My Life As A LAFC Supporter

If you haven't heard there is a new Football team in Los Angeles and I'm not talking about the Rams or the Chargers, I'm talking about LAFC (Los Angeles Football Club). LAFC is the newest club in MLS (Major League Soccer), and yes I am a LAFC supporter aka fan.

Now before I really get into the love of new soccer (football club) LAFC, let me share with you about how I became a fan of the beautiful game. We are going to go way back to the mid 80's, when I was a kid in elementary school there was not really a professional outdoor soccer league in the United States. As a kid growing up I loved and still do love sports. I wanted to be a professional athlete as a kid, then as I got older I desired to be a sports journalist. Alright back to pro soccer in the United States, there was one league I followed MISL and my team was the Los Angeles Lazers. I loved going to Lazer games, I even attended the 1987 All-Star game. The Lazers folded in 1989, so there really wasn't any soccer to watch in Los Angeles, so I just became disconnected with soccer. 

Then in 1994 the FIFA World Cup was in the United States, and I watched every game I could, especially if the United States or Mexico was playing, but even after the US and Mexico got eliminated I watched the entire tournament. Because of the World Cup I wanted to keep on watching soccer. So being born and raised in Southern California and being half Mexican on the weekends there was always the Mexican league on TV. I needed a team to cheer for in the Mexican league so I asked my dad what part of Mexico my grandpa was from, he said Guadalajara, and I noticed there was a club called Chivas from Guadalajara, so they became my Mexican team.

At the time I had no idea that Chivas were the most popular and most hated team in Mexico, kind of like the Cowboys, Yankees and Celtics are in the United States in football, baseball. and basketball. I enjoyed watching the games, but I just wanted a LA team, also being 2nd generation Mexican and half Mexican I did not speak or understand Spanish.

In 1996 soccer in America changed forever, MLS had it's first season. Being that I've always supported my local Los Angeles sports teams (Kings, Dodgers, Lakers, Rams), I was a Galaxy fan, in fact I had season seats during their last season at the Rose Bowl (2002), but driving to Carson was just way too far, and the ticket prices sky rocketed my seats went from $15 a game to $60 a game. In 2005 the league added Chivas USA to MLS, so being a Chivas de Guadalajara I became a supporter of Chivas USA, I even had season seats in 2007 (their best season), but the drive was again just too far driving all the way to Carson. Make a long story short, Chivas USA had terrible ownership and the club folded in 2014. Now I did consider going back to being a supporter for the Galaxy, but the rivalry between Chivas USA and Galaxy just caused me to not go back, plus with the fact, a member of one the Galaxy support group pissed on my leg in the restroom at Home Depot Center as I was at the urinal, so I was to put it lightly a little bitter towards the Galaxy.

Right after Chivas USA folded MLS granted Los Angeles new expansion club, set to play in 2018, under new ownership (thank God), the new owners were and are a LA celebrities (Magic Johnson, Will Ferrell, Nomar Garciaparra, Mia Hamm, Ruben Gnanalingam). The name of this new club, Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC). So of course this would eventually become my new MLS club. During this time I didn't really watch too many MLS matches. But as 2018 MLS season was approaching the PR department and those who work for LAFC, were doing an amazing job promoting the club. Owners like Will Ferrell were on talk shows promoting the club. Also there was a stadium being built, LAFC would not be sharing the StubHub Center with the Galaxy, which Chivas USA did, and that was one of the many things that hurt Chivas USA (I could literally write a whole blog and the disastrous ownership of Chivas USA). The new stadium was being built on the same location of the old LA Sports Arena in Exposition Park in Los Angeles right nest door to the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, right in the heart of Los Angeles.

Also during this time, even before the club had played a game, supporter groups started forming; The Empire Boys (the group I'm part of), The Black Army 1850, District 9 Ultras, Expo Originals, The Lucky Boys, LAFC Cuervos, just to name a fewf. But together we are the 3252. 3252 is in the North End of the stadium, in consists of 3252 seats (except we do not sit, we stand the entire match), also 3+2+5+2=12, which represents the 12th man, and if you've ever been to a LAFC match, you know how loud the 3252 is. being in the 3252 is a experience in itself, you will lose your voice, you will lose some calories, by jumping for LA Football Club.

Trust me I know I've left some stuff out, like the signing of Carlos Vela, and drafting the team through the expansion draft, but I don't want this to go too long. But the long wait was over, the 2018 MLS season came. Due to the fact that Banc of California Stadium was not going to be ready until April, LAFC had to play their first 6 matches on the road, and they put up a remarkable 4-2 record, picking up 12 of a possible 18 points. In their first ever game they played the Sounders in Seattle (one of the toughest stadiums to win in, with some of the loudest supporters in the MLS and the defending Western Conference Champions). LAFC went in and beat the Sounders 1-0, with a beautiful goal (the first in LAFC history) by Diego Rossi.

