Lack of Updates

Sorry that there haven't been a lot of recent updates, but I have been somewhat busy. After my Vegas Christmas trip, which was just so so, I had a lot of bills to pay and errands to run. I also decided at the last minute to go to Gridlock. A New Years Eve Party on the Paramount Studios Back Lot hosted by Pamela Anderson and featuring a midnight performance by Adam Lambert. Whom I have to admit I am looking forward to seeing perform. I am not sure if I can take pictures or not, but I will definitely try my best. It is a New Year's Party after all, so I assume I will be allowed to. It is a little bit pricey, but there is an open bar so I guess I can drink my price of admission if need be?!

Sherlock Holmes

There was a lot of hype surrounding the new Sherlock Holmes film and not all of it was actually deserved. For while the film is very well done and the visuals and the sets are amazing, it is not exactly the huge blockbuster some critics would have you believe. Quite a lot of scenes and the lines of dialogue previously heard in early trailers have also been edited out, mostly referring to Holmes and Watson behaving as if they were an old married couple. My understanding is that the current owners of the Sherlock Holmes estate disliked the homoerotic subtext and threatened to revoke all future film rights if they didn't remove any scenes alluding to anything other than a purely platonic relationship between Holmes and Watson. The film is still worth seeing though and I assume the deleted scenes will be available on the DVD once it comes out.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you and a very Happy Holidays from Travel Whore! Back online next week!

Smelly Homeless people and the Library

I think that all citizens of the world need to be sensitive to the genuine plight of the genuine homeless, but there is a limit. I personally never give homeless people money anymore after a personal experience I had about a decade ago. Where someone in line at a Lucky's grocery store started up a conversation with me, which was fine. But later on in the parking lot the same person hit me up for a dollar for the Dumbarton or perhaps it was the Bay Bridge toll fare, which was only a dollar back then. That I gave since it was only a dollar, but after I gave him the money I realized he was buying a big-ass bottle of Vodka in the store just after me. So this bum who was supposedly hard up for Bridge toll money, had enough money to get booze, but not enough to get across the bridge! Needless to say I felt like an idiot after having given this asshole money. Which is why I pretty much view all homeless people as just lowly scam artists, not that they all are, but a lot of them are.


Recently my former university, where I routinely use their library computer, has had an increase in homeless people. Mainly because it is cold and the libraries have been open 24 hours because of finals. Making it a haven for all the worthless homeless people in the neighborhood, which has turned the library into a dirty, smelly shambles of it's former self. As you have bums leaving crumbs of food and flakes of themselves all over the place, and they have even been sleeping under the desks where the computers are kept. And campus security or the library staff cannot do a single thing about it, unless the bums threaten people or are seen damaging school or personal property. Mainly because the library is considered public property and theoretically is open to ever US citizen, though technically they do have to be a tax paying citizen and bums are most definitely not.


Still the library has been over run and the vast majority of these people are nothing but disgusting worthless individuals. There was even a guy who i caught repeated hawking luggies on the floor of the library, and when I told him to stop he said it would evaporate! I was in shock, as I cannot believe the behavior of some people! When I reported him to the library staff he denied ever doing it, even though several witnesses said he did. The library staff also couldn't do anything and a cop would have to see what he did to actually take action. So the library is still full of mental cases, whack-jobs and bums! The place looks and smells like shit, and I am afraid to sit in a chair for ending up smelling like garbage!

Tiger Woods & all his baby Mama drama. I think it has long been a given that most celebrities cheat on their respective others. It's practically a requirement of being famous nowadays. So I wasn't surprised when Tiger Woods was discovered to have over a bakers dozen of mistresses. I'm more shocked that he was able to juggle so many women without them or the general public at large finding out. Plus the fact that he apparently doesn't use protection is sc

Vegas here I come!

I am actually on a plane heading for Vegas as this post is posted, and unfortunately I will not be able to post anything new for awhile. Sure there are a few posts that are scheduled to be posted, but I will not have anything that is in the now or up to date while I am away. Unless I find some cheap Internet access. I do not have a laptop yet and my PSP is a pain in the ass to use the airport and hotels WiFi service. Which makes me think I might get a PSPgo as they are supposed to be easier to use, though typing the way they have set it up it still a bitch to use. Anyway I wish everyone a fun filled holiday week and subsequent weekend. I hope you all get exactly what it is you wish for this Holiday season and have a very merry Christmas or Hanukkah depending on your faith. Personally I am not religious, so Christmas is just a plain o Holiday to me, but some people get really offended if you say Merry Christmas all the time. And with that I am out of here, wish me luck as I plan to gamble a little bit, but mainly I am just here to see some shows, relax, work on some over due artwork and have a good time away!

