Animals and the society we live in.

Has anyone actually read any of the articles surrounding what happened in Ohio with the animals that were on the loose?

Here's a summary: Dude had a bunch of wild/exotic animals on his private animal farm, there were reports he was abusing some of the animals, and then he let them all go into the public just before killing himself. Authorities did the best they could to keep everyone and everything safe, and have the support of animal experts.

Yeah, it's super unfortunate and heartbreaking that all those animals had to be killed (there were a few that survived and are being cared for at the Columbus Zoo); I'm all for animal rights and for treating animals ethically and all that, but what the fuck else could be done? At some point you've got to open your mind and weigh all the options. I'm pretty sure if you knew all these wild animals - that have been kept captive, possibly abused, and can potentially kill a human within seconds if even slightly provoked (even unintentionally) - were out roaming around unaccounted for, if you came face to face with one of these animals, you would more likely than not do whatever you could to not get killed. They saved the animals they could, they tried to lure them back to the compound so they could lock them up again, but in the end, we end up with a story about people looking out for the health and well-being of other people.

And isn't that what a community, or even a society, should be? To have each other's back and to care for one another? It sucks that it had to be under these circumstances, but at least there's some hope that people can make these tough decisions to make sure their neighbor, who they may or may not know, doesn't die.

A not-so-lonely Friday night. (Or "Yet another reason skateboarding is fucking awesome.")

A couple of Fridays ago, I decided to take a last minute solo trip up to San Francisco.

It had been a rough week for me: I've been going through some emotional stuff lately; the work week was rough, since I was pulling triple duty most of the week (when single duty is pretty much impossible for me already); I finally had enough of my setup (along with keeping all my anger and frustration inside) and focused my skateboard earlier in the week (first time I've done that in quite a while), so I hadn't skated for a while when I wanted, and probably really needed, to; then, to top it off, I had planned on finishing up laundry and making dinner for myself when I got home Friday after work, only to come home and find my laundry had been tampered with (one of my biggest pet peeves is people messing with my stuff without my permission).

So, having had (what was, in my mind) the last possibility of some semblance of control in my "normal daily life", I said "Fuck this!" (both in my head, then out loud), threw my broken skateboard in the trunk of my car, gently placed a new deck and new wheels in my backseat, jumped into the driver's seat, turned on the ol' Prius, and took off to The City.

I figured I could make it to Deluxe just before they closed, get some trucks so I could put a new complete together (you know, make a fresh start or some other cheesy/corny cliché), and hang out for a bit at a place where I always feel welcome, where I always feel I belong, and where there are always friendly faces to see and converse with.

So that was the initial plan (if you can call it that): Get away from "home" for a little while, breathe, feel like myself again, hang out where the weather is nicer, and get a new skateboard together.

Maybe I'd stop at La Costeña on the way home and grab a burrito for dinner. Maybe I'd get food in The City. Meet up with a friend/some friends? Go record shopping? Go to a bar or something? (Sounds weird, but I had the Rickshaw Stop in mind - there had to be a show going on there on a Friday night, right?) I figured since I'd more-likely-than-not be alone that night no matter where I was, I'd just spend it alone in SF and let the night take me where it would - life's been tossing me around all over the place for the past couple of years anyway, so why change things up now, right?

So I get to Deluxe, as usual some of the raddest dudes ever are working, I get offered to have a drink and chill until the shop closes (which, at this point, was in about 15 minutes, give or take) - I take him up on his offer of chilling, but in hindsight maybe I should've taken that drink, as well. I get the scoop on the Venture V5 Hi 5.2's, go with the suggested all black ones (though the always awesome Mr. Matt D. didn't have to push that colorway on me too hard), and while I'm shopping around/hanging out, a couple of other familiar Deluxe faces show up, so I say what's up to them and catch up a little bit.