Well after the first game I was hooked, and watched every game I could. Now I really wanted to go to a game, but just could not afford it (you've heard of putting your kids through college, I'm working two jobs to put my lovely wife through college). Well on July 15 as I watching the World Cup Final I received a message from an old friend Jacob Mann, asking if I wanted his tickets for the LAFC match against the Portland Timbers (thanks again). So I asked my wife if I could go and she said I could go if I clean the restroom and clean the kitchen (sometimes being married is like being a teenager, if you want to go out you have to do chores). So of course I cleaned the kitchen and restroom drove to the APU Metro goldline station and headed to LA to attend my first LAFC match. Needless to say the experience from walking into the stadium, pregame, and of course the match. The result was a 0-0 draw, but now I was even more hooked, and I knew next I had to be in the 3252. So I sent out a tweet asking if there were any supporter groups out where I live in the Inland Empire, and I was pointed to the Empire Boys.

Once I got hooked up to the Empire Boys I started going to viewing parties and a meet and greet and a local brewery. Then on October 12 I saved up some money and was finally able to attend a match in the 3252, with the Empire Boys. Needless to say this was not your ordinary match. When I arrived to the Banc, the weather was beautiful. I got their early had two $4 beers, in the 3252, sang the national anthem with the 3252 (which happens at every game), the at around the 32 minute rain came along with lighting, so because of the lighting the game was on a weather delay. We all thought it would not be that long, I was really hoping it wouldn't be long because I had to be at work in Rancho Cucamonga at 5am. During the weather most of the fans in the stadium, except for the 3252. During the entire weather delay the 3252, was still chanting, singing, jumping and banging on the drums. The match finally started up again, with LAFC being down 1-0, LAFC ended up winning the match 4-2, with one of the goals, being this beauty from Carlos Vela. 

That night I didn't get home until 2AM, but made it to work by 5AM, with just 2 hours of sleep, and it was totally worth it. Being part of a supporter group is amazing, it's a brotherhood and sisterhood. You can act like a total nut, by signing, chanting, jumping, and not look crazy because you have 3251 other people acting the same way. Before the game started someone asked me; "Is this your first game?" I said; "No I sat in section 222 earlier in the season." She said; "No that didn't count this is your first game." Well she was right! LAFC ended the regular season with 57 points, a expansion team record in MLS, the playoffs ended in a way that we may not have liked, but the future of this club looks more than great. Hopefully in 2019 I'll be able to attend more matches, money is still tight. If you're reading this and you have not attended a LAFC match I strongly encourage you to go, even if it's not in the 3252. You might bump into Will Ferrell like I did at the Houston match.

In closing I'm in the process of trying to do my own podcast called The LAFCPunk, it will be covering LAFC and throw a little punk music in there. I have no idea how to do a podcast. I'd love to interview different members of the 3252, game reviews, game previews. If you'd like to help me out let me know and contact me at jasonarellano77@gmail.com, I live in Alta Loma. 

Watch party with the Empire Boys and Black Army

Will Ferrell greeting the 3252

Pouring down rain and the 3252 is still going at it 

Victory Chant after every win

My Life As a Blenderhead Fan

As the title of my blog; "My Life As a So-Called Punk" I love punk music, and the "punk" lifestyle. The first punk band that I really got into, and opened the door to punk rock music was Blenderhead. The year was 1994, and one night my mom said she was going to the Christian bookstore, and asked if I wanted to come and look for music. Keep in mind at this time there hadn't been a decent "Christian" band since "The Crucified" broke up, most Christian music to me just sucked and was lame (sorry but not sorry), but I went hoping to find some old Crucified album. Now keep in mind this was 1994, way before the Internet, with YouTube, iTunes, Spotify; so finding new music was a lot more difficult back then, especially if you were into punk and underground music. We arrived at the bookstore and I headed straight to the music, and right away there was a end cap from a new record label called Tooth and Nail Records (check out my previous blog on Tooth and Nail records), right away I noticed they had; "The Crucified" self titled album which I had but on a recorded tape, I was super excited. I also found "Bow" an album from the hardcore band Focused, a band I had seen play with The Crucified a few years back, before The Crucified broke up, so I grabbed that CD too.

There were 2 other albums that caught my eye as well. They say don't judge a book (or an album) by it's cover. But these albums had real awesome covers. The first one was "Pokinatcha" by mxpx, the second one was; "Prime Candidate for Burnout" by blenderhead. So I grabbed these 2 albums as well. When I got home I listened to all 4 of them, and I loved all 4 of them, but the blenderhead album, I just couldn't stop listening to, this album was and still is amazing. I loved the power of the music and I really loved the lyrics. The lyrics weren't what your average "Christian" band talked about, they were very punk rock and even went political, I loved it.

I'm not going to go through every song in the album (which I could), but that would completely bore most of you. But I cover a couple songs that to this day I really relate with. Perhaps one of my or my favorite song on the album is "Purgatory" Here are the lyrics...

Blood sucking maggot infested media machine. Ways to be cool and ways to be seen. Tell you when to jump and when to scream, just tune in at 8:15. It must be a drag to fit in a stupid game where nobody wins, I'd rather be myself, then just blend in with all the cans on the shelf. Licking the flames of conformity hell, being a poser sure is swell. Is that really you? I can't tell. You look like every other soul for sale in coformity hell. Jimmy and Jody and Buffy and Skip all have perfect hair and perfect hips. Jazzercize, step aerobics and thigh master too. Shakes and powders and pills for you...

