together. That can not be done. When one uses the term Hispanic, they are trying to describe a group of people, usually of darker skin from Latin America. Latin America will be considered Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Cuba, Panama and Chile’. There are also other countries that I am sure I have not mentioned. All of these people have some things in common, but not enough so that they can all be counted together.
Truth is, most of these peoples, don’t even like each other. There is no kindred spirit, or feelings of brotherhood amongst these cultures. You see, most Latinos’ are very macho and consider themselves to be better than everyone else. Don’t ask me to explain this, just take my word for it.
This is just a snip-it; a bit of a look at these diverse cultures.
Now for the message for the GOP; you can’t lump everyone together when trying to reach these groups. Education is the key. Unfortunately, most of these individuals are not products of higher education, for those that are, I believe that they lean to the left; in vast numbers. So, how does a group get the attention and loyalties of these people? First, you have to understand these people as a group and as individuals. Most of them, in all the cultures, care about what happens in their four walls. They are very family oriented, predominantly Catholic or other denominations of the Christian sect. They care about leaving the world a better place for their children. They want to insure that their children have a better life in a better place than they did.
This, for the most part has occurred; however, not by much. Now, I invite anyone who wants to get the attention of these cultures, to come into their neighborhoods; live amongst them, get to know them. Get to know their heritage, their philosophy on life; get to know their food; their street food, the holidays they celebrate and how they celebrate. One thing you will find is a great sense of family. You will find a sense of pride for what they have been able to accomplish in their adopted land.
I think, mostly you’ll find this amongst the elders of the families. A number of the younger family members, you will find; are struggling to find out who they are. I don’t know that the younger members of these cultures are comfortable with their lives. They don’t identify with elder people of their cultures. They hang in the fringes of hip hop and would rather seek acceptance amongst the African American culture. Of course, we know that this group leans heavily to the left. I don’t want to give the impression that there is great camaraderie between these cultures; there isn’t. However, when finding a group to identify with; people of Latin descent ally themselves with other minorities.
Again, drive through and visit the areas that these people live in. It is a dire place, a place that most of us wouldn’t want to have a flat tire or break-down in.
I came from one of these areas. When I was little, it didn’t bother me; I didn’t know any better. However, as I started getting older and spreading out into other areas, I saw the difference between the area that I lived in and the area that my new friends were living in. My parents encouraged me to stay with my own type of people. I didn’t. I couldn’t identify with the people in the barrio. I was different. Not better, just different. I watched the news, immersed myself in artsy pass-times. My hobbies were of a different nature than of those I lived around. I didn’t sit on the corner and sniff glue. I didn’t indulge in drugs or imbibe liquor at a young age. I still don’t. I went to movies with my friends, spent Sundays on the lake in our boat. I went to Disneyland and Magic Mountain. I spent a lot of time at Universal Studios. I was a person of fun. My father was a working man, and made a very good living. That didn’t really drive him to want to move out of the area we lived in. I think he identified with a lot of the individuals that we lived around. That is a topic for another writing.
My father was not political. He couldn’t care less who was in the White House because he believed and I believe, rightly so, it didn’t affect him. He had a skill. He was a brilliant automotive electrical engineer. He worked nearly everyday of his life; until he became too ill to work.
Dad was a great spotter of someone whom one could label a bull-shitter.
He wasn’t easily swayed. Many in the Latino cultures are. They are easily roused up and will follow anyone who makes sense; in some cases, anyone whom they can blame for their ills and lack of success.
In order to understand the beliefs of these peoples; one has to live in their shoes for a while. Most come from an impoverished place in their countries of origin. Mexico, for instance, has some beautiful, lush, wealth riddled places; but those are far outnumbered by the areas that are nothing more than shanty towns on the fringes of society. I understand why the people that come legally come to our country; it is for the opportunity for a better life. For those that come illegally; they undergo horrible experiences, which can include rape, starvation and death; just for the opportunity to come to this land of plenty we live in. These people don’t trust their elected officials, nor should they. I remember as a child, my grandfather (Grandpa Pete) would tell me about the vastness of resources in Mexico and the corruption that occurred there. He believed that Mexico, should they ever get a decent leadership politically; would be one of the richest nations in the world. I believe that. Unfortunately; those in power are easily corrupted.
That leaves us in our current dilemma; how do you reach a people that don’t trust politicians or leaders in a society? For one; these individuals who want to reach these people so badly, need to establish a presence in their midst.
Not just on weekends, during election seasons; but a ever present presence in their neighborhoods where they can get to be recognized, known and trusted individuals of a community. The GOP isn’t very good at that.
I know it may sound like I lean to the Right; I don’t. I consider myself to be a moderate; and from those I discuss my beliefs with; they think I’m a libertarian. I don’t really see that; but I guess anything is possible.
I usually don’t vote the party; I vote the man. I believe that we need a strong leader in the white house with unwavering beliefs and courage. In this last election; both candidates had flaws; after all they are only human. I believe, as I have stated again and again; that the greater of the evils was victorious.
I believe that government spending needs to be reigned in; government handouts, to other undeserving nations; needs to be abolished. I don’t have a problem with entitlements as they are being called, except in a couple of instances.
I believe that everyone should have health care; I believe that those who truly need help; should have it. I do have a problem with those on the dole simply because they refuse to take a job that is beneath them; or because they can’t find work because of a criminal record.  I think these people need to get off their lazy duffs and get out there and work.
Latino peoples aren’t lazy for the most part; they take pride in their work and they are hard workers. Most don’t want a handout; but if the opportunity presents itself, why not?
The GOP needs to re-invent themselves; maybe to a new named party like the Party of The American People; or maybe the New American Republican Party; something like that. Reaching the members of a Latino group has to start with two factions; the elder and the younger. I believe that reaching the middle members of the group; such as the 21-34 year olds; will be difficult. Education is the key. It is time for the GOP to cast away all of their shadows and embrace the heritages of those they so desperately need to reach.
Again, there is a way. I will repeat my ideas on this;

