BigSoccer post from 2/3/2006 on a thread titled "Mexican Pride"

I was born in a small rancho in Jalisco and lived there for the first 10 yrs of my life. I came to the States in '88.

A co-worker asked recently why I was so proud of my Mexican heritage. I work in a predominantly geriatric caucasian office. Usually I would just say something smart-ass, like "I'm Mexican, that's why" or just completely ignore the question. I'm friendly like that. But I felt compelled to actually interact with her for a change. I answered her that I was not only born in Mexico...I spent the first decade of my life there, (I don't think she knew this) in what I considered to be the best childhood ever.

I explained to her that those formative years were spent being trained to feel pride when I see an eagle devouring a snake while perched on a cactus, same as she was trained to feel pride when she sees the stars and stripes. I don't know if she was satisfied with this but I walked away nonetheless.

I remember being able to catch a train to towns 30-50 miles away on my own as a child. I remember having one rule as a kid, be home for lunch at 2pm, that was it!! I roamed streets like a madman. I'd ride my bike with other kids to the river and go swimming. I'd come home from school and head straight to the local soccer field, which was behind our enormous back lot (that proximity explains the obsession and skills). I knew the exact spot on the edge of town, by the Roman aqueduct, behind the train tracks, that would produce the best echo I ever heard.

The town was at the foot of steep hill where an old cross "Cruz Vieja" was placed by its Jesuit founders. I'd take hikes up the hill and sit up there for hours reading and looking at the tiny valley and most of the people go about their lives. I'd talk my cousin Rene into riding our bikes to the nearest town for the sole purpose of fighting other kids. We'd stroll into town park our bikes and wait for anybody around our age to show up and proceed to tell them they were " a bola de mugrosos and pig fuckers". They were, that's why we kicked their ass.
I remember listening to "Porfirio Cadena el Ojo de Vidrio" on the radio. I remember Sixto and Burbujas on T.V. I vaguely remember Tuesday nights being the Cantinflas cartoon night on Channel 2...Cantinflas cartoons kicked ass. I have a ton of awesome memories that could have me sitting here writting for days.

Veronica

I love the taste of tangerine
when I taste on your lips
my tongue licks them clean

I couldn't tell which part of you
i'm more scared to lose
your flesh, your love

rosesgrow

Roses grow to be food for worms
poets love that shit
microphones keep spitting songs
no one seems to need

Not so cold in the cold december
as decembers used to be
not so cold by the dying embers
of the boy who once was me.

Winter of Discontent...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.


Every time I'm channel surfing for some sort of entertainment and land on a news channel I'm reminded of this quote. Luckily I still get up and go to work everyday (except for Furloughs).
If the people of this country were not so fervently attached to what their supposed leaders are feeding them and in the process dividing them...it would be an excellent time for the inevitable change of an evolving society.

Nostalgia

I went to Daisy's first ever soccer practice yesterday. Even though she is already ten and most kids start soccer as early as five (some cases three), she looks to be athletic enough to be able to play competitively with her age group. Sitting on the grass under a cool shady tree watching her run drills made feel proud and a bit nostalgic.
Most of my childhood soccer memories stretch back to the home country. Running around every afternoon in the town soccer field with the shade of the southern mountains slowly overtaking the field. The pickup games not ending well after most of us could not see the ball in the dark. Some of the parents coming down the two roads leading to the field yelling for their respective kids. There is something to be said for just letting kids play...making their own rules, learning as they go along. Just being free.
I played high school, college, and competitive soccer later...but the pickup games were the best.

Things I've Learned so Far:

1. Be careful when you speak to children. You never know what they’ll remember. Some of my most vivid memories are from childhood.
2. Respect all women. All of them. Even the ones that carry themselves in a manner undeserving of respect.
3. A person’s basic personality is magnified and/or revealed by the consumption of alcohol. A jerk is an asshole, a bore is a stiff and so forth. If we haven’t shared in aforementioned consumption I don’t know you and consequently I don’t trust you.
4. Having your happiness be entirely dependent on another person is both absurd and irrational
5. Falling in love is wonderfully amazing. Being in a loving relationship requires patience, care, devotion, and the willingness to endure some doubt. Most of us are not cut out for this.
6. Once in a while do something that you know nobody else wants to do or you have been putting off. Be it because it is too hard, too menial, or the consequences might bring discomfort.
7. Given the choice between faith and ethical nihilism, I choose to believe.
8. I’ve never had to bear any significant hardship in my life. I’m grateful and a bit fearful about this.

First complete 18...by my lonesome. Broke 100!!!