The part I love the most is; "I'd rather by myself, then just blend in with all the cans on the shelf." For any of us from the punk/hardcore scene, we are a different group of people, and most of us are not ashamed of it, we go against the flow and against what mainstream music, fashion, and lifestyle most people live, we do not blend in with the cans on the self.

I truly do love all the songs on this album and highly recommend anyone who likes punk especially bands like Descendents and Fugazi to check out this album. 

The second album of blenderhead was "Muchacho Vivo". I'll be honest when I first heard this album I was not a fan of it, it really was a change from their last album, but I eventually really liked it a lot. In fact one of my friends didn't like it all and gave it to me for free. As a blenderhead fan in a church youth group I would get flake, because they didn't sing about Jesus, I also got the same flake for wearing a Sometime Sunday shirt. I really didn't care too much what people thought I still continued to listen to Blenderhead, in fact I had a dwarf hamster that I named Mr. Blenderhead.

I only got to see Blenderhead in concert one time, it was in 1995 in Anaheim with mxpx and The Crucified, to this day one of the best shows I've ever seen live. One of my favorite memories from the show, was when Blenderhead was playing the song Soapbox, and part of the song when it says; "spare change" people started throwing coins on the stage, and there was a quarter and the bassit says, "Dude it's a quarter!" and Billy Power dove and grabbed it. I thought as a 17 year old kid these guys were rich rock stars, but found out they weren't. A year later I had the privilege of meeting Billy Power (lead singer) at the Tooth & Nail Festival at APU. I remember my friend and I were just hanging out in line and he just came up to us, introduced himself and we hung out and talked for a while it was real cool. A few years later we would correspond through email. For those who do not know Billy Power now has an awesome podcast Urban Achiever, check it out, it's one of my favorite podcast.

The third and last full length album was; "Figureheads on the Forefront of Pop Culture". This album came out while I was working at my church bookstore, we got a copy to play for a sample, the manager let me buy it for $1, best deal I ever got for a CD. I'll never forget hearing the first song; "I Gave Her My Heart She Gave Me a Pen" I felt Billy's pain and I just wanted to give him a hug> During this time we had been emailing back and forth so I knew that he was going through a divorce. Lyrically this album is very heart felt, musically I just love it. It's still a go to album for me. Well I don't want this go to long. But to Bill Power and blenderhead, I'd like to dedicate this song "Thank You" by Descendents to you, as a thank you for your music and how it impacted my life. Bill from listening to every podcast, this may embarrass you, but I mean it, your music change life for the good. So if you could please share this blog it would be awesome. Oh yea if you don't have it check out a book Bill wrote about that '95 tour called "Bottle Breaker", I still need to buy my, but I have heard great things.

blenderhead 7 inch which I still have.

My Life as a Zao Fan

This blog is the first of series of blogs that I will be writing on regarding some of my favorite bands, bands that have affected and touched my life in a tremendous way. The first band I've decided to write on is; Zao. For those of you who do not not know who Zao is, Zao is a "metal core" that has been around since 1993, they are in my opinion, one of, perhaps the greatest metal core bands of all-time. They are a band that truly have touched my life along with so many of their faithful and loyal fans lives. The reason why I decided to go with Zao first for the bands that have impacted me is probably because a few members and ex-members have been on the podcasts I enjoy listening to; Urban Achiever with Billy Power, The Bad Christian Podcast, and As The Story Grows. I'm the type that I'll listen to a podcast and whoever gets interviewed I usually want to listen to the band in which the person or people who got interviewed were in. So I've been listening to a lot of Zao lately, which I'm listening to right now as I write this. Even though Zao has a number of member changes and off and on hiatus' I have and always will be a huge fan and continue to support them. If you are a fan of Zao I hope you enjoy this blog. If you're not a fan of Zao or if you have never even heard of Zao, please read it anyway, to hear my love and passion for this amazing band.

The first time I heard Zao was on a compilation CD, by Tooth and Nail Records called; "Songs From the Penalty Box." This compilation CD had a variety of punk and hardcore bands on it, plus it was hockey theme; three things that I love, so of course I bought it, it was only $5. The 10th track of 21on the CD, was a song called Exchange by Zao, I remember sitting in room listening to the album, which had some great tracks by bands like; Stavesacre, mxpx, Living Sacrifice, strong arm, 90 Pound Wuss. But this was my first time I had ever heard Zao, and I was blown away, by the vocals, the drums, a sound I had never really heard, let's just say I was very impressed. The next thing I wanted to do was go out and find their album.

It took a couple months but I finally I had the money and was able to find some where to buy my first Zao album, which was their first Solid State Records release; "Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation." Needless to say when I bought this album and put it in my CD player I was not disappointed. Two things about this album that really stood out were the vocals, this was the original vocalist of Zao, Shawn Jonas. I had never heard vocals like this before, his screaming was like something I had never heard before, and their were times he would hold a note for so long, you'd think he'd pass out, but I just loved the vocals. Another aspect of the music that stood was the drumming, by Jesse Smith who was with the band for 5 albums, Jesse Smith is an amazing drummer, who now has own band, Jesse and The Holy Ghost. After this album I became a Zao fan.

