Forever

There is a time when you feel the situation is right and you have that perfect moment to say the one thing that can change both of your lives possibly forever.

It is that moment of vulnerability where the inflection of your voice and the emotion seen through your eyes can decide whether you will be with this person you care about forever.

It is the time where everything else going on becomes a blur to both of you as each second seems like it is an eternity before the words come out of your month and what you say may decide “forever.”

Everything leads to this one point that you have both been waiting for forever.

You know you have to say something, but if you don’t your chance may never come again for “forever.”

Do you let the seconds pass and keep your mouth shut, although you know something needs to be said to change your lives forever?

Or, do you take that chance and say those words which she’ll replay in her mind forever?

The timing seems to be right for you to say something as it is now or never- to decide if you want her to be your one and only love, forever.

Usher’s “Separated Lyrics”

There are a lot of music artists out there that it seems like they write lyrics to complement the music or the beat, which is fine.  But, sometimes when you read those lyrics you can tell they were just looking for words to rhyme, which doesn’t really give meaning to the song other than it just being a dance track.

That’s why these days, I still listen to ‘older’ songs and one that I really like the lyrics to are Usher’s “Separated” from his 8701 CD.  This song is about 9 years old now, but I don’t think it was one released as a single.  There are some songs out there that I listen every (like Babyface written songs) so often that gives me hope that there are still songwriters that write lyrics to get their points across and if the music complements it, then great.

This is more of a break up song, but it’s the words I focus on.  It appears to be a poem that became a song and if I were to write a song, I’d do something in this style.  Here are the lyrics:

Separated

If love was a bird
Then we wouldn't have wings
If love was a sky
We'd be blue
If love was a choir
You and I could never sing
Cause love isn't for me and you

If love was an Oscar
You and I could never win
Cause we can never act out our parts
If love is the Bible
Then we are lost in sin
Because its not in our hearts

So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated

If love was a fire
Then we have lost the spark
Love never felt so cold
If love was a light
Then we're lost in the dark
Left with no one to hold

If love was a sport
We're not on the same team
You and I are destined to lose
If love was an ocean
Then we are just a stream
Cause love isn't for me and you

So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated

Girl I know we had some good times
It's sad but now we gotta say goodbye
Girl you know I love you, I can't deny
I can't say we didn't try to make
it work for you and I
I know it hurts so much
but it's best for us
Somewhere along this windy
road we lost the trust
So I'll walk away so you
don't have to see me cry
It's killing me so, why don't you go

So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated

Weight on Your Shoulders

Sometimes the weight on your shoulders seem so much to bear, but others look at you as someone that has it all together. The thing is they don’t know what you go through. They don’t see the different people you deal with. They don’t see that you have to determine who to get on and who to give space. They don’t see that you have to thank some people more than you do others in order to get the best out of them. If they aren’t in your shoes, their frame of reference is slanted. They don’t see that some people will do what you expect them to do, while others need you to lay everything out for them.

When you go to watch a concert and the crowd is going crazy, you feel like it you are at one of the best shows you’ve ever been to. You think that ‘wow, it would be great to be musician’ because it looks so extraordinary and the crowd is going crazy for you. What you don’t see is that there are weeks and weeks of practice and frustration to get everyone not always on the same page, but close enough to make everyone content. People get yelled at and those that don’t cut it are let go like an afterthought. You can watch the show and think that all the transitions were great, the pyrotechnics were awesome, and the singers are having fun. So to you, it was a tremendous show as the singers, dancers, and band leave to thunderous applause. You know what’s going on though………someone in the band missed their cue and was off, but you can’t tell. One of the dancers jumped in one second too late. One of the singers didn’t hit the high note the right way or didn’t hold it for two more seconds longer than they should have. The smoke from the pyrotechnics should of cleared up sooner. The concert started 15 minutes later than it should have and it throws off the event staff a bit because now they will get home later than expected. You can take this example and associate it with dancing groups, a Broadway play, sports, etc……. Those watching on the outside only have a small perspective on what’s going on, but make interpretations based on those small perspectives. This is sometimes when I watch or read reviews, I think to myself, these fools are idiots. Not a good example, but just to make a point- how can the McDonald’s drive thru employee give a bad review for acting in a war movie where there were some stupid lines. When you are in a war and you have to watch each other’s back with bullets flying by, sometimes stupid likes or phrases help you get through the day. It helps you keep that human connection in a high stress situation.  Haven’t we all been in those awkward quiet moments with friends and you feel like you have to say something and all that comes out …… “How’s the weather going to be tomorrow?” even though you don’t really care about the weather?