Dead Body Anyone? Apparently several counties in Detroit have a space problem, a dead body space problem. It seems that in these tough economic times, people are unable to afford to clain nor pay for the burial of their recently passed on loved ones. So the state has been left holding the bill and a subsequent serious lack of storage space problem as well, with as much as 200 unclaimed/unburied dead bodies lying in the corraner's office at any given time.

When did giving gifts go out of fashion??

I usually make gift baskets for friends and family, including small holiday themed hand crafted items like snowmen or reindeers. I think it adds a more personal touch, which I use to have more time to do. So when I recently made it a point to make gifts baskets and some hand crafted items for two of my Japanese classmates, it was kind of a big deal for me in terms of time and money spent. But if I had known how both of them were going to react to my gifts I would not have wasted my time or energies doing anything for them. They both acted like I had offered them crack or something, one of them even asked why did I give them anything?! Despite the fact that I said Merry Christmas before I handed them their basket and the basket itself was wrapped in holiday themed cellophane wrap. When did gift given go out of fashion? Especially during Christmas! I would have been thrilled if someone got me something, rather than look at it with disdain or suspicion like they did.





Above is an example of the hand crafted items I was referring to

I am not sure what they are selling?

I have passed this window add/display a few times before and always wondered what it was they were trying to sell or what it was they were trying to say? I mean it looks like some sort of window cleaner, but the bottle says HOMO on it and the guy is slightly effeminate looking. Or at least no one looks particularly manly wearing an ascot, even Fred couldn't quite pull off that look. Maybe it has more meaning in Spanish than it does in English? Any thoughts?

Cell phone etiquette

Why is it that some people think everyone wants to know their business. Case in point, while on my way to campus some disheveled man gets on the bur speaking loudly on the phone. Apparently his Church demanded he either admits he is an alcoholic, or leaves the Church. He then went on about family drama. He spoke in a very loud voice the entire time, so no one even had a choice of whether or not to listen. You could see the other bus patrons getting visibly upset, but no one actually said anything ( including me). I guess because this guy looked and sounded a little bit off, like he had dome some time in a mental health facility. Either way I have never understood why people do such a thing, or want the world to know their business, especially when it's negative or unflattering to say the least!

DEJA VU

I just finished the book City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare, when I had a little bit of Deja Vu. Either that or a flashback to a prophetic dream I once had. The way the book ends, reminded me of reading the next book in the series while being in Vegas. Which is exactly where I will be come tomorrow by this time. I also do not even have the next book yet as I plan to get it later tonight from Borders. I also remember that in my original dream I end up winning some money while vacationing in Vegas, so that could be a rather nice bonus. Either way it is somewhat nice for a dream I had in the past to make more sense now, since I had never ever heard of the book series when I initially had the dream way back when. In fact there is a chance they were not even published yet, and I haven't been to Vegas in over a decade. So I quickly dismissed the dream as just being completely random. Let's see if it actually comes true and I win some cash! More on this later on of course!

How big is your penis?

This is totally random, but I was reminded of something because I just saw a condom commercial. Awhile back I was with a good friend of mine in Sweden. He was about to go somewhere for something and needed to buy condoms like the responsible boy he is. So we went to some little grocery store to get them. To my great shock the guy behind the counter asked my friend how big his penis was. Apparently in Sweden you buy condoms tailored to your size and have to tell whoever sells them how big your penis is. Either way I found the whole thing to be hilarious, as well as potentially embarrassing. I mean what if you have a really small penis, you have to admit it to a complete stranger. Though come to think of it, it make more sense to get a more tailored condom. And Americans have way too many hang ups when it comes to sex, while the Swedes definitely do not!