In 1998, every member left the band, except for drummer Jesse Smith, they all left for a variety of reasons. So Jesse went out and recruited a whole new group of talented guys. Basically, "Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest" was a whole new band, with Russ Cordell on guitar (who is still in the band) Brett Detar on guitar, and Daniel Weylandt on lead vocals (who also currently still in the band). When Blood and Fire came out I was a little hesitant about getting the album, being that it was a whole new lineup. I ordered Blood and Fire through mail order through Tooth and Nail Record/Solid State Records. Now keep in my mind this was before social media, there was no Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even myspace, so you can hear a preview of the album, there wasn't even iTunes so you get listen to a portion of the song. The day arrived when, "Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest" came in the mail, I ripped open the package, and I loved the cover. I put the CD into my CD player and pressed play... Holy crap, the first song; "Lies of Serpents, a River of Tears" Well as soon as I heard the first song, I became a even bigger fan of Zao. Nothing against the original members, they were the Genesis of the band, but the new Zao, was just simply amazing. Another change in Zao was the lyrics, the old Zao was very in your face evangelical, while the new Zao had lyrics were a lot more about the struggles of life. Daniel Weylandt was not only the new singer but he was also the new lyricist of the band. This album had songs about dealing with suicide and death, the lyrics really touched myself along with their listeners and fans. I just want to say that ever since; "Blood and Fire" Daniel Weylandt is one of my favorite lyricist and in my opinion one of the greatest in music and defiantly the greatest in this genre of music. To me; "Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest", is one of the most ground breaking albums of all-time, it's one of my all-time favorite albums and it's an album that will never get old.

In March of 1999 I finally had the amazing opportunity to see Zao live, I was able to see them for 2 straight nights. During this time I was going to Bible College, I attended Bible College with the members of Point of Recognition (what's up Aaron, Isaac, Jesse, and Michael if you read this). But Zao flew out to Southern California to play a couple shows with; Overcome, Training for Utopia, and Point of Recognition. The first night was in Riverside, CA, where I got my lip busted open (I still have the scar) in the pit during Overcome. Zao headlined the show, throughout the week we all super excited to see Zao, a few of us were talking about how the vocals were going to sound, because there was debate on if they did some kind of strange stuff to the vocals during the recording to have Daniel sound like that. Well as they were warming up, Daniel warmed up his vocals, and what it sounded like on the CD was what he sounded like live. I remember Isaac, Portland Paul and I looking at each and just being "Holy crap", that was awesome. Each night they put on a great set, and played some new stuff, from an album (Liberate Te Ex Inferis) that was going to be coming out later in the year. I have even found their full set from the second night where they played in San Bernardino on YouTube, Zao live. Little side note and wrestling history, the venue Zao played in that night is the venue where Mankind (Mick Foley) made his WWF debut by attacking The Undertaker.

I cannot mention Zao albums without mentioning a split CD they did with Training for Utopia (Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter was the lead singer/guitarist of TFU). But there was one a song on this album by Zao (which you can only get on this album), that I was completely able to relate to; Walk on By, Walk on Me (The Pianist Prophecy), this song was written by Jesse Smith. This song is basically about legalistic hypocrisy within the church. I've been raised in the church and when I got into the hardcore/punk/metal scene (even the Christian) stuff I was told it was evil and to stay away from it. I was instantly judged for my music, clothing style, and hair style, all while these people were far from perfect. I'm not saying I'm perfect at all, no one is. But some many people within the church have ruined the reputation of the church, and these lyrics really nail the way some (not all) of these people are like. Here are the lyrics... "your tongue pierced my fragile heart, careless words are daggers thrown, unaware unapproachable unwilling silence from a sounding voice, you entwine praise with curses, your words burn like hell itself, silence from a sounding voice, all this by the tongue created, your words become hell itself, your words become hell itself, the tongue creates it tongue".

August of 1999, the album; "Liberate Te Ex In Feris, Save Yourself from Hell", was released. This album I ordered online, and waited for it to come in the mail again. Now this album I had already heard some of the songs when I had seen them live a few months before. It finally came and I had to go work my security shift with Aaron Irizarry, so I put it on the guard shack and once again Zao had made another amazing album. This album had some dark lyrics that I really liked. For example one of the best songs on the album is; "Savannah". Savannah Michelle Wilsey was an adult film actress, who committed suicide after she had been in a car accident, broke her nose and saw her face and felt worthless, she then shot herself and died. I'd like to go into more detail about this album, but there are 5 more albums I'd like to talk about.

