Act of bravery

It is a question that sometimes haunts me and makes me look back on my life: what have I done to serve my country? Yesterday, Bush gave the Medal of Honor to Michael A. Monsoor for going above and beyond the duty and saving the life of his fellow SEALs when he dived onto a live grenade to protect his comrades. This man, and many others, have given their lives to protect and defend the rest of our nation. I benefit daily from the freedoms and opportunities that arise from being in the greatest country in the world, and yet what have I done to help it? Have I truly ever given anything back or served in a way that even remotely comes close to what our armed services do? I look back at my family and see a line from my father back of military service, and here I am in Los Angeles pursuing acting! While I love acting and I feel God has put me here, I sometimes feel that I don't come close to being a true American or patriot. I haven't had to choose between fight or flight for my country, nor felt the fear of staring at RPGs and AK-47s firing rounds at me. It's not any desire to be "brave" or "show-off", but more along the lines of giving back to my country that has given me so much. Yes, we may have our issues and bicker amongst ourselves like siblings, but there is no greater country in the world. Hands down.

Live Musicand the glorious SoCal sun!

So I was able to score a ticket to the Bamboozle even in Irvine, Ca on Saturday, and while I didn't know or care for 90% of the bands, it was still a blast. Of course, Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was out, the temperature was in the 70s, and there was a slight breeze blowing making it a perfect day to be at the amphitheater. While it was mostly bands playing on the six stages around the theater, there were also carnival rides and other events happening (like the required guitar hero tourney). Though I hate carnival rides that can be packed up and moved elsewhere. I have no desire to go upside down in a ride that has traveled across the country and back. Call me scared and silly, but seriously, that just doesn't make sense to me.

The two highlights for me were being able to fall asleep on the lawn in front of one of the stages and take a nice nap while listening to some no-name band play (hey, I had opened the store at 4:15am that morning and was working on 3 hours of sleep, give me a break), and seeing Alkaline Trio perform since they haven't for a while. Alk Trio was a blast to see live. Though there was a band there called RX Bandits who were definitely a jazz band and I had a blast just watching them play. They were pretty good too, enough that I bought there CD.

Anyways, it has been a busy and exhausting week, and I am happy this next week will be a little slower, though I'll be heading to Vegas in the middle of the week to visit some friends.

On a more interesting note, Absolut Vodka has a new ad that has been causing quite a controversy. I won't go into it much, but it just depicts what a "perfect Absolut world" would look like and shows Mexico having control of most of the western United States. The one thing I will gladly harp on is that Absolut states that they are pushing for the Mexican national pride. That is all well and good, but wait, isn't most of Mexico living in the U.S. now? If the Absolut version of the world was true, then the Mexicans would just have a lot longer of a walk to get the the U.S. We've actually done everyone a favor! Mexico is such a worthless country, what kind of pride would you have when most of the people in your country want to leave! Oh, and if Manifest Destiny had been allowed, there wouldn't be a Mexico today, so enjoy what you have!

Anyways, if you have no true understanding of where the "idea" of this map came from, read some history especially around the years 1846-1848! Something called the Mexican-American War should pop out at you.

Karaoke, Chavez, and the fate of global warming again!

So last night's adventures were both surprising and entertaining. What began as a simple day off became a night of exploration. After a day of running errands and working out, I met up with Kiel to go to Barragan's for dollar taco night and pitchers of margaritas (which interestingly, I swore two years ago I'd never drink tequila again, but I had changed my just recently, which is another story). The tacos were good for a dollar and the margaritas were good and strong. Kiel's roommate Bert and my next door neighbor Geoff joined the two of us as well, and the conversation never lagged. After many tacos and 3 pitchers of margaritas we headed out (I was the dd, don't worry), and I dropped Kiel and Bert at home then Geoff and I headed to Michael's to meet his wife and a couple of friends for Karaoke. Now, I preface that this was like no karaoke place you have every heard. The people getting on stage had amazing voices, and it was a little intimidating. It almost seemed like the last few nights of American Idol (which I still have never watched...ever). However, after a couple of bourbon and gingers I decided to jump up and give it a whirl. For being a karaoke virgin, I did pretty well. Of course, I started off with a DMB song, which is difficult itself since Dave has such a distinct and different voice, but I think I handled it well. After that performance, I was able to just sit back and relax and enjoy the company and the night.

Well, on to more interesting topics.

Chavez is back to his usual blustering and fist shaking at everything American. While all the news stories are talking about a war happening down in South America, I have my doubts that this will go that far. First off, Chavez is cheap talk and doesn't have the balls to start a fight with Columbia. Second, he wasn't even offended in this transgression so he has no legs to stand on, and if he invaded then he would see a world of hurt descend down on his little "empire". The attack allows Chavez to look tough, however if he pushes to hard he may end up on his face and have lost some faith in his power hungry friends across the globe. Thirdly, when you take a glance at the different military strengths of all three countries, Columbia has a larger, better equipped, and better trained military than both Ecuador and Venezuela combined. It would not be a contest. Did Columbia have a right to do a surgical strike into Ecuador to kill FARC rebels? Of course! Raul Reyes, a high FARC leader, has been hiding out in Ecuador controlling his rebels across the border and making incursions into Columbian soil for the past several years. Also, with hints that Reyes had ties with Rafael Correa, the Ecuadorean president, and Ecuador doing nothing to help prevent this, Columbia did what was needed to help stabilize their country. It was a bold move, but that is what it takes in a war against cowards such as Reyes. This is a better world without him.

I know I have talked on it before, but I have to bring it up again that this whole global warming scare is a complete joke! In this article the founder of The Weather Channel talks about how much a fraud global warming is and how TWC has devolved into a platform for alarmists trying to scare the country. I have been saying it again and again that in ten years, maybe twenty, we will look back and wonder how we were all duped into believing Al Gore. Well, he did invent the internet, so he must be pretty smart.

Last note, it looks like SAG has begun starting talks with the different studios in an effort to stave off a strike in June. After the WGA strike, this town is weary and just wants for things to get back to normal. Here is hoping that negotiations are both swift and final.