Test Screening: How they have fallen

I use to go to test Screening religiously when I was much younger and still in college, but now the whole free test screening process is so unpleasant I rarely go anymore. Mainly because I don't want to have to stand in a line for 2 or more hours, just to be told that I might not get in in the first place, usually because I don't have the right look, or the right ethnicity for the film being tested. Case in point, I recently went to a test screening of Valentine's Day. A huge ensemble romantic comedy cast about the trials and tribulation of Valentine's day, by those who are both romantics and cynics. The film is obviously going to be geared towards couples or more accurately white couples. Hence a group of black people were turned away from the screening, or detained might be a better choice of words. For what a lot of screening or test marketing companies do is select people from the line that they feel are their target demographics or audience and give them preferential treatment. Which in the case of test screenings is a better seat in the house. So they will often pull people out often line and move them to the front so they get in first and get better seating. Which annoys some people in the line, especially people who are not familiar with how the whole test screening thing works. As such the group of black people noticed that a lot of people were being moved in front of them, and took great offense. Especially since all the people being moved in front of them happened to be young white people. Which is understandable, as it looks blatantly racist, and to a certain degree it is. But the film is not being marketed towards black people, and hence they do not really want black people's opinions. Though their mistake is in thinking that Black people are only interested in seeing movies staring Black people or horror movies. Which in the world of studio and Hollywood test screenings, is exactly how black audiences are viewed or categorized. So if you are a person of color and you are ever approached by a movie recruiter, you can be assured the film is either a horror film or stars a major black actor.


On another less controversial note, the film Valentine's Day itself was just so so. I actually saw a trailer for the film yesterday and there are even some scenes that I did not see in the version I saw, which tells you they are still making (much needed) changes. Only a handful of the some 12 odd story lines were any good or even remotely interesting, while the rest were pure filler if you act me. Meant to bring in some younger audience members, and that's it. Like Taylor Lauter vacuous teen jock character and equally vapid girlfriend played by Taylor Swift ( Which now explains why they are dating in real life). In a nutshell I would recommend that you wait til this film is on cable or you can rent it for cheap, as it's definitely not worth the 10 plus dollars your average movie ticket costs nowadays.

Nerdy Nerd Nerd 2: Botcon 2010

Each year I go to Botcon ( It's an annual Transformers toy convention), or at least I try to go to Botcon. This upcoming year, 2010, Botcon will take place while I am supposed to be in Europe for my annual 2 month long vacation. So if I want to go next summer, I will need to fly from Germany to Orlando, Florida and back again, which could be very, very expensive, especially after all the additional hotel and convention costs ( Roughly $500 for the convention after all the toy exclusives and another $500, at least, for the hotel for a week). Plus it's a little bit decadent to go to Europe twice within the same month, or to even bother flying back to the States just for a week. Still I really enjoy Botcon and would hate to miss it, especially since I usually win the art contests like I have posted before. And there are some friends and special guests that I know I would like to see again, plus I have not been to Disneyworld before! So this whole thing could be a nice little vacation, if only I can work everything out money-wise. We will just have to wait and see, in the meantime I will keep everyone posted and of course take a shit load of pictures if and when I go. They will actually announce the official time and location this week. Hopefully Monday morning the 21st of December, so I can start to prepare for my trip to and from Europe.


QUICK UPDATE: It seems that the convention is indeed in Orlando Florida at some surely expensive Disney Dolphin Hotel, but it is June 24th til the 27th! Right during the time I need to be in Europe if I want to make it to Roskilde on time for the first day of warm ups! Which totally sucks, as I was really hoping to go to the next Botcon, but it would be a logistical nightmare to pull off both vents. Still I might go for a few days of the convention.

AVATAR, Did you hear about the Morgans? & The Road

This Saturday I Saw AVATAR, Did you hear about the Morgans, & The Road back to back to back. Mainly because movies are so darn expensive now, you truly have to see more than one just to get your monies worth. The first film I saw was Avatar in 3D. Which was visually amazing to behold. A true joys to the eyes! I really enjoyed the vast, lush alien world, and especially it's flora and fauna. The CGI was breathtaking, the story was good, even the heavy handed message about the environment and how we destroy everything that is natural and good. My only problem with the film as a whole was that the 3D glasses made the film a little too dark, since they are essentially sun glasses. I also have a tendency not to blink during any 3D film, so my eyes started to really hurt half way through the film. And I had to constantly remind myself, or make myself blink every so often. As such I plan to see this amazing film again, albeit in non 3D format. Maybe when I am in Vegas for Christmas, as I am sure I will have lots of free time.