As I mentioned I'm going try not to go into as much detail in all the albums, as much as I would like to, this blog is getting long. In February of 2001, Zao released the album, "Self Titled". Once again they made a great album, with some amazing songs, the open track "5 Year Winter", was the song they closed when I saw them play recently at Chain Fest. After this album came out, the band; "broke up". Throughout the history of Zao, us Zao fans have been told; "This is the end of Zao", "This will be the last Zao album", "This will be the last Zao tour." Being a Zao fan is like being part of a dysfunctional family (who isn't part of a dysfunctional family, no family is perfect). But us die hard Zao fans, support the band no matter what the circumstance who the members are. In fact I saw them play a couple times when, Corey Darst did lead vocals for them between 2000-01, nothing against Corey he is a very talented vocalist, but it just wasn't the same not seeing Daniel on stage. Now fast forward to July 2002, and Zao (who a lot of us thought had broken up), released the album, "Parade of Chaos." This album only had Scott Meilinger (who by the way is a die hard Pittsburgh Penguins fan), the last album with Jesse Smith (who not only played drums, but also played guitar on the album), and the return of Daniel Weylandt on vocals. When I first heard this album it sounded as if they rushed making the album, then after watching the documentary "Lesser Lights of Heaven", I was right. Quick side note I highly recommend watching the documentary, I own and it comes with a concert (which I was at), at the Glass House in Pomona, CA. I still really enjoy the album; "Parade of Chaos". One key song I want to mention is; "Free the Three". "Free the Three" is a song about the "West Memphis Three", the West Memphis Three, were three teenage boys who were accused falsely of murdering 3 young boys, as part of a Satanic ritual. Sao would always play this song live at their shows, to let people know about; Damien, Jessie, and Jason. On August 19, 2011, the three boys were finally released from prison, the murders took place in 1993, but if wasn't for bands like Zao, along with other bands and celebrities, myself along with others would had never known about the, "West Memphis Three." And myself along with thousands of other people, do want justice for whoever killed the three young boys. Just like all their other albums, Zao has never been afraid to cover topics that most artists would never discuss, in fear of offending people, one of the many reasons I've always loved Zao.

In July 2014 Zao released the album, "The Funeral of God", this would be the first album they would release on Ferret Records, after nearly 8 years on Solid State Records. Lyrically this is one of my all time favorite albums. Because of the album title this album was very controversial, but the people who complained about this album, did not even bother reading the lyrics and the concept of the album. The concept of, "The Funeral of God", The concept of the album, is a narrating story in which God, fed up with path chosen by humanity, decides to disappear, leaving humanity to its fate. Subsequently, the world falls into a state of war and self-destruction. However, man soon reverts to a state in which he waits for God to return.(This came from Wikipedia, however I remember reading articles in magazines about this album and this is the concept.)

*Like I mentioned before I'm not going into as much details into the last two albums, I really should have made this blog a two parter, but there is so much to write about with Zao.

In June 2006 Zao released, "The Fear is What Keeps Us Here", then in May 2009 Zao released, "Awake". These albums had Daniel on vocals, Scott on guitar, Jeff Gretz a member on drums, and Martin Lunn a new member on bass. I will say both of these albums are simply amazing, musically and lyrically. I have never heard an album that I've been disappointed with, they continue to make great music. I'm looking forward to the band making great music.

As of September 2016, Zao is still playing live and making new music (also Russ has returned to the band), in July 2015, Zao released a a two 7 inch, you can also purchase the two tracks on iTunes (which is where I bought it). Zao also continues to play a few live shows a year, I recently saw them at Chain Fest (Santa Ana, CA) on September 17, 2016, they put on an amazing set, in my opinion the best set of the day (here is a video I took of them playing, "The Rising End). Also at the music festival, I was able to meet; Martin we had a great talk about his appearance on the Urban Achiever podcast, I talked to Scott about hockey and met and had talked to Daniel about their shows back in '99. Also at the show Zao announced that they will be releasing a new album; "The Well Intentioned Virus", later this year in 2016, I'm very excited for their new album. I cannot believe it's been almost 20 years that I've been a Zao fan. Even though their have been countless changes (20 different members in all), I have continued to support them and been a Zao fan. Like I said in the beginning they are one of the best, in my opinion the best metal-core band of all time. As I was editing this blog Zao announced that their new album will be released on December 9, 2016.

Meeting at Daniel at Chain Fest

My Life As an Ex-Church Staff Member

Before I start this blog, I just want you (the reader), to know I have nothing against anyone who's job or main source of income is being in the ministry full time, this is about God doing a change in my heart, so please read the blog and leave comments below.

As most of you know, I was in "full-time" ministry for 10 years, what I mean by "full-time", is that it was my job and it was my source of income. Most of that time, I absolutely loved what I did, it was to me the best job in the world, I worked a job that I loved doing, to the point that I did not consider it work. I looked forward to going into work every day.

In August of 2011, God closed the door on being in "full-time" ministry, my wife and I had been married for only 9 months, and what I thought was my career was gone. I'm not going to lie I took it very hard, to point that I went through some heavy depression. After 10 years of doing something I loved, and got paid for it, I felt I was not quailed to do anything.

Now fast forward to November 10, 2012... My first beautiful, wonderful daughter, is born; Gloria Rose Arellano...