So I make my purchase, and head out on my way - there was some talk of cruising around downtown, but I figured I didn't want to barge in on their sesh (plus I didn't want to feel the need to follow whatever their evening plans were once I was with them), plus I figured I'd try to meet up with some other friends who live in The City. I texted the two of them while I was walking back to my car, and while waiting for a response, decided to sticker up my board and put it together. I thought I'd have to mess with them to make them looser and turn to my liking, but lo and behold - they felt fine right off the bat! Ventures that actually turn - and turn fairly well, at that? These are higher and wider than I used to skate back in the day, though...anyway, I digress...but not by much; and I am actually pretty stoked on those trucks.

I ended up cruising around the immediate area I was in for a little longer just to get more of a feel for my new setup (plus it felt so damn surprisingly good!), then I decided to do some record shopping at Amoeba while I was up in SF. One friend texts me back while I'm driving to Haight: He was going home to San Jose for the weekend - something about tattoos, freakouts, AIDS, and being in trouble with his parents, I don't know.

So I go to Amoeba, and I immediately find the vinyl single I was looking for, so this record store visit is definitely off to a good start. I go wandering off through the store, and I find a $3 album that I'm pretty sure I'm gonna like. I end up coming across about 3-5 other albums that look interesting, and in listening to all these CDs I grabbed, the $3 one was definitely a keeper, and one of the other albums caught my attention enough that I decided to get that one as well. I walk out of Amoeba, get to my car, and my other baby sister texts me back saying she's gonna be at work until 10pm and is probably gonna stay in the for night.

So, I drive over to right near the Rickshaw, as I was considering checking it out, and because I'm pretty sure I can find parking. But to help me decide whether I wanted to stay in San Francisco or head back home and pick up food on the way, I texted a friend to see what he's gonna be up to tonight, and I texted my other friend to see what was up with Saturday (we were supposed to go skimming/chill at the beach): One friend was going to Half Moon Bay since it was his friend's birthday, and my other friend and I were just kind of going back forth, since I knew I had plans Saturday afternoon/evening, and I wanted to try and figure out how to go about spending Friday night so I could function on Saturday.

I check my phone to see what's going on at the Rickshaw Stop, and I see there's a show going on that looks like it could be interesting. I decide to skate around and stop by the Rickshaw Stop to see what the scene looks like that night: It looks pretty dead, especially for a Friday night.

So I figure "Hey, I'm already out here, I might as well keep cruising around and get used to this setup. I could check out the library and skate some flatground or something, too." So, I'm pushing around, and I'm thinking "This is actually pretty sick: I'm in San Francisco, at night, pushing around. This is tight!" And then I'm in air: As a result of my poor decision to skate on the sidewalk where there are trees, buildings, and very little light, my wheels got stuck in what just happened to be the biggest fucking crack in the entire world. So, as I'm part way through my lop-sided front flip (it probably resembled more of a head high diving shoulder-roll), I realize "My phone is in my right front pocket. If I let this slam take it's course, my iPhone is done!" So, somehow, someway, I manage to switch directions mid-flip, and I end up doing a barrel roll, spinning in the opposite direction, and as I hit the ground, I hit both palms, but I take a majority of the slam on my left elbow, shoulder, hip, and ribs. I get up right away, grab my board, look up, and see some people crossing the street towards my direction, so I'm pretty sure they saw me. Embarrassed? A little - but overall I'm actually impressed with myself that I was able to get out of that predicament with just a slightly swollen right palm, a scraped-up left palm, a barely-bloody elbow, and a tiny hipper (barely even one). And no broken iPhone!

I continue skating, I go down Van Ness, I pass by City Hall, the Asian Art Museum (where I was planning to take my parents that Sunday, so it kind of worked out that I found out where it was ahead of time), that double-sided ledge that everyone does pop-over tricks on, and I get to the library. I expected to see more people skating, but I ended up seeing a row of homeless people in their sleeping bags lined up in front of the library entrance, way more skatestoppers than I remember seeing in photos, and one dude skating flatground by himself away from most of the sleeping homeless people.