Next I saw most of Did you hear about the Morgans? The film was just so so, with a few good one liners. Mostly by Hugh Grant, who has got to get film roles like he use to have back in the day in the UK?Europe. As his career will end in flames if he is always playing the self deprecating Englishman. Though as far as fluff films go, and this was definitely a fluff film, it was not bad. I had no expectations about this film going into it, and really only say it to kill time between Avatar and The Road.


The last film I saw, The Road, was depressing as hell! Just as any decent end of the world film truly should be. Basically there is some sort of end of the world event, though we are never told. Maybe in the book, but I have not read it. But since Viggo Mortensen's character started coughing up blood at one point, I am going to assume it was nuclear in nature. Especially since all wild life and flora was apparently killed off in the event. Which left Viggo's character and his son alone in a world, vastly different and more hostile than anything you and I are accustomed to. Roaming from desolate town to desolate town, in search of resources, food and hopefully people that wont eat them. As it seems the end of the world brings out the very best in man and inspires rabid acts of cannibalism. Personally if the world ever reached such a state, I would definitely kill myself shortly after the world went to hell in a hand basket like the mother (Charlize Theron) did in the film. I know I would definitely have smacked around the main kid/Viggo's son in the film, as he was annoying as hell! And yes, I am aware that children are not supposed to be hardened emotionaless indivisuals, but thi swas the end of the world. You would have to grow up real fast in such an environment, and not run around crying and acting incredibly stupid in a world filled with gun totting cannibals. As the kid basically wanted to trust anyone he came upon, despite teh fact that almost everyone he met wanted to eat him. He also ran around unsupervised, made noise when he should be quiet and was too scared to hold a gun even when he needed to for protection! Viggo's character was way too soft on his son. If I was in his situation, I would have had to knock him out a few times and drag him away to prevent him from being stupid or giving away their location. But luckily it is not the end of the world, and I will not have to face such personal decisions.

Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon Recipe

Ingredients


All recipes posted here are a composite of random recipes found online, in various cookbooks, taken from family, friends, neighbors and dishes/creations I have tried and/or made myself. Any similarity to people's personal or unique family recipes is purely coincidental, and no one actually owns the rights to any food combinations if you think about it. No matter how unique. Food for thought?!





6 oz bacon
2 to 3 Tbsp olive oil
4 lbs trimmed beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups sliced onions
1 cup sliced carrots
1 bottle of red wine (such as a zinfandel or Chianti)
2 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 medium herb bouquet (tie 8 parsley sprigs, 1 large bay leaf, 1 tsp dried thyme, 2 whole cloves or allspice berries, and 3 large cloves of smashed garlic together wrapped and tied in cheesecloth)
Beurre manié: 3 Tbsp flour blended to a paste with 2 Tbsp butter
24 pearl onions
Chicken stock
Butter
1 1/2 pounds of button or cremini mushrooms, quartered
Method
1 Blanch the bacon to remove its smoky taste. Drop bacon slices into 2 quarts of cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer 6 to 8 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water, and dry on paper towels.


2 In a large frying pan, sautee the blanched bacon to brown slightly in a little oil; set them aside and add later to simmer with the beef, using the rendered fat in browning. Brown the chunks of beef on all sides in the bacon fat and olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and put them into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or covered casserole pan. Cut the bacon into 1-inch pieces and add to the pan.


3 Remove all but a little fat from the frying pan, add the sliced vegetables and brown them, and add to the meat. Deglaze the pan with wine, pouring it into the casserole along with enough stock to almost cover the meat. Stir in the tomatoes and add the herb bouquet. Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer slowly on the lowest heat possible, either on the stove or in a preheated 325°F oven, until the meat is tender, about 1 to 2 hours.


4 While the stew is cooking, prepare the onions. Blanch the onions in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Slice the end tips off of the onions, peel the onions and score the root end with 1/4 inch cuts. Sauté onions in a single layer in a tablespoon or two of butter until lightly browned. Add chicken stock or water half way up the sides of the onions. Add a teaspoon of sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes or until tender. The onions should absorb most of the water. If there is water remaining after cooking, drain the excess. Set aside.


5 Prepare the mushrooms a few minutes before serving the stew. Sauté quartered mushrooms in a few tablespoons of butter and olive oil until browned and cooked through.