First picture of Gloria and I together

Gloria just a little after she was born

One of the very few times Gloria let me hold her

One of the greatest gifts I have ever received, my first daughter of two daughters (Amalia was born February 25, 2015). At first Gloria was not really a daddy's girl. Gloria was the biggest mommy's girl you would ever see. From the time Gloria was born to the age of around a year and a half, she would scream her head off if I tried to hold. The only person Gloria would let hold her was mommy. In fact on days in which Jenette had to work and I had the day off, Gloria would cry and scream from the moment Jenette left the house until she got home from work. As soon as Jenette would hold Gloria, she would stop crying in a heart beat. One time at home we handed Gloria back and forth to each other, the moment I would touch she would scream bloody murder, but as soon as Jenette held she would stop. Not only would Gloria stop crying she would give me this little smirk, as if she knew what she was doing.

After about a year and a half Gloria finally warmed up to me, to the point we started doing daddy/daughter date nights which she absolutely loves to do, it's something I plan to do with her until God brings her, her husband (I hate him already). Gloria's favorite daddy/daughter date place to go, is going to a Kings game, yep she's defiantly my daughter. By the way she loves watching hockey and hates intermission because there is no hockey going on, on the ice.

Gloria, Bailey and I at a Kings game

Let's fast forward again all the way to 2 months ago, May  of 2016. Now during this time I still really struggled with the fact of no longer being in full-time ministry and the depression would go off and on. I've worked at Ralphs, as a painter, and currently work for Sprouts and at Alta Loma Jr. High school. Now every morning when Gloria wakes up she runs to wake me up (even though I get home real late every night), I don't mind at all she's my daughter and she has become a daddy's girl. There are two questions Gloria asks me every morning; "Daddy do you have to work at the Jr. High?" And; "Daddy do you have to work at Sprouties?" When I say no she gets very happy and dances around the room. She's always super happy when I do not have to work at Sprouts, because when I work at Sprouts I work 2:30 - 11:00 at night, which means I'm not home for the evening.

Gloria at Disneyland

One particular day when I told Gloria, that I had to work at Sprouts, she started to cry and say, "Daddy I DO NOT LIKE SPROUTIES!" As soon as those words came out of her mouth, it hit me. After 5 years of no longer being in "full-time" ministry, and it eating away at me daily, in which I went through times of depression, feeling like I had no one to talk to about the situation, I was completely happy, content, and in complete peace of no longer doing my old occupation. The reason why... Gloria said; "I do not like Sprouts." Now if I was still working at the church there were days, in which I was there from 8 in the morning until 10:00 at night, sometimes a few nights a week. I believe in my heart that God showed me if I was still working at the church, Gloria would say; "Daddy I do not like church." During my life time I have met so many, "Pastor kids" who no longer attend church or even have any type of relationship with God. I have also met many "Pastor kids" who do still go to church, have a relationship with God and some have even followed in their dad's footsteps and have become Pastor's themselves, and I think that is awesome.

I think there are many factors that go into the reason why a Pastor's kid may either follow Christ and still follow Christ and why some just want nothing to do with church or anything to do with God. But I'm going to cover just one factor, "The personality of the child." While some kids may think it's great that their dad is a pastor or minister at a church, and fully support him, other kids are not like that. Gloria loves to just stay home, relax, with her mommy, daddy, and her baby sister too. Gloria loves it when we are all home together, sometimes we say; "Let's go out." Gloria says, "I just want to stay home." There are kids just like Gloria, who do not like their parents place of employment because they take there, mommy or daddy away from them. While some kids are proud of what there parents do. I have even read stories of children of professional sports, who now hate the sport there dad played because, there dad was never home. Now if Gloria grows up, never wanting to shop at Sprouts because, Sprouts did not allow me to be home for dinner every night, I'm fine with that. But if Gloria grows up never wanting to go to church again or have a relationship with Christ, that would kill me. Gloria loves God and she loves going to church, she loves her class, her Bible stories, the songs she sings, she loves going to BSF (Bible study fellowship) with her Grandma, and she loved going to her first VBS.

Gloria at her 1st VBS

I just want to say I have nothing against anyone who may be a Pastor, minister, or any type of position like who have kids. If your kids love what you do and support you hey I'm so happy for you and I still wish I could do the same. But if you see one of your kids have a big struggle with what you are doing and it's effecting their relationship with Christ, perhaps you should pray if God has another way for you to provide for your family. Now you can still serve at church, I do myself, on Sunday mornings I help set up the nursery and the rest of the church and on Thursday nights if I have the night off I help out with the high school kids. Do I still miss my old "job'? Yes I do, it was my favorite job I ever had, I have nothing against the churches I worked or there pastors, I know where God wants me, serving my wife and daughters first, and if I have time serving Him at church. Do I miss teaching? Yes I miss teaching a lot, and I would love to do it again some day. On a side note, working a regular job has opened so many doors that I never had opened to me before. The places I have worked at, I've had the awesome opportunity to make friends, yes friends with those outside what we may call the "church." I have friends who I would have never even met while working at a church 5 days a week, I've grown to love these co-workers of my who are also my friends, and we love hanging out together. Also now if I've had a long weekend and I'm tired I have no problem just staying home with my family on a Sunday morning, although I do work most Sundays now. Or if I have a Sunday off, I can go to Disneyland with the family.