I skate over to the guy to say what's up, we introduce ourselves, end up talking about how quiet it is for a Friday night in SF, what brings us out that night, and the conversation just ended up kind of flowing from there. It turns out the dude is a writer for the Associate Press, is originally from Chicago, lived in SF for years, recently moved to Oakland, and was a San Jose State Alum, as well! (He also went to UC Berkeley for his Master's degree, so I'm even more stoked to be kicking it with this guy - that could be my academic career path!)

So we end up talking for at least half the time we're at the library together: We end up having a lot in common and a lot to talk about - skating, food, San Jose, school, work, and life were but a few of the subjects. Once we ran out of things to say, at least going from one subject to another in succession, one of the funnest/most unexpected night and/or flatground sessions I've had in quite some time really commenced: Homeless people wandering around, many of them peeing in the same place in front of the library so it turned into a river of piss right where we were trying to skate, some friendly passersby, some onlookers here and there, but with fakie flips and switch heelflips abounding, we had a largely uninterrupted, and ridiculously fun, night of skating.

We eventually called it a night, due partly to it being midnight after a full day of work for both of us, and partly to the sudden surge of onlookers (neither of us were in the mood to put on an impromptu midnight demo), exchanged numbers, and parted ways.

I skated back, got a little lost on the way there (my excuse is that it was dark and I forgot exactly which direction I came from), but eventually made it back to my car (after that slam near the Rickshaw, I made it a point to skate where I could at least kind of see the ground in front of me). I texted some people to see where I could grab some decent food at that hour in SF (my new skate homie suggested the Mission, which is what I was already kind of thinking), and my friends also suggested going to the Mission. Danna's boyfriend ended up waking up and wanted to grab an energy drink, she wanted food, so they ended up meeting me at Taqueria Guadalajara at around 1am.

We hung out, caught up, ate, and parted ways.

I got home at about 3:30am, and pretty much knocked out the moment I got inside my room. So much for it being a lonely Friday night.

You can't have the good without the bad.

To put this point into perspective, Beautiful Noise now has a companion blog: If you have the heart...

I've been going through some shit lately, and I've realized that I need an outlet for the negative stuff going on in my life as well - it's probably not the healthiest thing to keep it all bottled up inside. Thus, the creation of If you have the heart...

Each blog will be updated often and together: If you stumble upon an update here on Beautiful Noise, chances are you can probably stumble upon an update over there on If you have the heart... (and vice versa).

Here's to hoping everyone eventually finds their own functional way to express themselves; and that, in spite of the tough times we will all inevitably face during our lives, we will all be able to fill our lives with happiness, meaning, and hope.

RIP The Spot.

Sorry I never got to skate you.

Wouldn't it be nice...

...if we could bomb hills like this...

Vacation, shmacation.

So I spent a good portion of my first vacation since I started working full time (so it's been at least 4 years) trying to clean and organize my room - fun stuff. It looks alright - WAY better than it did before.

Looking back, however, I didn't just slave away in my room all week:

• I did go to Arizona for 4 days with my family to help my sister settle into her new digs.
• I didn't have to skate back home from the airport - but I did end up skating that day with my homie that picked me up, along with some of our other friends.
• I skated almost everyday. Except for when I was in Arizona. We stayed pretty busy: Running errands, driving around, exploring, and eating. Plus it was ridiculously hot. I mean, really? 91 degrees before 9am? Don't get me wrong: I tried to make time and make the effort - but it didn't go so well: It was so hot, I got angry that it was so hot. I felt gross. I was sweating like you would not believe.