The thing is your point of view is always going to be skewed. You won’t recognize the little imperfections that the actual people doing the job know, see, and feel. Just realize that the people you think have it all together, they don’t always do. They just know how to organize it and have a somewhat poker face to survive. You aren’t with them 24-7 because with most people after they clock out for the day, they are a totally different person. A person in the office is a different person at the bar.  So, just because people tend to be quiet, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have things that they are dealing with. Some people like to lay out all their shit to everyone. If it doesn’t concern you and I don’t really think you care, why would I do that. The weight on some people’s shoulders are things you don’t always see. Don’t assume those that seem to have it together do have it together ‘cause the second they walk out that door, they could either scream or breathe a sigh of relief that they made it as far as they did.

Strength of Apologies

Some people rarely apologize and because of that you know that they actually feel sorry or regret for whatever the situation is.  You let them slide because you can genuinely tell that they feel bad and will do what they can to make sure they don’t have to apologize again anytime soon or do what they can to strengthen that trust.  These are the type of people we always want to surround ourselves with and ones that I’m glad to call my friends.

Then you have the other ones that tend to apologize all the time.  You can’t take their word as bond because you know you’ll end up sad in the end.  After a while you no longer get sad because the expectations you have are low.  My question is- how do these people view themselves?  Is it that hard to know that you make promises you don’t keep?  Is it that hard to think that you can count more than 10 times you’ve had to apologize to someone?

It is hard to rid the apologizers from your life if they are people you care about, but do you hold on thinking that they’ll change their behavior?  It’s easy to say “I’ll cut this person out of my life,” but they are still in your cell phone contact list and in your email address book.

An apology can mean you screwed up, you regret it, and you'll work on being a better person and regain trust.  An apology can also mean……NOTHING.  I’ll end it with this………don’t apologize if you don’t mean it.  You’ll get closer to being deleted from someone’s cell phone contact list, email address book, and oh hell no………facebook or myspace.

RE: Thank You for attending the March 14 Hinunangons of Northern CA Winter Party

Hi All,

Being the previous president and current secretary, I want to thank Jeorge for doing a great job as the new President of the Hinunangons of Northern California for our Winter Luncheon Party this weekend. Taking a step back after the last 3 years is different for me and it was nice to see how Jeorge took control of his first event (non-meeting). The karaoke situation with the audio difficulties wasn’t something that any of us expected, but the restaurant didn’t charge us for using it, although we were expecting to. Jeorge handled that in a very cool manner.

Bobby also did a great job as the new treasurer. Last year A LOT of people paid up front via mail or dropped off the money to Auntie Ester’s house, but this year, majority of the members paid at the event. That’s a lot of people and can get confusing, so Bobby deserves kudos for doing that as well. We wanted to be careful about how to approach people on paying in advance (including dues) with the way the economy is now and we know that it hit some of our members over the last few months.

Victor also did a great job on the 3 different money lei! Vic took the responsibility to get many of our raffle prizes and all of the karaoke prizes via donations. The 3 money lei prizes that he made were a big hit and when graduations come up for our extended family members, I would recommend Vic’s money lei making services. Through Jeorge, Bobby, Victor, and I, I believe we did a great job in identifying people that were coming in and recognizing if they paid or not. This is why for most of the event, we were walking around a lot. When there are multiple group parties at one restaurant it can get confusing and the people at the restaurant were very helpful.