6 When the stew meat has cooked sufficiently, remove all solids from the sauce (except the beef) by draining through a colander set over a saucepan. Return the beef to the casserole. Press juices out of the residue into the cooking liquid, then remove any visible fat and boil down the liquid to 3 cups. Off heat, whisk in the beurre maniee, then simmer for 2 minutes as the sauce thickens lightly. Correct seasoning and pour over the meat, folding in the onions and mushrooms. To serve, bring to a simmer, basting meat and vegetables with the sauce for several minutes until hot throughout.

Back in the day

Sometimes when I look at elderly people, I try to imagine what they looked like when they were young or looked like back in the day. Especially if I thought they might have been especially attractive or handsome at some point in their lives. Like the Captain of the football team, or head cheerleader level of attractiveness. As it must be somewhat depressing to go from being able to bed just about any man or woman you want, to not even registering at all in the eyes of anyone younger than you. A persons wants and desires do not change as readily as their body and looks change as they age and grow older, so it must be very frustrating for them. So much in fact that I often wonder what that must feel like personally, to have had something come so easily to you and now it's all gone. I know my step brother was considered very good looking growing up as well as a major player all throughout his high school and college years, as he was often picked up by random women when we would go out in public. But now he has been married for over a decade with two kids and does not look as good as he once did. He is still considered very good looking for his age, he is in his mid 40's, but he has more crows feet, some gray hair and a little bit of a pot belly which he never had before. I have never asked him how he feels about this and possibly not being as desirable as he once was nor not being able to chase and subsequently bed any woman he sets his eyes upon. Mainly because he is married and shouldn't be looking elsewhere for love to begin with, and that fact that we have never been close. Plus in my step brother's case, he did cheat on the vast majority of his girlfriends or conquests as it were, and I would not be surprised if he wasn't cheating on his current wife now or would do so in the future. So it's best not to put any ideas in his head or tempt fate as it. Still I can't help but wonder when I see older people, what it must be like for them now compared to back in the day.

Rachel getting Married

Recently on a DVD I rented from the library, I saw Rachel getting Married. And I can honestly say that I really don't like improvised films, whether it be via it's direction, dialogue or what not, I do not like it all! Unscripted movies just seem way too unrealistic to me, when the whole point of improvisation is so the film will see more real to begin with. Plus Anne Hathaways character is so unbearably narcissistic that she is completely unlikable as a character. If I had a family member like that, I would ban her from all family events and I definitely would not invite her to my wedding. Especially if they were drug addicts, recovering or not, who had killed my sibling while high off their ass and driving! A major reveal in the film that I have now spoiled for a lot of people, but truthfully the film was not that good.


Plus Rachel, who isn't even the fim's main character despite the fact that she is getting married, is marrying some random totally boring black guy. Not that there is anything wrong with that, seeing as I am part black myself, it is just that the film goes out of it's way to show a multitude of cultural diversity examples it is annoying as hell! I mean in the film we are subjected to traditional folksy music, black music, carribean music, jazz, modern, rock, ballads, hippie shit and the list goes on and on and on. The film is practically another film entirely in it's extreme diversity, that it becomes a parody of itself almost. I mean I personally come from a very mixed family, but there is a limit to how much cultural crap you can stand let alone pile into an evening, even a wedding, nor want to stand in the in the first place! If this was a wedding I had attended personally, I would have gone insane and left before it was over! I know the film was trying to send a message that we are all the same, and we all have things that make us special and unique and that we can all get along, but who really wants to!


Either way the film really does either way too much or way too little. Too much in all the cultural Mumbo-Jumbo and not enough in terms of have scripted, intelligent dialogue. The characters are also either totally under developed, boring or lack charisma, or they are over the top and totally annoying like Hathaway's recovering drug addict. That you don't give a shit about, because everything about her and every single scene she was in was all about her. Even her sister's wedding was all about her and the entire film just left me cold. Family or no family, people like her need to be avoided at all costs, just like this film needs to be.

