Friday, March 07, 2008

Dating

It's one of the hardest things to do for me personally really. Being of illegal status in this country I feel that this is a burden I should cary alone. Of course countless friends have joked and suggested that I get married to an american girl and get my papers. 9-11 changed the world forever and its affects are still being felt in waves. Getting married is no longer a viable option because immigration has seriously started preventing and prosecuting individuals involved with green card marriages. Then there are the moral ramifications of spitting on the sacred act that is marriage so I'm left at a cross road. Ideally my parents wishes and dreams, along with the rest of my family, were for me to meet a cute american girl, get her pregnant and in a way force her to marry me. Problem solved, except I had serious self esteem issues and I'm not good looking enough to get anyone to marry me. At one point my parents seriously considered buying me a wife to get me my papers yeesh !!! I have had the luck of having girlfriends who are accepting of my situation but alas none of those relationships have gone anywhere. In fact this post was inspired by my now ex-girlfriend who got sick of me and hates my guts now. In fact I know that if she were to be driving and she saw me crossing the street she would not brake for me. The gist of it is that she wanted me to be what she thought I could be. She felt betrayed because I said I would change but never did and to be honest, changing one's habits and being is hard. I have made great strides in becoming the person that I am today but that doesn't mean i haven't kept some of my basic values and way of being. I love to joke around and laugh in the face of adversity and danger. Even when I almost broke my ankle trying to to do crazy stunts on a dirt bike, I was cracking jokes. I was on the floor with my leg touching my head and they asked me how come wasn't laughing. (I had a streak for laughing every time I wiped out on the bike.) I said something to the affect of "It's not as funny when it hurts" and cracked everyone up. I care about said ex-girlfriend but I have crossed her unintentionally to the point that I no longer exist to her in this world. The differences in our worlds didn't matter. To her it was all about me not wanting to grow up. I know I need to grow up and stop with the vulgar humor and what not, but that's the way I am. It's one thing growing up, it's another changing the person you really are. That's who I was with her and obviously it wasn't enough for her. The 20 year old who doesn't know what to do with the rest of her life, complains about everything, acts like a spoiled child and wants the world to revolve around her. I grew up when my parents made me walk to school everyday. She still relies on others for help. Which isn't a bad thing but when your the only girl and the youngest, well things come to you easily.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

The Los Angeles Marathon


For as long as I have lived in L.A., I have been involved with the L.A. marathon indirectly. For years I cursed it because all it did was cause traffic head aches in downtown. However this year was a little different. On my way to work I was dropped off at Alameda and Olvera st. because of the detours. I started making my way south on Los Angeles street passing through federal buildings and what have you until I finally hit the marathon route on Los Angeles and Third st. The route I took was through little Tokyo because the side walks are more even and it means less work for me on my skate board. As I made my way to the route, I could hear the banging of drums like it was a war march or thunder.

Turns out it was the Taiko drums being played for runners. Even though I was just standing there drinking water from the cups being handed out to runners I felt like running the marathon. The music and people with signs encouraging friends and family to continue on, pushing through the pain really motivates you.

Of course I wasn't going to start running, but I was close and skated with runners on the route. It's really an indescribable feeling to hear the sound of the drums, people chanting and the whole atmosphere of the marathon. As I was skating by I took pictures, nothing big of course because I was using my phone. It was heart warming to see families walking and people walking their dogs in one of the bad sides of town. It was a change of pace from the downtown I'm use to.
Oddly enough some people chanted and waved to me as I passed by on m y board. Although I kinda felt out of place as everyone is running and sweating while I'm just cruising by passing all the runners. The guy who won the marathon, Laban Moiben did it in 2:13:50. He's from Kenya. Odilion Cuahutle did an awesome job representing Mexico in 6 place with a time of 2:16:44. All in all it was a great experience even if it was just a short glimpse. I did come up with the idea to petition the marathon organizers to let me do it on my board. It's really no different than bikes so why not ?