Hurricane Preparedness

      Last week a Hurricane hit Texas, specially the Houston area.  Ever since they have been in a state of emergency, with copious amounts of flooding that apparently won't get any better because the reservoirs are also letting water out.  If you can, even with $5.00, please help.  It's in these times of need that we, the people, humans, must come together and help out each other, instead of divide, let's unite.  Here are some links with info on how you can donate, from anywhere in the world:

https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/team/texas-flood-relief/familybusinessbeercompany

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sleasca/2017/08/29/hurricane-harvey-donation-charity-scams/#48789e1371dc

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/08/29/how-to-donate-to-hurricane-harvey-victims.html

     With all the pictures, videos, shares and news from this disaster, we are, once again reminded of the power that lies within nature, how helpless we can be and the dangers of Hurricanes.  I live in an area where this is easily taken for granted.  That is because, we are in the direct pact of several high potency storms and hurricanes per year, yet somehow, most change direction just before they hit us or loose most of their power while approaching us.  It's easy to get cocky and feel invincible when it's been more than 17 years since we were last hit.  But, it's important to stay alert, have emergency plans and supplies at all times.  It's better to have and not need, than to need and not have.  With that in mind, I have several usb power banks, a solar powered one, candles, books, completely charged iPods and iPad, just before I charge my cell phone and laptop, got dual usb car chargers, just purchased online a USB powered fan and a crank and usb electricity powered flashlight.  Later today I'll get lots of water and freeze it (that way they help keep the fridge cool for longer in case of a power outage and also, have cold water handy, in case it gets shut off--multipurpose guys!).  I also have back up water tanks, and plan to have a full tank of gas if and when it is certain that the hurricane is going to hit us.  What else do you think I need?  Please leave your recommendations in the comments or email them to me.

       Besides getting all those supplies, it's important to have an emergency plan for you and your loved ones or roommates (I know those things do not necessarily coincide).  If you live in a flood prone zone, as soon as you get alerts or are advise to evacuate and go to a shelter, please, do.  It's way more important to be safe than to safeguard your belongings.  In case of flooding you might be risking your life and your things will not save you and most probably will be damaged.  And, if it turns out there is no flooding, you'll have a new experience to talk about, maybe you'll meet new people, after all , we are social animals.  Remember your pets.  If you have them and have to evacuate your home, take them with you, or make arrangements for them.  Make sure to secure (cover up) your windows, specially if they are made of glass or are shutter styled.  Clean up your home's surroundings, make sure there are no loose things that may become projectiles with strong winds or strong currents

      I am by no means an expert, I'm just passing to you the advise I've always received in these type of situations.  If you have any more advise, please leave it in the comments or email me and I'll edit the post and add.

Is it me or are the 90's - 2000's back?

     I know that I have always heard people saying that everything old becomes new once again, and that things come back and fashion is cyclical.  Well, lately I have come to believe these sayings are true.  It's like many of the artists I used to listen to back then are popular again (BSB and Britney Spears at Las Vegas y'all), I walk into stores and most of the things I see are way too similar to the things I saw back then.  Guess I should've saved all my clothes for the future.  Also, guys are bleaching their tips again (hair, people, I'm talking about hair).   And I must say, I ain't even mad. 

     I'm all for it, because, quoting Icona Pop, "I'm a 90's bitch"  (You can listen to that here: Icona Pop- I Love It ).  I say that because I grew up in the 90's, but I like, love and enjoy things from all eras, specially fashion and music.  So don't go hating on me for that just yet.  So, as far as I can remember, the 90's were an era of economic stability and prosperity, will that be coming back too?  What do you guys think?  How does this make you feel?

     I've got some receipts/evidence (choose to read the term you're most comfortable with, I'm all about inclusion here):

 Article from Buzzfeed 

Article from InStyle

PS: I'm just getting back into this, so pleas pardon my dust, while I get back into the habit and figure things out.  I'm aiming to make something that is enjoyable, not extremely lengthy, and as I stated before, inclusive.  I'm always open to suggestions on how to get better.

The Top is Not a Tip

     Have you noticed the way the media loves to pin women against women?  How the seems to always be a feud between female singers or actresses on the top stories for a day?  Does anyone else find that annoying, and even more so infuriating?

    People, that is, EVERYONE, should come to realize that one person's success does not diminish one's own success.  At any point in Hollywood history there always are more female feuds being reported than male ones.  This has to stop.  People need to stop buying into the wheel that keeps turning and turning, churning out stories (lots of times, fake ones) about which woman said or did what about or to whatever other woman. It's exhausting, you now?

      Historically (or at least as far as I've read about) women in the media have always been pinned against each other.  It's not at all uncommon to, any random day, read a Hollywood article about two women (may they be singers, actresses, etc) feuding with each other (Britney Spears v. Christina Aguilera any one?); when push comes to shove, those aren't even true.  Other times, the women themselves buy into the whole thing and play it out, to gain ratings, sales, to be in the public eye.  I'd more rather be in the news because my movie was great, because my song is 'bomb' or because I did a positive thing than because another woman (or person) said something about me, or because someone caught a picture at a bad angle and made it see like I was making faces at this other person.  That's being famous for nothing.  And in so many instances, most of them (as far as I've experiences) this is done to women.  We live in a world in which Drake, Kanye, Kenny G, Taylor Hanson, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, Diplo and Ed Sheeran can all coexist peacefully, do or say as they please and no one dissects and nitpicks too much to see if they meant to attack each other, they are free to collaborate and socialize as they please without being studied for what they mean, and who their alliances side with.  Mean while (and common, you should've know this was coming) God forbid Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Demi Lovato, Gigi Hadid, Hillary Clinton or Selena Gomez do or say anything, because anything and everything is considered an attack on one of the other ones until proven other wise.  And, yes, it's an effective tool to be in the public eye, to gain notoriety, but it's not a solid base on which to form a career.  We are guilty of buying into it from time to time.

But I believe this is not one of those things we can take and re-appropriate and make our own, you know, cause being unstable, and problematic is never quite a good thing.  And I'm not naive enough to think that every woman will always get along, just like every man doesn't, but that's exactly the thing, when it does happen, it happens to both men and women.   To stop the media from doing it, we as consumers have to stop consuming this type of "news".  Because if they keep doing it is because it keeps selling.

     We've been sold on the idea that women feuding agains each other is entertaining.  So much so, that their followers take on these feuds personally and make them their own; and people fight against each other for some other persons' alleged feud.  I mean, come on!  There are so many other important issues that merit our attention, time and energy.  And here is where I come to my point, this has been done in a way in which it keeps women down.  By keeping women fighting against women, they (the big unknown all planning THEY) have made women, as a whole, weak.  Divided we fall, divide and conquer.  It's a strategy as old as time.  If women are fighting each other, there is no way in which they can come together and fight with and for each other, fight against the thing that is keeping women down.  And this goes out to all non white male groups out there.  THIS is what keeps injustice and inequality going on strong.  They marginalize, separate, dived and weaken other groups, as to not have to share the top with them.  People have to realize that the top is not a tip.  There is room for more than one person, more than one group at the top.  It's like that whole ordeal with the door in Titanic (the motion picture).

   
      These petty feuds and fights are nothing but what magicians call misdirection (any magicians out there that can confirm or deny this, please contact me).  While we are focused on and occupied with one minuscule, unimportant, insignificant, maybe even un-existing feud between people we don't even know, bigger more important things happen elsewhere, sometimes, right in our faces.

 And when we realize what has happened, it's probably too late; and then magically another "feud" pops up.  We have to do like Daenerys has set out to do in Westeros, and break the wheel of power.  It's not about one group being in power or being superior to any other group, it's about all groups being treated equally.  We have to open our eyes, get our shit together and reclaim our time.

Once we do this, then and only then can we truly eradicate marginalization, discrimination and inequality.  It is by not buying into what they tell us we are and being what we really are that we too can be on top.

Mi Amigo Hace Videos

    Uno de mis mejores amigos es comediante y actor.  Ha aparecido en obras de teatro, programas de radio y televisión a nivel local, además da clases y trabaja para entidades benéficas.  Pero su encomienda más reciente es adentrarse y explorar el vasto mundo de YouTube.  Recientemente ha comenzado a hacer videos de YouTube seriamente.  Trato de ayudarlo y apoyarlo en todas sus encomiendas, ya que es como un hermano para mi.  Así que este post es un poco de promoción para su video, tratando de ganarle tracción a su página de YouTube,¡ mis disculpas a los que no les gustan esas cosas!  Pero tenemos que apoyar a nuestras amistades, ¿o me equivoco?

     Anoche publicó un video en el que la aquí presente hace una muy corta aparición.  ha estado en los medios locales por años, pero como no soy fanática del "spotlight", nunca he querido aparecer en ninguno de sus videos.  Pero para este, digamos que me cogió con la guardia baja.  Estaba mayormente dormida, tarde en la noche (después de media noche) cuando me lo pidió.  Tramposo que es.  El video es un "unboxing" de las cajas de colección de Funko y Marvel Collectors Corps.  Si les gusta el video siéntase en la libertad de ver sus otros videos, suscribirse y compartir, deje sus comentarios tanto aquí en el blog como en el video.

     Sin más preámbulo, les comparto el video.

My Friend Makes Videos

     One of my best friends is a comedian and an actor.  He has appeared in plays, radio and tv shows at a local level, he also teaches and works for charities.  But his most recent endeavor is foraging and exploring the vast world of YouTube.  He started making YouTube videos seriously recently.  I try to help him and cheer him on in his endeavors, his like a brother to me.  So, this post is a bit of shameless promotion for his video, trying to get traction to his YouTube page, sorry for that guys!  But we have to be there for our friends, don't we?

       Last nigh he published a video in which yours truly makes a very short appearance.  He's been in the local media for years, but I hate the spotlight, so I've never agreed to appear in anything.  But for this one, let's say he kind of got me off guard.  I was mostly asleep, late at night (past midnight) when I got his request.  Sneaky of him.  It's an unboxing of the Funko and Marvel collaboration bimonthly boxes filled with collector's items.   I have to warn you, the video is in Spanish, but you don't let that stop you from watching, either way you can see the items he unboxes.  If you do speak Spanish, enjoy this one and feel free to check out his other videos.   Here's the video I've been talking about.  Enjoy!

The Comeback

     It's been quite a while since I was last here.  I could come up with 765,329 excuses for my absence, but all I'm gonna say is that life happens.  I do have to admit, it's good to be back.  I do love writing and this is one of the best mediums to do it.  I was looking through all my previous posts, and I have to say, I'm not ashamed at all.  You know the feeling I'm aiming to describe, when you go back and look at your Facebook, Myspace, Twitter posts from more than 5 years ago and you think to yourself how different you are now and how the heck did you come to write that.  I don't get that from what I've posted here.  I read those and travelled back to that  time, also made me realize how much I have grown and changed, but at the same time how, at the core, I'm still the same.  So, I've changed, but I'm also the same.  I've improved with age, evolved, as I said before, grown.

     So, here's my proposal to you, I'm going to try my best to write at least once a week.  Same as before, about anything and everything, not one thing in particular (life, news, politics, tv shows, movies, music, etc).  Why do I set out to do this?  Because it's been missing from my life.  I LOVE to write.  It is therapeutic for me, keeps me sane and grounded.  Also, with the hope that someday, somewhere someone reads some of this stuff and feels identified and knows that he/she/it is not alone, that someone else has been through something similar before and came through it, was able to get to the other side.  Feel free to reach out for whatever reason you want. I am here.

Mitt Romney Style (Gangnam Style Parody)