Riding Dumbo at Disneyland

One other thing during my many years of being a full-time minister I really think I impacted only one kid. In fact this kid was not even in the ministry that I was the overseer for, she was a high school kid. There was a young girl who would show up to church every Sunday, dressed very "dark" and was into metal music. Now I was and still am a fan of punk, metal, hardcore music, so I would always talk to her and she would sometimes have a friend with her and we would just talk about music, one band she liked that I introduced her to was, Zao (I'm listening to them as I'm writing this blog), she even went to go see them with a group of us to see Zao in concert, along with Demon Hunter at the Glass House in Pomona. Well a few years went by and I ended up getting a Facebook message from her and she told me how she had completely changed he life around for the good and thanked me for the impact I had on her, and Jenette and I ended up taking her to go see Brian "Head" Welch in concert, someone who had a huge influence on her turning her life to God. We had an awesome time and we even got to met him after the concert, she ended up writing a blog on it. A couple years after that she invited us to her wedding, she is now happily married and has a beautiful baby son, around the same age as, our youngest Amalia. So Marlyssa, thank you, for letting me know that, it meant a lot, I felt and still feel as if you are the only person I impacted, and if that is the case, it was completely worth it, I just wanted to show you, true Christian love, which I know you did not receive, from some within the church. You can check out her blog at Paint The Barn Red.

In closing I just want to say how happy I am now, that I'm no longer a "full-time" minister as a job. I'm no a full-time minister to my family, and I'm so blessed to have an amazing, beautiful, supportive wife and two amazing, beautiful daughters. I also do not regret the years I had working/serving at the churches I 

Gloria, Amalia and I on a daddy/daughter date night

Easter 2016 at church

My Life As a Wrestling Fan (Part 1)

I already know what some of you are thinking... "You're a wrestling fan?" Yes I am and I've been one for a long time, probably since around 1985-86, because the first Wrestlemania I remember was Wrestlemania 2, when Hulk Hogan went up against King Kong Bundy. Wrestlemania 2 was the first wrestling VHS tape my parents let me rent as well. This blog will be broken up into 2 possibility 3 parts. The first blog will be about how I got into wrestling and what I remember of the 80's to mid 90's of wrestling. The 2nd part will mostly be on what most wrestling fans think the greatest era of wrestling, which was the Monday Night Wars and The Attitude Era. So if you're a wrestling fan, I hope you enjoy this, if you're not a wrestling fan, please continue to read, you might enjoy it. Also I know there are a few of you out there who are closet wrestling fans, you know the ones who will not admit they watch wrestling, and will even make fun of those who do watch, I know you will enjoy this blog as well. 

People often ask me; "When and how did you become a wrestling fan?" It goes back to when I was around 8 or 9 years old, and like every kid back in the 80's I watched Saturday morning cartoons. But one day as I was watching cartoons on a Saturday morning on channel 11 (Fox LA), WWF Super Stars of Wrestling came on, and I became hooked. WWF Superstars of Wrestling Video. This was my favorite show to watch on Saturdays. Sometimes I would ride my bike to my friend's house (Jay) and watch Superstars with his Filipino grandma who would cheer and yell at the TV in Filipino, she didn't speak any English but she watched wrestling with us and gave us candy, so she was cool in my book.

Like most kids who watched wrestling, especially WWF, my first favorite wrestler was the immortal; Hulk Hogan. I was a Hulkamaniac, I even had a pair of yellow underwear, to be like Hulk Hogan. I'll never forget watching him on TV, he was like a comic super hero, except he was real. Like I mentioned before the first Wrestlemania I remember was Wrestlemania 2. As a kid growing up when we would go to the video store, we would rent one movie for the family to watch and then my brother and I would rent one WWF VHS, the first one we rented was Wrestlemania 2, the main event was a cage match with King Kong Bundy vs. Hulk Hogan, and of course Hulk Hogan got the win. I'll never forget those trips to the video store, and looking forward to a couple months after a pay-per view looking for the newest video. Now back in those days there was only 4 pay-per views all year; there was The Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, and The Survivor Series, the Survivor Series was on Thanksgiving. So back in those days pay-per views were a much bigger deal, we were never able to get one, so we had to wait until Saturday morning and watch Super Stars of wrestling to find out what happened. Or what I liked to do is wait for the latest issue of WWF magazine and read all the details of each match, I would either buy the magazine or read the magazine at the grocery store while my mom went grocery shopping. One time an old lady who was giving out samples went up to me while I was reading the WWF magazine and asked me; "Does your mom let you watch that?" And I said, "Yes, she does." And she said; "I think it's evil and you shouldn't be watching it." I just looked at her like she was crazy.