• I ended up getting another chance to see a rad documentary called Project Nim in Berkeley (they extended the showings for another week), so I got a friend to go up with me to check it out.
• Got some hella good mac and cheese (6 cheese mac and cheese, yo.)
• Chilled for a day in Santa Cruz at some locals-only spots, brah.
• While in Santa Cruz, we went to Verve, the coffee roasters Roy's gets their coffee from. That was pretty awesome.
• Speaking of Roy's Station, I got to start off a majority of my days there, sitting in the patio with either some tea or coffee. That was also pretty awesome. I wish I could start off every day there.
• Spent a lot of time with good friends (the usual homies, along with friends old and new).

So, overall, I'd say it was a pretty good week off. I didn't get to go to the Northwest like I originally wanted to, but I think the decision to stay was the better one.

Despite it having been a good week off, I've reached the end of it. Tomorrow I have to go back to work. So, to fittingly end both this week's blog theme and my vacation, the new music video from one of my favorite new bands, from their 2010 debut album "Sports" (which, in my opinion, was the best album to come out last year).

Late start to my Sunday...

...so I'll start it on a cuter, more upbeat note.

Since it's almost bedtime...

...I'll put up something a little on the dreamy side.

Ambivalence.

Despite the hipster stereotypes/cliches that this video is filled with (whether ironic or not), this song is actually pretty cute.

I'm going to the beach today.

And so here's the new Pains of Being Pure at Heart music video. They're at the beach too - well, kinda.

Short and sweet.

In Love With Oblivion

With an album title like that, and with songs like this, you should definitely get this album.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart? Acoustic(ish)?

I came across this little gem last night. Now I really want to go back to Europe and chill at cool little spots like this.

"Bury me in a wall of sound."

"Now that you feel, you say it's not real."

Vacation Week!

Which means I actually have time to update this thing on the daily. Not that you care or anything. But if, by some chance, you do care: Thanks.

To show my appreciation, in addition to other random nonsense that will be randomly added at random times (pretty random, huh?), I'll be sharing some stuff from Slumberland Records - a local indie-pop record label that's been around since 1989, but has been killing it lately (at least in mind...which says a lot...or nothing at all). I'm thinking at least 1 music video per day from bands I've been listening to daily, that just-so-happen to be on Slumberland, sounds okay. I've been posting stuff by Slumberland bands previously, but here I have created a dedicated place to push my favorites onto you. If you're feeling it: Sick. I'm glad I could share something worthwhile with you.

But you might not be into it. Which is fine. To each his own. You can go ahead and go back to lurking on facebook. Because that's what I'm going to do, too.

But first...one of my favorite things about this weekend in Arizona: Chick-fil-A!

(Aside from spending it with my family helping my sister settle in to her new place, of course. Good luck, baby sister!)

Some friends of mine put together something rad.

Well, I'm stoked.

No means no?

Man Down, dude.

I couldn't do this without posting anything from the Tilt Mode videos.

I wasn't able to get a copy of "Tilt Mode", so when "Man Down" was about to come out, I made sure I had enough money saved up to get it the moment I saw it for sale.

I'm pretty sure I watched "Man Down" everyday for months after it came out.

Looking back on it now, though, I don't know why I did. Skateboarding's not supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be about who's better than who, it's about going big, and about who's got the freshest gear.

But, since I watched this stupid video so much growing up, I guess I'll post some of "favorite" parts.

Jerry Hsu:

Louie Barletta:

Marc Johnson:

*If you don't get the forced sarcasm here, you are truly an idiot. This was one of the most influential videos for me growing up. I mean, some of my favorite skaters? Memorable parts? Friends having fun? San Jose? Dude. Bro. This was my shit!

**I also tried to get lower quality videos because I watched this on VHS over and over and over again back in the day, so audio and video wasn't the best of quality, at least compared to today's standards. But all the Marc Johnson videos I found were pretty good quality. Whatever. Yee!

Just so we're up to speed...

Work's kept me busy/exhausted for the past few days, so now that it's the weekend, time to start it off with right.

Modus Operandi, what?

Marc Johnson's part:

Mike Carroll's part:

And Brian Anderson's part:

Gonz getting kicked out of everywhere, too.