Travel Tip: Number 5

DON'T PAY A BAGGAGE FEE IF YOU CAN AVOID IT

Consider buying a smaller carry on case/bag if you know for a fact that you have to pay for any checked baggage. Recently I bought a round trip ticket with hotel to Vegas for Christmas, and the airline I am booked on has a $20 per bag per flight fee. Which adds up to $40. So instead of giving the airline my money, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a really cheap carry on bag for only $19.00. That way I am not wasting my money by just giving it to an airline that is charging more while delivering less, and I can always return the bag after my trip. Especially if I don't like it. Plus even if I kept it, it is still cheaper than what I would have paid to check in a slightly larger bag on the airline. Which is something else to consider, how much stuff you actually need to bring with you. Of course if you have a ton of stuff to bring, you will need a much larger bag, and you will need to pay the baggage fee. But if you can get away with a carry on bag, and find one that is less than the fees they charge, then by all means buy a carry on bag just for the trip. I would suggest going to Ross, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory or TJ Maxx, as you can find a lot of carry on bags for less than $40 and some of them are pretty nice. Otherwise Target, Wal-Mart and Kmart have much cheaper bags, but they quality will not be as nice and it will not be a name brand. But like I said I plan to return mine after my trip so it doesn't really matter.


QUICK UPDATE: I decided to keep my really cheap bag, just because it worked fine for what I needed it for at the time and I can always use it again. Especially since I am going to Mardi Gras next month and am debating on whether or not I want to check in a bag for the purposes of bringing my own alcohol to New Orleans ( I assume it will be cheaper to bring 2 bottles of Vodka to New Orleans rather than buying them there, but you never know).

Vegas Bound: A slightly different Christmas

I decided to abandon my family for the holidays, mainly because of Secret Santa and how much I hate it (See early posts for my full wrath regarding the dreaded Secret Santa). So I am up and leaving for Vegas come this Christmas! I will be staying at the lovely, or cheap rather Circus Circus for 4 days and nights of drinking, gambling and various shows like The Lion King and Cirque Du Soleil's O.


I haven't been to Vegas in over a decade, so this will be a chance for me to actually see and take some decent pictures of Vegas and the Vegas strip. As well as see some shows I have been meaning to see for awhile, like The Lion King. Not exactly the most traditional Christmas Holiday, but it's nice to be somewhere different, doing different things. I am actually looking forward to seeing the bright lights and many going-ons Vegas has to offer, especially now that I am a little older and a little wiser. I am also looking forward to the all you can eat buffet at Circus Circus, though I understand the lines to get in are sometimes hours long. I am assuming that since it will be Christmas in Vegas, the lines will be even longer than usual.

Dream a Little Dream: Part 4

I think I was in Europe for this dream. In some hotel like area, possibly in Germany, France or somewhere more cosmopolitan in look or style. I had to change rooms but I am not sure why exactly, maybe a water pipe broke or something. There were a lot of Scandinavians there, I am pretty sure I knew a few of them in real life. I couldn't lock my door at one point because I left the keys in my original room. I must have been famous because people wanted my autograph. Some creepy family came to my room insisting they had been there before. There was a weird hairy pig thing as well. It was a very weird dream, but I have had much worse or stranger in the past.

Deluxe Movie Theatre

The above picture was taken at the Shattuck Theatre in Berkeley, which is part of the Landmark theatre chain. It is where I saw the very well done, but extremely depressing film Precious this past Thanksgiving weekend. I was there to kill time, as I was not set to meet my brother and cousins for several hours. I was actually a little shocked when I realized that all of the seats were mini leather couches, and there were even some bean bag chairs in the front of the screen. I have not seen anything like this in quite awhile, as most movie theatres are somewhat cheap if you ask me.

Anger Management

People who have known me for awhile or have seen me and my brother interact with one another, are aware that I do not really like my brother. We have never been close, even when we were kids and truthfully never will be close. In fact I have never really liked my brother, at least not the way that most brothers are supposed to like each other. I also know for a fact that I do not love my brother as one would love a close family member, and really do not care what happens to him one way or another. I have always found him slightly disgusting because of his weird hygiene, runny nose/allergies and especially his chewing tobacco habit. Which I have to say is the most disgusting thing about him, and also one of the reasons I often see him as subhuman. For years now he fills cup after cup of nasty tobacco spit and just leaves them lying around his apartment, in his car or at the movies, which I have always found to be disgusting and vile. It's behavior only a worthless homeless person or some wild animal would engage in. Plus his teeth have been separating as a result of his chewing and in a few years they will start to fall out, making him even more disgusting to behold. Aside from that, he also has a lot of other negative character traits I just don't like in anybody regardless of their relation to me. So suffice it to say that if my brother were not actually related to me, and he merely worked with me or went to school with me, I would chose never to talk to him or associate with him unless it was absolutely necessary.


