Passing of a Dear Friend

Josh and I had to put our dog Seven to sleep recently because she was old and cancer had taken over her body. It's been real emotional for us, but it was her time and she had a full, healthy and happy life. She had been Josh's best friend and companion for 14 years and has been in my life for the past 5 years. She was a worker dog and loved being a part of the construction crew as she went to work with Josh everyday. She also loved walks to the park and chasing after a ball.

Once she saw a ball...there was nothing else. Every time I watch the movie Up, I will think of Seven and her crazy ball obsession. She was a smart girl and wonderful dog. I will miss her greatly.

So...Cheers to Seven! The best Austrailian Heeler I know, our Dingo. We love you. We miss you. Thank you for being a part of my life!

Piercings in Venice Beach

While in L.A. last month I spent a day on Venice Beach with with SKW crew. We enjoyed margaritas at the Mexican restaurant at the end of the pier and had fun trying on a bunch of silly sunglasses and riding the kiddie rides that cost a quarter, you know...the ones that are animals or rocket ships and they move back and forth real slow, maybe vibrate a little if you're lucky ;)

It was such a beautiful day and I really enjoyed looking out at the ocean, the waves, the beach, the seagulls...

We rode the roller coaster on the pier! It wasn't the greatest of thrill rides, but you get to ride it twice and see an amazing view of the shoreline! It was gorgeous :)

Got to see break dancing group do a street performance. They were so talented! It was inspiring. We continued along the beach and browsed along the shore shops full of cool jewelry, t-shirts, sunglasses, etc. Fun beach junk I want, but don't really need. I did a good job at not buying anything though, go me!

A great surprise was the number of medical marijuana shops there were. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing so many! Every other shop was one! I could just buy a license right there, walk into a shop and buy all the cannibis I wanted, totally legit. How exciting! Since I was only in L.A. for another day I didn't buy a license, but I think that will be something I'll have to do on my next trip out :)

After checking out a tattoo/piercing shop, Kimi decided it was time for her to get a piercing she'd been wanting. She wanted to get her clit pierced and she wanted to do right then! Holy shit, did I think that girl was crazy! She said that if she waited until she went back to Atlanta, she wouldn't do it. It had to be in L.A. How crazy! What an exciting day!

We browsed through the book of piercings and stared at the clit piercings for a long time, giggling and dancing around like middle school girls talking about their first kiss. The piercings looked pretty and I thought about how nice it would be to have one. But it wouldn't be worth the pain for me. I'm such a sissy! Kimi has a higher pain tolerance, but she got so nervous and I was there nervous for her. There was a lot of debating going on whether she should really do it.

Then Jan came out and talked to us. She was the piercer and was super nice, real down to Earth. She made me feel comfortable instantly and I trusted what she said. She explained that a clit piercing is one of the easiest piercings to get and isn't really that painful. You're actually piercing the hood of skin above the clit which doesn't have much feeling. It's a quick prick, short pain while the needle goes through, and then its over. No more pain. No bleeding, no swelling, no redness, no painful cleansing, no soreness, nothing. A quick pinch and you're done. Piercing your ears actually hurts more she tells us.

No shit! I couldn't believe this. I really expected it to be way more invasive and painful than that. I mentioned I had my belly button pierced and Jan said that if I could do that, I could pierce my hood no problem. It would be a similar pinch, like my belly button, but the pain will go away instantly, as to where a belly button will be sore/painful for a few days. I was convinced that Kimi had to do this now and was starting to think about getting one myself. But before any decisions were made, we told Jan we'd be right back and took off to find a bar...

Once we had a drink I looked at Kimi and said, OK! I'll do it too! Then Devon looked over and said she was in also. So the three of us went back to Jan and we all got the piercing. CRAZINESS! I can't believe I just up and did that. But I am so happy I did! It only hurt for an instant and didn't give me any pain or problems. It feels great and looks beautiful. It's as if it always belonged there :)

Emo según el libro Punk: tres décadas de resistencia.

Como ya sabéis son un fanático de todo lo relativo a las tribus urbanas y libro que cae sobre eso, libro que leo. 

Últimamente he estado leyéndome dos libros sobre el punk, ambos bastante iguales (normal, si es el mismo tema...) pero destacaré el de Marc Gras, llamado Punk: Tres décadas de resistencia, de la editorial Quartena Ediciones, 2005.

Ahí explica bastante bien lo que sucedió para que el punk se crease (grupos como los Stooges) y inclusive hace un repaso por la escena española hasta el momento. A mitad libro encontramos una especie de apartado donde explica lo que originó el punk: des de el rock gótico hasta el hardcore, y por supuesto, el emo. 