I've always been a huge fan of Mark Gonzales, and this video part still stokes me out to this day.

Mark Gonzales' part from the Real video, "Kicked Out Of Everywhere".

Huf getting kicked out of everywhere?

To this day, this video is still sick to me, for many of the same reasons - I mean, it opens with a really good Keith Hufnagel part, and "ends" with Mark Gonzales' part. I also seem to have quite the affinity for short videos that make me want to skate, and this video is definitely one of those.

Keith Hufnagel's part in the Real video "Kicked Out Of Everywhere".

What if he was still on Real...

...and he had a part in Since Day One? That would've been sick...too bad, so sad.

I picked up Real to Reel as soon as I could after it came out. I watched this video everyday all the way through for I don't know how long. This video still gets me hyped to go skate to this day.

Nate Jones' part from the Real video "Real to Reel".

1:36-1:42 is just ridiculously pleasing to the eye.

This takes me back...

For those of us who grew up skateboarding, I'm sure most of us remember a time when we would come home from school, or wake up in the morning on the weekends, and watch certain videos or certain video parts every single day before we went skating. We were already hyped on going skating, but these videos/video parts made it impossible to not want to skate after watching them.

It's supposed to be pretty nice weather this week, so to make sure I go skate, I'm going to be watching/sharing some old favorites from my youth (because no one does that on the internet, right? Totally starting a new trend on that one...not...)

So for day 1, I thought I'd start off with a video part from one of my favorite skaters of all time from one of the first videos I ever bought.

When I first started skating, all my friends were into all the Tum Yeto brands (along with Santa Cruz and Creature). When the Pig video came out, it was a little cheaper than other videos out at the time, and had quite a few people I really liked in it - so I bought it, and watched it every single day (since it was like 1 of 2 videos I had for quite some time).

Even though everyone around me at the time was into all this stuff coming out of So Cal, I was always more hyped on what was going on right around us. Skateboarding has a rich history in San Jose, and I had a vague idea of this when I started skating, but Jason Adams was probably one of the first people that really made me appreciate and want to learn more about what I was a part of here; just by being a skateboarder here, you become part of this history of skateboarding and San Jose's scene. It's interesting to think/put into perspective (which we rarely do, since we're just kind of caught up in it, doing our thing, skating, having fun, yadda yadda yadda) that all of us who skate in and are from San Jose (or any place you grow up/end up skating in, really), really do have an impact on the scene we're a part of - whether we think that or not, whether we want to acknowledge that or not, or whether we want to accept that kind of responsibility or not - it is what it is, except that we shape what "it" is.

Anyway, enough of my yammering. Here's the video part I wanted to share.

Jason Adams' part from the Pig Wheels video, All Systems Go!

This IS pretty damn cute.

"The Rapture's Main Event!"

Source: Lowcard Magazine's facebook page

RIP Macho Man.

He tried so hard, too.

Another good reason I don't drink.

Happy Mother's Day!

From left to right: My "other mother" and my actual mother. Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there!

Love and light.

Jessica Dovey: "I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. 'Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.' MLK Jr."

"...and the world slept."

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Heart in your Heartbreak"

Up and at them!

Nothing's free...

...but this homemade Antihero water bottle was pretty damn close.

My birthday is in June. Just saying...

Kitten meows are adorable.

Yet another example of how skateboarding can be a source of positive change.

Open Japan Relief

The good people over at Open Skateboards are donating 100% of their online store sales to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

Click here to go to Open's online store and get some goods while doing some good!

Steve Caballero can do boardslides.

Discovery Channel + Jeans = 10 minutes on YouTube well spent.

It's nice outside today.

Electric Light Orchestra - "Mr. Blue Sky"

Who doesn't love Chief Wiggum?

2 for 1.

This is the music video for "Monday Morning" and "Monogah, WV", two tracks off of Weekend's debut album "Sports" on Slumberland Records. You should go buy it. Or don't. Whatever.

Ain't nothin' like the real thing, baby.

