=====03.05.11=====
So I was asked to come and watch the junior team of Soundbox, Riot Squad, perform at Dance Houston. Then I was able to get in backstage as a "director" and ended up filming all their backstage antics leading up to the show. Have to say that I can see why the main director shows a lot of love for these kids. They are what we could have been 10+ years ago. They're a wild bunch, but at least things were entertaining. I got to know them better and they had taken me into their fold. It actually was nice taking care of them that day.
A week or so after their show, I completed a video for them with help of their director. Needless to say, it stands as one of my favorite videos I've made so far. RIOT SQUAD!
Riot Squad (Dance Houston) - 03.05.11 from Royal Flush Media on Vimeo.
=====03.08.11=====
Went to another live wrestling show. This time it was a Smackdown taping. My friend and I had good seats (floor row 2). I had my old school Edge & Christian shirt on and my belt of course. Heading to the Toyota Center, a group of guards asked if I was a wrestler because of my belt, ha. And of course the belt was popular amongst kids that were around me and I let them take photos with it.
The show was good. Got to watch the latest NXT episode as well as a Superstars taping. A big surprise was seeing Shelton Benjamin in a dark match. I popped hugely when his music hit. Great to see him back. Smackdown was a good show. Watching the televised show, we got to see quite a few things live that weren't televised, awesome. One of the best parts had to have been when Alberto Del Rio jumped over the rail into the crowd right in front of us. I was in arms' reach of him! So cool!
Called up a friend to join us for a late night dinner. It was then that my friends had noticed my eye was bleeding. Turned out to be a popped blood vessel. Had no idea when it happened because I didn't feel a thing. It was a pretty big blotch and it didn't go away completely until...the end of March.
=====03.12.11=====
Due to odd circumstances, I ended up running Soundbox Studios one day. It actually wasn't a busy day (so boredom set in a few times), but I guess I was relieved that it wasn't. I spoke to one of Lucia's dancers who came super early. Colombians always find it interesting when I tell them I've dated a Colombian girl and actually went to Colombia, ha.
Unfortunately I couldn't take the normal Saturday hip hop class, lame. I did get to help in a few birthday surprises for one of the younger dancers in that class. Hid a huge balloon and cake and helped bring those out when we celebrated.
After the hip hop class and samba practice, there was another set of classes that were on deck. At that time I was supposed to be relieved of duties, but they were still on their way back to town. I ended up closing after those were done and just had the studio to myself for a good hour. Took advantage of that and practiced a few routines I know while trying to figure out between different flocks of friends what I was going to do after leaving. Sadly, nothing emerged from that. And...at one point during that time alone in the studio...from out of nowhere...I had a strange sense of loneliness...and a tear rolled down...
Around 7 one of the co-owners showed up. Good to see him back. We talked for a bit and it was a good thing we did since another group of dancers reserved the space for practice and I had no idea about it. We left things under their control and went to OK Cafe. I ended the day after that as I was out of it. As much as I wanted to do something, I'm glad I didn't.
=====03.13.11=====
Over at Soshified, they do a lot of global projects to help promote and show support to SNSD. This time around was in support of their venture of being spokes models for Intel. They did commercials and other marketing dealing with Intel. They even had a music video and song made to promote it called "Visual Dreams."
Fans around the world were asked to take photos showing off their home cities and emblazon them with Visual Dreams posters that were sent out. So a few of us that were available in Houston got together. It was only 3 of us and one is already a friend. We first taped posters all over the other Houstonian's van. We then rode around certain parts of the city while taking photos of the van driving near them. I was driving as I was not the photographer. So after a few rounds of that and fighting through traffic trying to get to certain areas, the other Houstonian SNSD fan had to leave and we continued taking more photos downtown. That was a lot of walking, but we got some excellent shots out of it. Another friend joined us to help out for the very last bit of it before we went to eat. This adventure started at noon and our last shot was taken around nine. AND this was day light savings so we lost an hour. You can check out fruits of our labor at the following link. All in all, I was very happy with our contribution to this project.
