My Life as a Heavy Metal Loving Headbanger

Riki Rachtman host of Headbanger's Ball

So I have been asked many times, "How did you get into heavy metal music?" And it's a story that I love to tell people about...

Well it all goes back to the 5th grade at my old elementary school Citrus Elementary in Upland. My best friend Chris Jones and I use to get into a lot of trouble together and we did a good job at not getting caught. Well this time our teacher Mr. Hoien busted us I think we were pretending to be WWF tag team "The Bushwackers", So we were given detention. Now for some reason my parents or Chris' parents were not able to pick us up after detention, so Chris' older brother who was a Sr. in high school picked us up instead. Now being that we were around 10/11 years old and Chris' brother was the only person I knew in high school, we thought he was the coolest guy in the world. He drove red pick up truck and on the back had all these heavy metal stickers, When I got into his truck he was blasting some style of music I had never really heard before, but all I knew was that I loved it. This music was amazing, it had loud guitars, loud and fast drums, it was fast, the singer sounded awesome, and oh yea did I mention it was loud. Now this was 1989, so all the girls in class loved and listened to New Kids on the Block (we use to make fun of those girls) and most of the boys listened to Kiss FM, which I though just sucked. I never was or even to this day like that is trendy, and this goes especially towards music. So I asked Chris, because his brother was to much of a god to talk to me, I asked, "Who is this?!" Chris said, "This is Metallica." And from that moment on I became a metal head.

This was most likely the album I heard in the truck

So after this I went in search for heavy metal music on the radio. I had to listen to the radio with my headphones. Because I was scared that my parents would not allow me to listen to heavy metal music. Then one night I found the radio station I had been looking for, Pirate Radio.

Now there are most likely just a few of you out there who remember Pirate Radio, but I loved it. Now being that I knew I'd get in trouble for buying a Metallica tape, I went out and bought blank tapes and whenever I heard a song I liked on the radio I pressed record, yep pre-digital music days were fun, We did not have computers, ipods, Internet, smart phones, itunes, you get the picture. So if you were poor and wanted music you had to record it onto a tape from a tape onto a mix tape. Speaking of Pirate Radio the first concert I ever went to was at Magic Mountain on Pirate Radio night and my friends; Chris, Shawn, and Andy got to see Dramarama (there only hit was that song "Anything"). But we were 8th grade boy, Pirate Radio was at Magic Mountain and the best part the Pirate Radio Harley girls were there and we got there pictures and autographs, yep it was an amazing night.

  Now from elementary school through 7th grade all I had was Pirate Radio. And during my 7th grade year we lived in Hacienda Heights and I went to Mesa Robles Jr. High school and I was the only kid who listened to heavy metal music or I was the only kid not listening to Kiss FM, oh yea Kiss FM sucks. Now for what I went through at Mesa Robles that's a whole different blog. Okay so after 7th grade we lived in Colorado for a month, with my cousins, and then we moved back to Upland, and I got to go to Upland Jr. High for most of my 8th grade year and that was fun.

It was in 8th grade where my friends and I discovered more bands, bands like; Pantera, AC/DC, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies (yes, we loved Pepsi), just name a few. We also discovered one of the greatest shows, no the greatest show MTV ever had (back when MTV was all about music), we found Headbangers Ball, hosted by our hero at the time Riki Rachtman. Speaking of Riki Rachtman back when he was hosting Loveline on KROQ I called in during a segment they did at the end of the night, and I told him he was my hero. He then told me to get a better hero someone like Perry Mason (I had no idea who that was), but we also talked about the Kings since we are both Kings fans. But Headbangers Ball would come on MTV every Saturday night at 11:30 and it was 2 hours of heavy metal videos. So my same friends from Magic Mountain we would stay the night normally at Chris' house and we would watch Headbangers Ball. While the rest of the night we would play Sega Genesis NHL hockey and play all the Metallica albums.

This was just the beginning of my love for music, later on I got into punk, hardcore, and other genres of rock music. But my first love will always be heavy metal. 

My Life as a tired, sleep deprived dad

Well this blog will not be as long as my previous ones, as this blog will just be an update on how life has been since the birth of our second daughter Amalia Nina Arellano (aka Gloria part 2). Amalia was born February 25, 2015 at 7:41 AM at the Kaiser hospital in Fontana, CA.

On February 27 we got to finally go home. Yes I know it's only 2 days in the hospital, but for those of you who have stayed in a hospital overnight it's not really a five star hotel. When you factor in trying to sleep in the hospital, not being in your own bed, in the comfort of your own home all you want to do is leave the hospital. Just as long as the baby and mommy are alright.

But what made this stay at the hospital tougher than when Gloria was born, was no Gloria, we missed her. We dropped Gloria off at my in-laws on Tuesday evening before Amalia was born. We had to be at the hospital at 5:00 AM on Wednesday morning, so we figured it was easier to drop Gloria off on Tuesday night, and stay there until we went home. Kaiser in Fontana recently has enforced a new rule during the flu season, "No children under 14 allowed in the hospital rooms." This rule included family members. So first off Gloria was not able to see her baby sister, which she had been so excited to meet, until we got home from the hospital. This also meant Jenette had to go 3 days without seeing her first born. Now I got to see Gloria for a little bit on Wednesday in the waiting room, because Jenette's parents came to visit their 6th grandchild, so I went to waiting room area to see Gloria. Although when Gloria saw me I had a doughnut for her, and she was more happy to see a doughnut, than to see pictures of her baby sister. So we did some FaceTime with, Gloria, mommy, and baby sister, but Gloria was not that impressed. So Thursday we did not get to see Gloria, both Jenette and I missed Gloria a lot.

So on Friday morning we got okay from the doctor to go home. Jenette's parents were not able bring Gloria home until the afternoon. Gloria was so happy to meet her baby sister. And gave her a hug and kiss when she saw her for the first time. Since being home Gloria has been a wonderful big sister and helps out with feeding baby sister, changing diapers, and even helps cleaning the house. 

Now since we've gotten home it has been pretty crazy. The first night home, of course we were up all night with a crying baby. Now at the hospital I got around 2 hours of sleep a night, so the first night home she did not sleep well, which meant Jenette and I were not sleeping. So during Amalia's first night home it was around 1:30 AM and I still had gotten no sleep. I went to help Jenette at her bed side along with Amalia. So as I walking out of the room all I remember is feeling like I was about to just pass out. I then just feel head first into the wall, I banged my head real good, and could not get up. Jenette asked me a series of questions to make sure I did not have an concussion then all I remember is falling asleep right on the floor and woke up 90 minutes later. 

Then on Monday morning Gloria woke up with a cold and she's been sick ever since, although today she's doing a lot better. Then on Tuesday morning I woke up with a terrible toothache so bad I couldn't even open my mouth. But I had to hold off going to the dentist, because it was finals week at school. I had 2 papers, 2 projects, a presentation, and a final to study for. I was finally able to go to the dentist on Friday and found out I needed to get two extractions to get done (which is a whole other story). Well I got extractions done yesterday and the last two days have been out. But as you can see I'm feeling better to write. I was told it will take 3-5 days to recover. Well the next blog will be something more topical. Thank you for reading and please share my blog with others.

After my two extactions