Swenson Golf Course
Tuesday Jan. 20 2009


Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Yards 457 182 455 398 151 421 316 497 355
Par 5 3 4 4 3 4 4 5 4
Score 5 6 6 5 4 6 5 6 5


Hole 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Yards 378 493 195 370 386 353 346 180 498
Par 4 5 3 4 4 4 4 3 5
Score 5 6 6 5 4 6 5 6 5


It's a bit over 4 miles, so it's a nice walk. I started at around 1:30 and finished at 5:00. Nice walk but it was improptu so I had no beer or water and was dying at the end. First 18 ever finished. Only six months after touching a golf club for the first time.

on dunking a basketball

Sometimes I dream that I can dunk a basketball. I had this dream last night again and I woke up pretty fucking pumped up. Somehow I find myself playing a pick-up game in one the gyms of my youth. It’s mostly the same circumstances, I’m running a fast break, fake a pass to the right and elevate, get the extension in midair while leaning forward and smash that bitch on the poor bastard that ran back on D. Elation, pure joy...
All of this takes place on a regulation court. While my subconscious might have some reference point for the feelings of actually undertaking this experience (I did dunk regularly on 8 foot courts) I don’t understand what the dream means. I’m a shade under 5’7” and could touch a regulation rim in the peak of basketball playing days which happened nearly a decade ago. I kind of remember trying to see if the latter was possible but was a few inches short and my tiny hands made the whole ordeal impossible.

January Monthly Golf Outing

The Monthly golf outing rolled into Stockton California for January, and it was Carlos' turn to host. Initially he proposed a course in the middle of the country "Lockeford Springs" but Mr. Dumass never made a tee time so we rolled into the freewheeling drunkfrest of straight long fairways that is VanBuskirk golf course. Following are the e-mails from myself and Alex reviewing the happenings of said event



Alex's original E-mail

My experience from Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009

AM:
9:30 - wake up, start texting everybody.

10:30 - breakfast.

11:30 - met at park and prepared out gear.

PM:
12:30 - informed that no golf carts were available, started golfing (High Light [HL] - Luis' monster drive and overall good performance), started drinking (HL - little kids killed my buzz when distributing beer to the group).

2:00 - arrived at 6th hole in record time.

2:30 - alcohol kicked in.

3:00 - yelling ensues over stroke counts.

4:30 - marshall, aka Buzz Killington, informs us we have to leave by 5:15.

5:15 - Luis = 89, Alejandro = 96, Royer = 98, Carlos & Easy = 100+

6:30 - eating burritos, watching Cardinals whoop ass, and taking my time ironing my shirt.

8:30 - continual beer drinking and shots of what i believe are Kamakazi start rolling out.

9:30 - Bradley's drinking and Pool (Eight Ball) game. (HL - everyone has increased their pool skill level...practice?)

11:00 - arrive at Salsa place.

AM:
12:00 - enter Salsa place with a $15 cover.

12:30 - I stay (dancing) while everyone leaves Salsa place for Bradley's.

1:00 - arrive at parking lot where car was broken into.

1:15 - Luis picks me up as I attemp to console victim and Carlos jumps out of vehicle and starts yelling, "fuck your shit! it's all material possessions! fuck your shit! fuck her shit! you got your health! fuck that shit! lets get the hell out of here."

1:30 - Luis drives us back to Carlos' while i hear about the comotion that took place @ Bradley's. Luis shares that he had intimate relations with a woman who was at Bradley's. She was there with her boyfriend who seems to work out and/or eat a lot (not sure, i heard he is a large man). This is the same woman who's picture caught my eye while on MySpace last year and Luis shared with me that she was his plutonic friend...i find the change in statement interesting.

2:00 - i get out at Carlos drive and proceed to pee on the fence. i believe it was Royer who instructed Luis to back up, which he did. as Luis backed up i continued to urinate, thus allowing me to urinate inside of Luis open driver side window (i carefully avoided peeing on Luis, which i could've very easily accomplished).

2:20 - while drunk driving through downtown Stockton, i turned toward the I-5 on ramp off of El Dorado Street and got distracted. The next thing i hear is Royer yelling, "Watch out! Watch out!" i looked up and realized i was heading straight for a collision with the center divide. i was able to swerve and avoid damage to the body of my car, but i hit the curb pretty hard. i followed that by getting of the phone and pulling over. the next 30 to 40 minutes had Royer and me replacing my tire (broken rim and all) with the spare while Royer complained about my crappy manual jack.

2:45 - police pulls up behind me (i'm on the freeway, just off the ramp and about two blocks awat from the police dept.), gets out of his vehicle, sees that i'm tightening the lug nuts, and says, "i see you're almost done changing your tire, have a good night." And he leaves.

3:50 - arrive in Sacramento after dropping Royer off in Weston Ranch and driving 50 miles/Hour with a spare tire in the front of my car.

Overall, i had fun and thank everyone who participated in the event.

