Sandoogans' Log

  My birthday shoutout to Bolonee. Today is Bolonee’s birthday. I’ve know this guys since we were in 4th grade. That was my last year Stanford Elementary before we moved and I had to go to a completely brand new school: San Miguel. When I say new, I mean built from the ground up. I remember being so impressed by how beautiful it was when I first set foot on it. I didn’t see Bolonee again until we were in jr high. We became best buds. I’m happy that we’re still in touch, and close friends, till this day. We’re both family folk now. Sometimes I still trip out on how we’re adults now, and have kids who are our age when we started kicking it. I remember in high school after being inspired by the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, we said if we weren’t married by the time we were 28 we’d get married. Thank god for both of us it didn’t come to those extremes. That would have been the ultimate sacrifice haha! 

One of my favorite things about hanging out with my friends is seeing our kids interact. It still amazes me each time I'm around them how our kids are now establishing friendships with each other. Sami is at the age I was when I met one of my oldest friends within the group. I'm not sure if they'll make lifelong friendships with each other, which I would totally love, but for now I'm enjoying seeing them grow together. I hope they grow up to have the same love for each other that we do. We might get into it at times, but at the end of day of the day the love remains the same.

I realized not too long ago that Sami is now the age I was when I met some of my closest friends. I have a few friends that I met when I was way younger, but I'm not sure I'd call them friends. We don't text or call, we keep in touch thanks to social media. Not complaining, I'm grateful to still be able to see what they're up to through these forums, but I don't think we'd be considered friends. If that makes sense. I have vivid memories of the few friends that I met at her age. One of them I met at my abuelita's house. I remember going outside to play with him and the rest of the guys. As it has been most of my life, I was the only girl. I didn't mind. I always felt a little too rough around the edges to play with girls my age. It most definitely paid off in adulthood because somehow I always felt ahead of the game when it came to guy bullshit. I remember my abuelita wouldn't let me go outside to play because she said I'd fall and scrap...

Group shot! Blurry but cute.   El Billy y Jeff. SP   Super sweaty but happy to finally see The Pumpkins. It's been twenty years since the last time I saw the Pumpkins. Twenty. Fucken. Years. Ok, maybe not twenty, I did win tickets to a secret show thanks to KROQ (back when it was cool) and got to see them in 2000. That's besides the point and does not make for a good blog! Besides it wasn't a true concert, it was a secret show. Ha! Smashing Pumpkins has always been ONE of my all time favorite bands. I remember being a kid, walking into Music+ (that was a magical place where they sold nothing but music; true story) and picking up my first CD: Siamese Dreams. That was the first CD I was able to buy with my own money. I remember I couldn't wait to get home and play it. Even the unwrapping of the CD was a spiritual experience for me. I made sure to be careful as to not to damage the booklet when I took it out of the CD case. I carefully placed...

Sami's cowgirl attire was on point. Lots of denim and boots. Sami and the birthday girl! Today was the first official day that we let Sami venture off on her own. She was inviting to go horseback riding with one of her friends. For some reason we thought they were going to Griffith Park. Wrong. They were going horseback riding in the city of Norco. At first Mr. A and I were not going to let her go. We felt it was too far and didn't feel comfortable sending her off. Then we agreed she could go if one us of went along with her. Sami ultimately said she didn't want us to go (are we there now?) and just wanted to go with her friend and her family. After speaking with her friend's mom a few times (we had met in person before) I was convinced. The hard part was going to be convincing Mr. A. I knew I'd be getting my ear chewed off but figured I'd take one for the team. Sure enough, I got my ear chewed off but managed to convince Mr. A to let Sami go. Needle...

I had such an amazing time this year for my birthday celebration. I basically did what I wanted to do last year: karaoke, local spot and cheap booze. It was great! I also loved the fact that it was raining all day. Quite the glorious gift from mother nature. Fortunately for me the rain didn't stop my nearest and dearest from coming out to celebrate my born day. We laughed. We sang. We drank. We were merry.  I don't exactly know why, to be honest, but somehow this birthday meat a lot. Perhaps because I expected nothing and felt like I got everything. I appreciated all the rounds, all the gifts and all the memories. Most importantly, I appreciated everyone who showed up. I love you all and felt the love you have for me. Thank you. Cheers to you!

"Nunca agarres a una mujer como tu mejor amiga. Las mujeres son muy traicioneras y solo te van a lastimar. Agarrate un mejor amigo ellos no te traicionan". Words of wisdom by my mother. She would always tell me this as a kid. It essentially means that I should never have a female best friend, only males. Females will betray and hurt you. For the most part my mother was right. I did have female best friends growing up and yes some betrayed me and some hurt me very much. They pretty much made it almost impossible for me to trust people. Whenever I tell anyone a secret it will usually end with "please don't tell anyone ok? promise?" pretty pathetic I know. I did also have a few best male friends growing up and as my mother predicted, they did not betray me. We grew up and made some amazing memories together. I loved my boys! I credit them for making me the cool chick I am today *patting myself on the back*. One thing my mother didn't tell me was we'd event...