1. Get to know the peoples that you are trying to reach. Spend a lot of time in their neighborhoods. Set up establishments, offices, information centers.
Invest in some after school programs, offer tutoring, mentoring, think tanks to help these people solve the problems that they face on a daily basis. Don’t solve their problems; but help them attain the tools they need to do it themselves. These are a proud people. They don’t want handouts; just thoughts on solutions and resources to be more independent.

2. The GOP needs to be inclusive; embrace the people that are here. Don’t chastise those who are not here legally. Instead, offer ideas on how to help them attain citizenship. Encourage these individuals to not hide, but to get out and promote a sense of community. Encourage these people to learn English, to find ways to share their heritage with the other people in the community. Encourage them to take pride in themselves and the area they live in.

3. The GOP needs to target young Latinos; sit and meet in round tables and listen to the needs and ideas of these people. Encourage them to have community/neighborhood meetings amongst themselves. This will enable them to discover what they need and maybe come up with an idea of how they can self-attain what is needed again, solving immigration issues with the elder members of the community. Instill a sense of civic pride; so many of these peoples live in run-down areas of society. I think that a beautification committee would allow people to get involved; and again, the GOP could take a co-leadership role in this endeavor. I will say it again; walk in their shoes; live in their community. Invest in the future of these peoples; legal or not; they are Americans.
There is a strong sense of family and religion with this culture. Spend time in their churches, schools and neighborhoods. Get involved in their celebrations, embrace, promote their culture and assure them that they are a cherished part of society. This isn’t hard. It just takes the desire… the ganas, like Jaime Escalante so simply stated.

The Democrats claim to do all this; but nothing has come from it for these peoples. They see that; so, being ignored by one side; they chose to ignore both sides, especially the side they perceive to be white, wealthy and out of touch. It’s way past the time to sit with and embrace these people.

The GOP needs to start a grass-roots campaign to bring these people in; like YESTERDAY. The GOP has so many things in common with the Latino people. They need to find this common ground and invite this community to build on it. They need to cultivate this society’s heritage and let it flourish for the entire nation to see; everyone has something to offer. Good Luck, Republicans… you’ll need it.