Alejandro

PS - I was watching football on Sunday and received a text from Luis in the late afternoon that showed a picture of a burrito from La Victoria Taqueria in San Jose. i sent a text to everyone (who was with us Saturday) this morning to question this text. Easy replied stating that he had asked for clarification on Sunday and didn't recieve any from Luis. And Luis replied stating that he would have taken his near-teenage daughter to watch Disney-on-Ice if there had been a show in the HP Pavilion slated for yesterday...i'm confused.

---Response to Alex's e-mail---

a few responses to your time/bullet points and observations of my own;

7:30AM-- rise and shine...

8:00AM-- grocery store buy some breakfast materials to welcome EZ.

9:45-- EZ arrives with Burger King breakfast in hand. I'm tempted to eat delicious chilaquiles Vero made in front of him withou offering.

11:00 AM-- get going. Sweater Vest weekend is official.


12:30 PM--- the no carts thing really kicked my ass on Sunday and some of our games later in the round. Ez buys an awesome pair of Nike golf shoes and transforms instantly from the worst dressed golfer of the group (earlier wearing basketball; jersey, shorts and sneakers) to the most appropriate in seconds.
Personally on and off with the driver...I hit my 3-wood (a club i fear) like a champ so that made my day.

3:00 PM--- I do apologize for this. At this point in our golfing or at any point for that matter one should only worry about personal stroke count...and having the most fun possible. At the very least now I know how to throw Carlos off his game

5:15-- Scores. I beat Royer...alriight, take that from a few rooks Royyer. If I remember correctly we golfed 12 holes? I averaged about a 7 then, not bad on the "big boy course" considering all circumstances.
9:30 PM-- me and EZ the worst pool players of the bunch "owning" (technically) the table at Bradleys


12:00AM-- indecison over where to go at the Waterfront. In retrospect there was some weird shit going on with Carlos' decision making process. I suspect foul play since he somehow rationalized not going in to the place where all the eye candy was entering.
EZ's economic lesson on enjoying a $20 Corona.

12:30 Am-- back to Bradley's. I try to curve the drinking...and Carlos starts serving up the Jaggermeister. I see a girl i have some history with...state to Roger in a very debonair and dapper manner "this all me" and dash over to her. She quickly introduces me to a buff/fat (it was a combination of both) man that crushes my small sized hands with his handshake. The latter crushes my alcohol fueled confidence, small talk ensues, i walk away. He was my Buzz Killington. Alex your interest on who i pork/have porked/will pork or validity of statements/rumors/misconceptions of said happenings is sometimes worrisome.

1;30 AM-- Back to pick up Alex. On the way we learn his friend has had her car broken into. We get there. I don't remember Carlos getting out or heard him state such things, but sounds like some shit he'd do. Royer cracks the shit out me with dry statement about the wing man situation..(Big girl ate missing girl from earlier in the night...and Alana should not worry about her car but be fearful of the hungry girl).

2:00 AM-- Alex peeing on my truck at carlos' house. At that point, very funny. Sunday morning, smell of urine on my seat, not so funny.

2:15 Am--Carlos calls and ask to come back to pick him up and go get some food. I realize that's an awesome idea. Breakfast burritos kick ass. I do some 4-wheel driving through the treacherous parking lots of West and March lanes...hope there are no cameras in the adjoining establishments. Ironically Alex informs us he has run into a curve and is now changing his tire.

2:30 AM-- eat and drink I think back at Carlos' while reminiscing of memories past. Such as Alex sneaking into the San Jose apt. through our window breathing very heavily, instructin me to "SHHHHH" and only wearing his boxer shorts.

3;30 -- arrive home

first weekend of the year

Carlos called and we set out to hit the golf course again. Alex had also called but he wanted me to drive to Sacramento and the lady friend had only allotted me a few hours of leave. We met and he had Davien with him again, which is cool because he is a well behaved four year old. There was some people teeing off and an 11yr old kid was behind us about to play on his own. I invited him to join us and it made for a memorable round. He proceeded to beat Carlos by three strokes while I only bested him by five. I kept the scoring card to later show the guys on our monthly golf outing. His name was Brandon and he was a cocky, talkative little SOB...a bit short for an 11yr old. He had this wild Fro and kept checking on Carlos' stroke count which made it funny.



Aside from Davien repeatedly clubbing his dad on the shins throughout the rounds, it was pretty uneventful. As it were it was just practice for this upcoming weekend.

Watched football on Sunday morning and was disgusted by the turn of events. Went to visit my sister and her herd of children on Sunday. I had not seen them since Thanksgiving and I noticed the older girl has transitioned from "innocent run to tio Luis" to "ughh this damn peeps are killing my Disney Channel viewing" in the interim. Me and the ladyfriend hit the usual Chinese dinner place and called it a day.