Como la explicación del emo es bastante interesante (aunque tiene varios errores), lo escribiré aquí.

"Emo (abreviatura de emocional, también conocido como "emocore") es un género de punk rock que en un principio se atribuyó en bandas de Washington DC (sede del hardcore) que tocaban un punk más ronco y emocional de lo habitual. No está muy claro de donde prodece el término "emo", aunque una de las teorías más aceptadas es que un fan de Embrace o de Rites of Spring (nadie se pone de acuerdo con que grupo fue), les gritó a la banda en uno de sus conciertos que eran "Emo". A partir de ahí el término derivó en un nuevo género de rock alternativo. 

Seguramente una de las mayores influencias al género fueron los Hüsker Dü, cuyo álbum, Zen Arcade (1984) marcó las bases del emo: música compleja de intensas melodías y letras introspectivas. El siguiente estadio en evolución del Emo se dió entre 1982 y 1992, con bandas como Indian Summer, Moss Icon, Policy of Three, Still Life y Navio Forge. Vocalmente, estas bandas intensificaron el estilo emocore hasta tal punto que acababan sus conciertos gritando y llorando. Esto provocó que muchos fans del hardcore tildaran a los seguidores del Emo de blandengues y lloricas.

Tras este progreso extremo, el Emo empezó a perder intensidad con la llegada de Bandas como Sunny Day Real State o Mineral. [Comentario de Sinister: Aquí se puede entender mal, el autor quiere expresar que perdió fuerza musicalmente, ya que se mezcló con el indie y el estilo era mucho más tranquilo. Aún así debería haber hablado sobre el screamo]

Hoy en día el término emo sigue siendo ambiguo, más aún si vemos que ciertos medios de comunicación meten a ente perteneciente claramente al movimiento indie pop [CdS: Estos de indie pop no tienen nada, será más acertado decir que son rock alternativo], con estilos tan dispares entre sí como profesan Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional o los New Amsterdam. Por si fuera poco, existe un sub-género dentro del emo, el llamado Weemo (o Whining Emo). Mientras que las letras del Emo al uso hablan sobre la vida y como de odioso es todo, el Weemo trata de temas más inmaduros, como de historias tristes de chicas que les dejan y chorradas por el estilo.

Como pasaba con el Hardcore y su Straight Edge [CdS: ¿WTF?], el Emocore también tiene su rama filosófica, siendo sinónimo de ser depresivo con tendencias suicidas el que a alguien se le considere demasiado emo. [ CdS: Absurdidad here]"

Peacful Waves, Joyous Friends & Yummy Italian Food

I had a great time in L.A. last month with SKW! Stayed at a great place in the Pacific Palisades with wonderful friends and a great host. Each night was full of laughs, hugs, drinks, food, fun, pictures and of course, some wrestling. Had to get some work done too. It couldn't be all play and no work ;)

One night we went to Moonshadows for drinks and dessert. It is a wonderful restaurant off of the PCH in Malibu and right down the street from where we were staying. It is such a great place! The patio is lined with couches to lounge on and the shore is lit up real nice so you can look out and see the waves crash into the sand. It was so peaceful and a beautiful place to hang out. We enjoyed drinks and dessert while sharing jokes and stories, looking out at the ocean...the waves crashing in on the shore and then retreating back to the darkness. It was so beautiful, I probably could've fallen asleep there and listened to the waves all night. There were portable heaters outside by the couches so I was real cozy. I would recommend visiting this place if you're in going to be in Malibu. I'm really looking forward to hanging out there again.

Later in the week I got to work with some local models of L.A. I haven't shot with before: Paris Kennedy, Natalie Minx, Mina Meow, Diana Knight and Cali Logan. We held one big wrestling shoot at the house we were staying at and had a great time knocking each other out SKW style!

After the shoot we went out to a wonderful Italian restaurant where I dove into the variety of delicious bread that was laid out across the table. I think we all did. It was so good! I have a strong weakness against fresh baked bread, especially if you through in some oil and vinegar. Oh, so good! It was a great restaurant and they did a great job handling our huge, loud party.

We had fun conversations about medical marijuana and weed lolipops, I admired Paris' colorful tattoos across from me at the table, I enjoyed a delicious plate of calamari and I definitely lost count of the bottles of Peroni I thoroughly enjoyed sipping on. I don't know if it's just the Italian in me, but I sure do love that beer. Not sure how much trouble this could get me in, but I just discovered a greek restaranut down the street from my house that has Peroni on tap and they have great happy hour specials! So excited =) Anyway...I had a great time at dinner that night and really enjoyed being able to spend more time with the L.A. ladies. I'm looking forward to crossing paths with them again and getting to know them a little more.

Universal Studios

Happy St. Patty's Day

I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday!