Wow. I can't believe how long it's been since my last blog. A lot has changed and a lot has remained the same. Christian is growing up so fast, he's such a happy kid and it's really awesome watching him grow. He's 11 months already, I can't believe how fast time flies when you're having fun. My wife and I are in love with that little dude. My mom has been watching him while Kristen and I are at work, she's getting a workout!
So I got a new job, waaaay different than anything I've done in years. It's a Mon-Fri type job in an office in downtown Los Angeles, working as Account Executive for an internet marketing company. it's fun and the people I work with are pretty cool. I'm still shooting video whenever I get a chance. Speaking of video, my awesome wife bought me a really cool toy for Father's day: A GoPro HDHero camera - an extreme sports, waterproof, full-HD camera that I can mount on anything: snowboard, jet skis, helmet, wrist, etc. I can even use it underwater. Can't wait to test it!
What else is new? I'm still working with Aaron on pursuing a movie career - he's doing most of the work now since I have a kid and a full-time job. We put together a great business plan and a video to go along with it and hopefully we'll get some investors who will LOVE to spend some money on us :)
Oh yeah, Vanilla Ice is following me on Twitter - I think that's pretty cool.
It's been a while since my last post... didn't really know what to write. I've been spending most of my time with Christian - which I love and I wish Kristen spent as much time as I do with him. He is a pretty awesome kid and thank God he's been super healthy so far.
Let's see... what's been going on...
I never posted this video I made of when I found out I was going to be a dad. I was so excited that I made an announcement video:
I've been getting fat... yup... time to hit the gym:
I had Lasik surgery in September and now my vision is 20-10. Waaaaaay better than expected. This year I've been into playing poker online and with friends... good times. Speaking of friends, my buddy Ed is going to El Salvador on a Peace Corps assignment for over 2 years... that f***er is leaving me!
My best friend Aaron turned 40 this past October... Oh, he old... I'm almost there. To celebrate his b-day I made a little video of things he's done since he was born. I wrote the lyrics based on stuff he did/happened to him in chronological order. My singing is awful but I tried:
Back in the day my buddy Aaron and I had a band, "Big MF". We wrote and recorded some songs together but we never released them. In November we released 2 albums (English and Spanish versions) on iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon and all the other major online music retailers. Christian is on the CD cover. He's not crying, he's rocking out ;)
This Christmas I have a lot to be thankful for so, here is another cheesy video:
My awesome wife gave me a 15" MacBook Pro laptop for Christmas, loaded with upgrades and everything. A VERY COOL present. I've been wanting that laptop for a VERY long time. Her parents gave me a six-pack pass to Mountain High to go snowboarding... Man, I am spoiled! Christian is too, he got lots of presents for his first Christmas.
Every morning when Christian wakes up, he looks at me and/or his mom and gets this genuinely happy, huge smile as if he hasn't seen us in months... It's my favorite time of the day. He seems to be a very happy kid and I hope he stays that way. I LOVE THAT LITTLE DUDE! He laughs when I beatbox and bangs his arms on his belly trying to keep up with the beat. He started eating solids on Christmas Day and loves Gerber organic pea puree. He loves watching football. We've been watching the Smurfs and the World Series of Poker together... fun times. I've become a pro at changing diapers.
I remember watching the "Top Cat" cartoon as a kid... maybe Christian will like it too.
Finally got to spend some quality time with the wife... watched The Fighter. Damn good movie.
Still trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents... I'm up to twenty-nine cents... will keep on trying.
Food for thought: Great song "Patience" by Damian Marley & Nas:
The very awesome lyrics: Some of the smartest dummies Can’t read the language of Egyptian mummies. They fly to the moon But can’t find food for the starving tummies. Pay no mind to the youths Cause it’s not like the future depends on it, But save the animals in the zoo Cause the chimpanzee will make them big money.
This is how the media pillages On the TV the picture is savages in villages. And the scientist still can’t explain the pyramids.
Evangelists making a living on the videos of ribs of the little kids Stereotyping the image of the images And this is what the image is.
You buy khaki pants And all of a sudden you're Indiana Jones And then thief out gold and thief out the scrolls and even the buried bones. Some of the worst paparazzis I’ve ever seen and I ever known Put the worst on display so the world can see And that’s all they will ever show.
So the ones in the west Will never move east And feel like they could be at home. They get tricked by the beast But where are they going to flee when the monster is fully grown? Solomonic linage where they still can’t defeat and them coulda never clone My spiritual DNA is printed in my soul and I will forever Own Lord.
We're born not knowing, are we born knowing all? We're growing wiser, are we just growing tall? Can you read thoughts? Can you read palms? Can you predict the future? Can you see storms coming?
The Earth was flat if you went too far you would fall off Now the Earth is round if the shape change again everybody woulda start laugh. The average man can’t prove of most of the things that he chooses to speak of And still won’t research and find out the root of the truth that you seek of.
Scholars teach in Universities and claim that they’re smart and cunning Tell them to find a cure when we sneeze and that’s when their nose start running. And the rich get stitched up, when we get cut Man will heal dem broken bones in the bush with the wed mud.
Can you read signs? Can you read stars? Can you make peace? Can you fight war? Can you milk cows, even though you drive cars? huh? Can you survive, Against All Odds, Now?
Just waking up in the morning gotta thank God, I don't know but today seems kind of odd...
On Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 5:37pm Christian Joe Saldana was born: 8 lbs 4oz and 19.5 inches. Christian's amniotic fluid was low so the doctor scheduled a C-section on Kristen for 5pm. A few minutes before 5:00 we were waiting for the doctor to arrive when suddenly an earthquake which turned out to be a 5.4. NOW TALK ABOUT A BIG ENTRANCE!!! I had mentioned to Kristen that the song "For Once In My Life" should be our family song since I feel the lyrics really express how I feel about my new family. Well, Kristen was walked into the operating room and guess which song was playing on the radio? Yup, I know... she immediately teared up - she felt that it was perfect that that song was playing when she walked in the room where we would actually become a family of three. I was terrified when I saw her on the operating table but at the same time super excited for what was coming up. Christian was born and it's amazing how I feel. I can't even describe it. It's the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. I've spent the last two weeks home with Christian and Kristen and we have been trying to adjust. Christian is on European time so we are trying to get him turned around.
On July 7th, 2010 the world changed... I gotta say it was a good day.
Wow... on our way to the hospital in a few. Next time I write on this blog I'll be a father. I'm really scared, nervous, excited, worried, scared, I have no idea what to do or how to react. I hope he is healthy... and smart... and handsome... and funny... and creative... and lucky... and nice, passionate, awesome... yeah, awesome will do :) I just want him to be happy and healthy. I've been listening to this song by Stevie Wonder and I feel it really tells how I feel about my new family:
For once in my life I have someone who needs me Someone I've needed so long For once, unafraid, I can go where life leads me And somehow I know I'll be strong
For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of Long before I knew Someone warm like you Would make my dreams come true
For once in my life I won't let sorrow hurt me Not like it hurt me before For once, I have something I know won't desert me I'm not alone anymore
For once, I can say, this is mine, you can't take it As long as I know I have love, I can make it For once in my life, I have someone who needs me
I've been neglecting my blog... too busy or too lazy, maybe a bit of both. being a chef - changing a whole menu and training an all-new staff -, editing a video due this week, the wedding coming up in 5 days, a baby coming up in 3 weeks and the World Cup is kind of keeping me too busy.
I'm struggling with my weight, I really want to start working out and eating better. My work schedule kind of makes it hard... excuses, excuses.
I put together Christian's dresser, rite of passage type feeling. I felt a little bit proud... I installed the baby car seat in my car this weekend, what a weird, pretty cool feeling. Never thought that would happen :)
My fiance is pretty awesome, she got me a really cool present - a steady-cam stick - for Father's day, even though I'm not a father yet.
I wanna get back to doing Tai Chi. I hope my kid likes martial arts, it'd be really cool to do Kung Fu with him.
Mexico plays tomorrow and the US on Wednesday in the World Cup, I hope they win.
It's getting harder for me to go to sleep... I just don't want to and I don't know why. I guess I feel like I need to do more even though I'm super tired.
I caught myself listening to Janis Joplin's Summertime... weird.
Wow... it just hit me: In about three weeks I'll be a married man. In about five I'll be a father. I need another beer!
I wont deny it, I'm a little scared... heck, I'm really scared! Mostly because I wanna be a good father and a good husband... Do I even know how to do that? Where is the reboot button? What if it doesn't work or I'm a shitty dad? Can I undo it and restart it? I'm scared... really scared. yet, I'm really excited about this new life that's coming to rule mine. I guess I can do it like pretty much everything else in my life: just bullshit my way through it... I just don't want to be a loser dad. I really don't. I hope Kristen and Christian put up with me :)
I had a successful day at work today. New restaurant, new menu, new crew and people loved the food. I overheard a couple of waitresses talking to each other: "Have you tried any of the new food? It's SOOOOO good!" They didn't even know I was there and it felt good to hear that - My head swell a little bit :)
Today is my nephew's birthday. He's 20 now. A really nice kid but kind of naive.
My Sunday's softball team made it to the playoffs. Pretty happy about that.
I got home tonight after a long, busy, but somewhat mellow day at my consultant chef job. On the way home talked to my buddy Ed on the phone about how we sometimes - not often, but every once in a while - envy the other's life. Meaning, sometimes I'd like to go home and just relax and do nothing, no responsibilities and he'd like to come home to someone and have family hang outs, etc... but only sometimes.
Anyway, I got home, have a lot of work to do (video editing) but somehow I found myself immersed in reading about Albert Einstein on wikipedia (one of my favorite websites, by the way). I had a lot of work yet I couldn't stop reading about his theories and his life... pretty interesting stuff.
I missed my fiance today... Kristen's belly is getting big and Christian is moving a lot. Pretty awesome stuff. I kiss her belly and talk to it like I'm a crazy person. I repeat the same things over and over again in hopes that when he's born, I'll say the same things and he'll feel comfortable with me... who knows... I'm hopeful... maybe I'm just weird.
Today at work it kind of hit me, I am a professional chef... I always felt like I was full of shit, like some day they will find out that I'm a fake, a phony, a failure, a fluke, that I don't know shit, that I'm just pulling it out of my behind. But today I felt like I knew my sh-tuff. And the general manager other managers, cooks and personnel really listened to me, looked to me for advise and followed up... I felt like my words meant something... weird... funny... awesome.
As I was checking a delivery for the restaurant from Goldberg & Solovy, their delivery guy was talking to me about how proud he was on how accurate he is with his orders - and he is by the way. He mentioned he is from Compton and his cousin (?) was in Eazy E's last music video and his grandma lives next door to DJ Quik's mom. Next thing you know, we are talking about growing up, gangsta rap, DJ Quik, NWA, Ice Cube, Snoop, Dr. Dre and Luke Skywalker and about how knew most of them in person... Good times.
As I was teaching one of the cooks, the delivery guy came back, shook my hand and said he'll get me backstage tickets for the next time Quik's in town... What an awesome guy... made my day and took me back to the old days.
Back in the day when I was young,
I'm not a kid anymore, but some days
I really wish I was a kid again...
Ok, gotta go back to edit video.
A picture of me from a magazine and a picture of Kristen visiting me at work.