Which is kind of what our meetings at holidays and Family Gatherings have been, especially as of late. Nothing more than pure necessity, as I usually stay with my brother during the holidays as I am the only person in my family living in the LA area while everyone else is in the Bay Area. The alternative is that I drive from LA, rent a car, and/or get a hotel and I personally do not feel like spending that kind of money just to see my family. Especially since I am not really all that close to my family, and there are certain extended family members who I believe are disengenuine to say the least. Plus I do not see or talk to my mother, my father is long dead, and the family I have left does not really celebrate Christmas anymore in the traditional sense, so there really is no reason for me to waste my time and money on a trip to the Bay Area to simply be an observer. In fact this past Thanksgiving visit will be my last, as they are just not fun anymore or worth the effort, but the main reason I will not be making the journey again is because of my psycho brother!


For years now my brother has been getting angrier and angrier, despite the fact that he takes Martial Arts and Yoga as a way to vent his anger in a more traditional manner. I have no doubt in my mind that if my brother were ever to get married, which I highly doubt to begin with, he will end up beating his wife and kids. Not in the traditional abusive husband sort of way on a daily basis, but he would definitely raise a hand to them. For my brother is the type of person who flies into a blind rage, often for no valid reason and will lash out physically. Hence I can imagine him having a bad day at work, and his wife starts nagging him or his kid wont be quiet and him slapping them just to make them shut up. He will of course feel bad for his actions and apologize later, much like how he apologized to me after he struck me when I refused to talk to him while he was in one of his rages. Which is a control issue and yet another one of his many, many problems (I learned a long time ago there is no point in talking to someone who is both angry and irrational, as nothing will ever be accomplished so why waste the energy). Still apologizing doesn't make up for the fact that you strike someone, and my brother really needs to see someone about his anger issues before he gets arrested for being a wife beater or worse.


Now to be fair, my brother has often claimed that my behavior is what actually triggers his anger, but that is not exactly true as I have seen him fly into rages because someone cut him off on the freeway, or he was asked to sign something to receive a credit when his credit card was overcharged by accident at the movie theatre, and other similar situations. So he cannot completely blame me for his fits of anger, especially since no matter how angry a person may make you, you can't just hit the people around you as a result. That is not what mentally stable and rational people do, and I think my brother needs to realize this. I also think he needs to realize that he is never going to get what he so desperately needs and wants from me, which is a loving and considerate relationship. As it is so obvious that he wants and expects me to care for him as much as he cares for me, but that is not going to ever happen and the sooner he realizes this the better. For as I have already stated, I really do not like my brother, I never have and I never will. I have always been closer to my friends than I have my brother and that will never change. In fact I am closer to people I met the last time I vacationed in Europe than I am with my own flesh and blood. In fact all of my friends know more about me than my brother ever will, as I don't talk to him about anything.


The simple fact is, even if my brother were to go through Anger Management or Therapy, it would not change the fact that I simply do not like him as a person. I don't like to be around him, I feel that anything I say or do will send him into one of his rages, and it's kind of like being in an abusive relationship. Plus I find him disgusting as a person to begin with, and you can't ever have a relationship with someone you find disgusting, don't trust, don't love and don't even like to be around. And I'm tired of pretending just to get a place to stay for free during the holidays, or to see what's left of my family for a few hours a year and pretend that everything is like a Norman Rockwell painting. So this past Thanksgiving Holiday with the family and my brother is the very last one I will have attending, as I want to make sure that I never have to see, hear from or talk to my brother ever again.

Worthless Alcoholics

I have often complained about my house mates and how at least 2 of them are full blown alcoholics, and to emphasize my point I have included photographic documentation. Here you will see two heavy duty plastic garbage cans full of empty alcohol bottles that are the result of less than a months worth of drinking, consumed by only two people! Notice how most of the bottle are 2 liter bottles of whiskey! Which is definitely a hard drink of choice, and only hard core alcoholics drink such stuff to begin with. Their drinking explains how they eat other people's food and cannot recall doing it, as well as how late they stay up making noise on school night and even on Sunday evenings. I cannot wait to move out!