Call me old fashioned. But, if I'm going to spend money on music, if at all possible, I'd much rather spend my money on something tangible, something I can actually feel.

Music is to be listened to, of course - that's kind of what makes music, well, music; what differentiates it from other forms of art - such as film, for example - is that you experience music purely through sound.

Although the term "purely" still doesn't seem quite right.

Music, just like any other type of art, is not just something you sense, but something you experience. You may hear music, or look at a photo; but, if it matters, if the art means anything at all, you FEEL it; not necessarily in the physical sense (although that could definitely be part of it, possibly even the main point, in some cases), but in the metaphysical sense, at the very least. Good music, or good art in general, affects ("touches") you in a way that makes you think, feel, even act.

So, if some material object that's meant to accompany the music I'm paying for, such as a record, a CD, a booklet, album artwork and/or photos, or a lyric sheet, can help me more fully experience what the artist was trying to convey, why wouldn't I want to spend my hard-earned money on something like that?

These fools.

Pro wrestling at it's best.

"But this empty bedroom won't make anything right."

I've been feeling this song lately. And now I want to learn how to do this typography stuff.

Stars - "The Calendar Girl"

How I'm going to disappoint myself at the end of 2011.

Just some random new year's resolutions. I like to set myself up for failure.

1. Wallrides and wallies. I will be able to do them.

2. Read a book month. I'll give this one another try.

3. Take care of my room. It's been a while.

4. Brush my teeth and floss and use mouthwash before I go to sleep. Every night. Gross, I know. I've only been doing it in the morning. But my teeth are still fine. No cavities - in fact, my dentist said I was doing a great job at taking care of my teeth, but I know otherwise.

5. Wear my retainer at night again. I think my teeth have shifted a little.

6. Take care of my body. I feel so weak nowadays.

7. Volunteer and give back to the community.

I think that's more than enough reasons to feel bad about myself come 2012. Later.

How'd I do? (Hint: Not very good).

So, I'm gonna go over my new year's resolutions from 2010 right now. Time to feel bad about myself...

1. Be honest with myself and the people in my life that I love.
I think I did pretty well with this one. So far, so good.

2. Be a better friend to the people in my life that deserve it.
I hope I did okay with this one. I tried, at least.

3. Volunteer regularly/work to make my community better.
Totally didn't do this one. Although, to my credit (basically, to save face), my new position at work has let me be a lot more involved with the population we serve (people with developmental disabilities) in the community I live in. And as long as they don't give me the boot, I'm only going to get more involved. Still not much of an excuse, though.

4. Live by a love ethic.
I tried.

5. Figure out what I want to go to grad school for.
I think I confused myself even more in 2010.

6. Study for the GREs.
Haha!

7. Take the GREs again and do good enough on them.
Yeah right.

8. Apply for grad school.
I don't want to go yet, anyway.

9. Exercise/stretch out at least every other day.
Nope. And I wonder why my body feels like shit all the time...

10. Read at least a book a month.
Didn't even get through 1 book throughout the whole year. Hella fail. This year will be different. I swear.

11. Set aside 1 day a week to clean my room and run errands.
It's like everyday is set aside for errands. But cleaning my room? Yeah...that totally didn't happen again. My room sucks anyway. But once the remodel happens...shit's gonna be sick...

12. Go back to school for at least 1 class at a time.
With all the bullshit going on my life, this wasn't really on my mind. But, I've been really thinking about this one lately. I think I'm ready to really budget my time to fit this one in.

13. Pay off my credit card debt by June.
I know I could have, but I decided that money would be better spent elsewhere. With the new position and new pay, I'll pay it off before April this year, for sure.

14. Be happier.
I'm ambivalent on this one.

15. Learn 360 flips.
I really tried towards the end of the year. I can land about 1 shitty one a day. I'd say resolution number 15 was a success - I've got low standards on this one.

2011's new year's resolutions. Tomorrow.