SNSD Visual Dreams Project (Houston) - click
=====03.19.11=====
Finally the day of my cousin Chery's wedding. I did see her and met her then fiancé Michael the day before during the rehearsal and dinner. Had the RFM crew meet at my place to go over the footage at the rehearsal to get a better idea of camera placement, main wedding character placement, etc. We loaded up the SUV (which might end up being the company car for big shoots) and drove out. We arrived an hour early to the Centurion Palace and was told to come back at 4 since they were still doing tours of the place. Understandable. Chic-Fil-A later and we were setting up a few things outside waiting out the last minutes before we could get in.
While things were being set up inside and more guests were arriving, I went out on a quest to find AA batteries along with my younger cousin's boyfriend. Good guy, I approve. Back to the Palace for more setting up and running around. Those hours before the wedding sure did fly by. Won't bore you with all those details.
The ceremony was terrific. I smiled every time a relative came down the aisle. Since I was manning 3 stationary cameras, I did feel odd walking back to the main middle one since eyes would turn to me, ha. There were times I had to man the main mobile camera and I had the headphones on. It was directly linked to the wireless mic we put on Chery and I could hear her cry. That moved me so much. It was great just watching her finally where she wanted to be; married to man that she loves.
Work wasn't over by far as we were taking photos and video outside after the ceremony and then had to rush in and get ready for all the reception activities. The RFM crew knew I needed to stop working once the music hit. Dancing with the family, yes! At one point I did think that my dances were b-beatski infused, awesome.
The RFM crew did have to stop at one point just to eat. Tasted great. Shortly after it was back to work. I did stop again to participate in more dancing and for the garter toss...which I caught. That's right, got sisters' Chery and Lauren's garters from their weddings. While none of my relatives asked if I had a girlfriend or when I was getting married (probably because I was running around all day), this probably made them think about it, ha.
While we were working and there were some problems, at no point did I panic or not have fun. I had a marvelous time and was just loving being around family I don't see regularly. Lots of love was flowing at the Centurion Palace. Congratulations to Chery and Michael on their wedded bliss.
=====03.26.11=====
I was able to get my "little sister" to come and take a hip hop class with me. It was also a good excuse to hang out since we had not done that in a long time. So she got a taste of what the hip hop class was about and got to see the studio for the first time.
After class, I took my "little sister" back and then met her boyfriend. He and I bonded over silly matches of Marvel VS Capcom 3 and then ate a nice shrimp pasta dinner cooked by his girlfriend. Lots of fun.
Left go home and get ready to go karaoke with friends in celebration of a birthday(s). Took a while to figure out how everything worked (in a different language), but I got it down. Just needed reminders of what characters meant what. I only found out towards the end of the karaoke singing that they had more SNSD songs than our usual karaoke joint. They had all the way up to Hoot from what I saw. I was able to play and sing the first verse of Run Devil Run as friends were leaving the room.
I split from the gang and went to go to a midnight opening for the 3DS. Had mine fully paid off and just needed to get in line. I saw a lot of people outside, but was later told those were customers for the food places around them. Turns out that being 30 minutes late after the line started still got me 2nd place in line. For that, I was given a free XL 3DS shirt, ha. It was just myself and the 1st guy in line and the clerk for a good hour talking and playing games until more people started to pile in. It wasn't hectic, maybe 15 inside the store at the most. Those that were there early had their items rung up and just needed their receipt stamped when midnight hit. So 5 minutes after midnight, I had my 3DS.
Took it home and tried it out. I did play a bit too long as my eyes were killing me when I tried to sleep. Apparently I ignored the warning of taking breaks after extended playing periods. I think I played it for a good 2 hours before retiring that night.
=====03.27.11=====
The day of the Juice Tasting Too Long of A Title was this day. I was probably last to choose a juice because I was busy/lazy. I asked my younger cousin Pauline to choose one and she chose Odwalla. Little did I know that I wouldn't be able to find that for a while. A friend came by my place first and we set out to purchase our juices. His was easy to find, but I couldn't find any Odwalla until the 3rd grocery store we hit. So that made us a good 30 minutes late.
The event itself was very quick. I was third to go and I didn't get far as I thought I knew what mine was by the 2nd guess. There was only one correct contestant that day.