Another show that I use to love to watch as a kid growing up, was Monday Night Prime Time Wrestling on the USA Network. Before there was Monday Night Raw there was Prime Time Wrestling. Now being that the show was aired on a school night I had to sneak watching it. Now during this time we lived in a two-story apartment. Once we (myself, my brother and sister) were sent to bed my parents would stay down stairs and watch TV. I would then proceed to my parents bedroom (they had a TV with cable), and I would watch Prime Time Wrestling with the volume down real low. I use to love Prime Time Wrestling because it was 2 hours of wrestling. They also had a studio, and through the years had a variety of hosts, the first ones being Gorilla Monsoon and Booby the Brain Heenan. Heenan was the guy you loved to hate, he was the "heel" commentator, and always took the side of the heels, but he always made me laugh the way he would take to Gorilla Monsoon. As the years went by there would be other guys hosting the show such as; Jesse "The Body" Ventura (who later became Governor of Minnesota), Vince McMahon was a host as well. As a kid I no idea that Vince McMahon was also the President of the company. I loved Prime Time Wrestling because it was just more WWF wrestling to watch. WWF Prime Time Wrestling

Another show I use to love to watch was Saturday Night's Main Event. Now Saturday Night's Main Event was not on every Saturday night  it was on a few times a year and it was the only time you would see matches, with the top wrestlers which was not a pay-per view. The only bad thing was that Saturday Night's Main Event came on TV on NBC at 11:30 PM. Now even though it was the weekend that was still pass my brother's and my bedtime. But we had a TV in our room with an antenna, which we were able to get channel 4 in. So we would turn the volume down real low and watch, some great matches. The Main Event I remember the most was one in which the main event of the night was Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant. The match ended with the referee who had been "paid" by the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase, counted a three count on Hulk Hogan even though his legs were on the rope. I'll never forget how upset my brother and I were watching this and how upset we were at the ref, and then another ref came out who was that referee's twin brother. So our hero Hulk Hogan picked up the bad referee and threw him on top of Andre the Giant, Ted DiBase and Virgil. My brother and I wanted to stay home from church on Sunday to watch WWF Wrestling Challenge to see if "President" Jack Tunney would reverse the desition, but instead we found out the following week there would be tournament for the WWF Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 4, which the Macho Man Randy Savage went on to beat, by beating the Million Dollar Man DiBase. Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant Saturday Night Main Event



Well that's it for this part, in the next part I will be talking about the "Attitude Era", and how big wrestling became, and how Monday Night Raw, changed Monday nights forever.

My Life As Someone Who Suffers With Asthma

Well before I start writing this new blog, I know it's been a while since I wrote my last one (I've been busy). But I've been blown away by how many people have read my last two blogs and who has responded to me through Twitter about my blogs. My Dodger blog was read by over 300 people, and I received responses from Dodger broadcasters, sports radio personalities, and ex-Dodger players. Then my blog about Tooth and Nail Records was read by over 400 people, including some of the band members I wrote about. So thank you, and I'm not expecting a huge response to this blog at all.

Well the reason why I've decided to write about having asthma for this blog, is because it's something I've had to deal with, for pretty much my whole life, and mainly because as I'm writing this I'm recovering from a recent asthma attack I had this past week.

I was first diagnosed with asthma at age 11, but I always knew I had it before, because I knew of all the symptoms and struggled with all of them. So as a kid through elementary school Jr. High and school; sometimes it was tough to have asthma, Also if you had asthma you were usually stereo typed as a nerd (oh it didn't help my cause that I also wear glasses.)

Now let's getting something straight, just because a person has asthma it does that make them a nerd. In fact I have a theory, everyone is a nerd, yes that's what I said everyone is a nerd. What do I mean by that? Well everyone has at least one thing, most of us a few things, that we are absolutely passionate about, which may be a hobby, an interest, TV show, you get my point. For me I am a hockey nerd, particularly a L.A. Kings nerd, I know things about the Kings that most likely most people who work for the team do not know. Case in point; on the Kings post-game show during Kings talk, they always have a trivia question and I usually know it, and yes I have called in and answered the question and ended up winning some Popcornopolis, which made my wife Jenette very happy.

Well what is asthma? Here is a link you can click on to read about Asthma.com. Now to explain to you who do not have asthma what it feels like. Sometimes it hits very quickly, and it feels as if a 600 lb. man is sitting on your chest and he's refusing to get off. To be honest that's not the tough part, you need to cough, you pretty much have to cough, but when you do it feels as if someone is stabbing you with two knives inside your chest. At times it even hurts to talk because it's very difficult to get a word out. It even hurts to laugh, one time when I was recovering from an asthma attack I was at home resting watching Seinfeld, I started laughing and my lungs felt as if I was being stabbed, so normally when I'm recovering from an asthma attack I try to avoid watching funny shows or movies. So that is a short and brief description and what asthma feels like. Because anyone who has asthma, as been told by someone who does not have asthma, to toughen up or to quit being such a wimp.

As someone who has my asthma, I have one small device that becomes one of my best friends, my inhaler. And yes, once again, when people see you with one of these, they automatically assume, you're a nerd. But for those of us with asthma, our inhalers can be our lifelines, one or two puffs from this wonderful device can clear up your lungs for a period of time and help you breathe again. Something else that helps out a lot while my asthma is bothering me, is taking a hot shower, the hot steams just helps clear my lungs, and normally after a bad asthma attack I take 3 to 5 showers a day. What makes it difficult now is that, I'm without insurance for a little while, so I'm not able to go see a doctor or get refills on the two different kind of inhalers I use (Qvar and Proair), but hopefully it should be kicking in quickly. This may not have been as a fun blog, but I just had to get it off my chest, yes that's meant to be funny, and I do know that was very cheesy.

Say hello to my little friend!