I would also like to thank many others that helped make this event happen-

Myra and Domingo- no matter what, it seemed like people needed more tickets, lost their tickets, or didn’t even know they had tickets. Thanks for always printing more tickets, even within 1 hour of you coming to the party! Having a newborn probably didn’t make this any easier with my random phone calls saying “Can you print more tickets and is my case of beer still in your fridge?”

Jenny- thanks for always volunteering to be our emcee (mc). You never need practice and you know what you are doing on the fly.

Kathy- you always bring a good number of ‘guests’ to our events and that’s what we love seeing. It was nice that your sister (who I barely remember as a little kid) worked out her vacation to make our Winter Luncheon with her family from Ohio.

Roland- thanks for flying in from Georgia just to have an extended family lunch (everyone he flew back at 6am this morning to GA).

Ramona- thanks for taking time to come from Bakersfield as well for just an extended family lunch.

Lastly, I don’t want to forget those that attended the event! You made this happen. Your Cabinet would not have worked as hard as we did if it wasn’t for the support of our members. With the turnout we received, I’m thinking our upcoming Casino Trip fundraisers and our Summer Fiesta will be successful as well. If you see that I missed anyone in this email, please forward this to them.

Take care everyone!

Idea from Cell Phone Companies to Help The Auto Industry

This may sound like an off the wall suggestion, but here it goes........

Almost everyone has a cell phone these days. A lot of us actually signed 2 year contracts to get free cell phones and all you do is pay for service. Basically, the cell phone companies subsidize the cost of the phone with all the monthly payments and features (texting, insurance, data/internet, auto roadside) you add over the 2 year contract. This basically means that they pay for the phone cost up front and make up the difference over the life of your contact. Now, let's take this example and apply it to the auto industry............

The auto industry is struggling and it looks like its not very long before the American automakers go under no matter what kind of bail out they get. Even Nissan and formerly believed untouchable Toyota are closing down dealerships. Now with vehicles, there is always extra costs other than the cost of the car with add ons, including new tires, wiper blades, oil and other fluids, insurance, upgrades stereos, etc.. etc...., but the biggest extra costs that you'll never avoid is gas, auto repairs, and hopefully insurance. So, since auto dealers are having a tough time selling their vehicles, why not work out a deal with the Gas companies (Chevron, Shell, Arco, etc), tire companies, insurance companies, oil change locations, tire companies, and the repair companies where they have customers sign 5-10 year contracts that they get a FREE vehicle, but they have to get gas, insurance, and repairs done mostly at certain locations. Most car loans run from 3-7 years and just think of all the money you spend weekly on gas, monthly on insurance, every few months on repairs and new tires. Like if I get a free pick up truck, by contract I have to get gas at Chevron and get most of my repairs done at the Toyota dealership with some authorized smaller repair chains like Pep Boys and authorized oil changes at Jiffy Lube, plus get my tires replaced at Goodyear. By contract, I'd have to sign up for insurance at AAA (not AA like for some of you fools! LOL).

This way the cost of the vehicle is subsidized by the Auto Dealerships through $$$$$$ via the contracts associated with the supporting gas, tire, oil, repair, etc...... companies. This way the economy is still stimulated because all the affected industries are still being used. In general, the auto industry will have to downsize in order to make this profitable, but they are downsizing anyways because there really is no other choice.

So President Obama, Senators, House Reps, Governors, and Mayors, this is my pitch to help try to save a dying industry. If you take that general concept that cell phone companies have used, it might work. I'm not saying it will, but we need to start thinking outside the box. All these companies want to stay separate, but in order to survive, they better start thinking of collaboration. Besides, I want my free Toyota Tacoma Doublecab pick up truck!!!!