That didn't end the day as the group of us went to a Target and bought some Nerf toys to play with. I bought a shield/sword pack. Back to our starting location, we ended up playing with a few kids at the park area. We did want to just play by ourselves, but...eh...kids. At least we got a couple in on our own before wrapping up. We all packed up and went our separate ways.
I ended up eating dinner with a friend and just talking about whatever came up. I just didn't feel like ending the day when we all split.
=====03.29.11=====
Nothing like sharing a hot pot with friends. I honestly never get full from these things, but it's still good food. I did meet a friend who I had not seen in years. She sat at the table next to us with her family. Seeing her reminded me of those HBU VSA days.
=====03.30.11=====
I had not taken one of Lucia's Salsa classes in a long time. This time I was able to drag a friend out who I always try to hang with, but he's just too darn busy. Glad he was able to make it and see (how he put it) how awesome I am at Salsa, ha. I was given a few compliments that day from a few of the others in the class so I felt good.
Then it was back to chill at his place to catch up and whip up some crazy ideas. And it all ended with a round of photo taking with swords and sunglasses. So I deemed this day while typing this out to be "Salsa, Swords, and Sunglasses."
=====Final Thoughts=====
- I am enjoying my 3DS. I do wish their launch lineup was better, but I did purchase Super Street Fighter IV 3D. I never played SFIV before so I had to learn a few things. Most of my online matches have been losses, but oh well. 4 out of 5.
- I also purchased an old DS game that was cheap ($3) called Barnyard Blast. It's old school and scrolls to the side, ha. It's so silly that you can't take it seriously. Just read the what is on the back of the box.
"One Halloween evening, young piglet Cliffy Belmart and his rebellious friends decide to test their bravery by tee-peeing Barnyard Town's Ancient Castle ruled by Darkness. But as soon as the fun begins, horrendouse evil trees sweep them all into the castle. Instantly aware of his son's peril, Robert Belmart equips himself with a slew of weapons and a plan to get Cliffy back. But first, Robert must tackle six different spooky worlds - each with their own tough monsters and dangerous bosses. Is Robert a bad enough dude to rescue his son?"
- Up until Chery's wedding, I've been doing a lot of things related to Royal Flush Media. One thing was order more business cards. My pack of 100 for the wedding came back with tiny markings in the same spot on every card. A small complaint brought forth a free pack of 100 business cards that were in worse condition. Needless to say, we'll go with someone else for business card printing purposes.
Also, "Like" us on Facebook. RFM Facebook - click
- I've been on a small kick of collecting sunglasses. I have at least 10-15 I keep in a bag. These aren't expensive designer brands or anything. More like they're just unique and interesting to me. Silly sunglasses for fun rather than style. Anyone find some interesting ones, let me know.
- Ever since the wedding, I've had less to deal with lately. So I did get some spring cleaning done. Threw out a bunch of boxes, threw out some unneeded items that were taking up space, moved things around, vacuumed, and reorganized a lot of clutter. I could still clean up a bit more, but maybe next time.
- Lately I've been cursed with trouble sleeping. I used to think that around the time it was happening that it was just me being anxious about Chery's wedding, but it's gone on since then. So there have been a few days that you might have seen me only running on 1-3 hours of sleep. And any suggested method to help me fall asleep or things I used to do to when I couldn't sleep have been ineffective. I really don't know what it is.
Fortunately for one of those nights, I decided to go back and look at old Xanga entries. The ones I was looking for in particular were my trip to Colombia and Maria related posts. Good times. I also stumbled on a gem of a story I tried retelling, but of course nothing beats the live story as it was told. "The Penguin VS The Eagle." Ask about it sometime as it is too much to explain online.
- I know that there were probably other things I forgot over the course of the month such as hanging out and doing things with certain people, but if you were there and you remember then it still happened. Refresh me. Besides, I don't talk about everything on here. Sometimes a few moments are just meant to be shared with those select few that were there. That's what makes those precious moments more precious, right? Unless you forget them, ha.
Again, congratulations on your marriage, Chery. Love you, cousin.
Thank you for reading. Be healthy, be thankful, and be loved.
Take care.
