• 21May 09

  First Year of College!

  So I've been contemplating over the past several days if whether or not I should write a blog. Seeing as how this is the end of my first year of college, I've gone through my past blogs to see what possible thoughts I had going in to college and comparing them with what I have learned over the past year. Overall, I don't think I could have ever fully comprehended what college was going to end up doing for me. This blog is dedicated to those who have yet to enter college or for those who've already attended college and wish to see whether or not the university system has changed much if at all.

  
  Just last year, I was an eighteen year old kid graduating from a large suburban high school in Houston, Texas. I was working a part time job at Kroger and was ready to leave high school for college. Fast forward one year later, I'm 19 years old going to Texas A&M University which is just about 90 minutes northwest of Houston and living on campus. All in all I have to say college has been a rather mixed bag of good and bad. The funny thing about my life is that I never really receive too much of a good thing. Case in point, whenever I do have a good day, I can be sure that the next one or two will be miserable. For example, one day as I was about to drive back home to Houston for the Easter weekend, saw there on the car windshield not one, but two citations. Turns out both citations were for the same violation for parking in a non parking zone. Alright, I understand, I made a mistake, I'm sorry, but what really angers me is the fact that both tickets are two days apart from each other, the second cop could have easily called me on my phone from the Texas A&M parking garage records to let me know that I was parked in a wrong spot and I would have gladly moved my car out of the space seeing as how I don't drive during the week and had no clue about the misdemeanor. But no, instead of calling me, you just put the second citation on there regardless of the fact that I was completely clueless of any said violation. The funny thing about all this nonsense was that it all had occurred the day after I attended Wrestlemania when I drove back to College Station. From a high note to two low notes, thanks a lot police force, you really know how to piss someone off.

  

  Well, back on topic. On the first day after arriving to college I remember walking to my dorm with my suitcase and basically twiddling my thumbs for the rest of the day in my dorm playing solitaire on the computer seeing as how I have yet to have an internet connection or a television. The next day I had a job interview at the university book store in hopes of earning a little money on the side. Now here's mistake #1 for those of you future college students, Do not get a job on your first semester of college. You don't know how many hours of study I sacrificed thanks to my unruly schedule. Often times, I didn't have enough time to study for a test because my work place kept me busy and thus caused me to not be prepared for an exam I had the next day. Although it was a mistake to hold a job, I won't really regret it, because I did earn enough money on the side to get me through my semester.

  During my college tenure, I began to have a crush on someone, which seems to happen every year and nothing ever seems to come from these love interests. Oh well, I haven't seen the girl since December so eventually this crush eventually faded away just like they all do and I have yet to like anyone else ever since. What I find strange though is that even in to the end of my freshman year of college, I have yet to technically have a girlfriend. I have friends who just happen to be girls, I've had those fake elementary school buddy relationships, and even a stalker, but never really a girlfriend. Everyone that I talk to seems to think that is strangely unusual because most people would have already been in a relationship by college, well not me apparently. Meh, to be honest finding that special someone became tiresome, and trying to find a girl who may not even like you isn't worth my time.

  

  So where does most of my time go in to as a college student? Well, you guessed it, c-lass. At A&M and most likely any other university, you are no longer obligated to try your hardest in school. The teachers have all been paid so they could care less whether you show up to c-lass or get a decent education. So when it comes to get a promised Grade A instruction from an accredited university I'm pretty much screwed and basically have to teach myself because the teachers definitely do not do a good job at that. I began to grow tired of this nonsense and began regretting my choice of major as I was not enjoying any of my c-lasses; in fact I started to hate them. My weekly schedule began to become progressively worse over the year climaxing to a point in late January after getting back from Christmas break where I went through two weeks of extreme depression. I've been depressed in the past, but never to this extent where I regretted my future and my whole life. For so long I've been stuck in the past thinking about all the mistakes I have committed over the years and then it hit me, while I've spent all this time regretting the past, I forgot to enjoy it, and the simple days of just sitting at home and eating my mother's home cooked meals were long gone. Thoughts began pouring in to my mind regretting of what was to come, majoring in something that I wasn't enjoying, most likely working a career that I despised. My life was over, no more fun, no more easy street, it was going to all be harsh loneliness from here on out. I hate showing emotions, but I'll admit, I cried. It didn't help that during this time I had an extremely crippling flu that weakened me severely, I was struggling to walk and in bed most of the time. I had insane chills and the only time where I felt somewhat decent was when I took a hot shower to combat my chills. This pandemic kept me knocked out for those two weeks, so that may have been the biggest cause of this depression, but just as how there must always be an end to every beginning, this partial mid-life crisis, or quarter life crisis to be precise, faded away.

  But even with so many over glaring negatives, there is one huge plus about college and that's the environment. Unlike in high school, where there are cliques of fake shallow people, most college students are just like you, trying to adapt to a new environment that is unknown to them. These guys are some of the most wonderful charismatic individuals I have ever met. Sure, occasionally I'll bump in to the typical valley girl who acts like a jerk towards everyone, but unlike in high school, that type of behavior doesn't get you anywhere in college. The great thing about this place is that even when during my worst moments, I had friends there to pick me up from down in the dumps. At first I didn't know anyone going in to A&M, but soon quickly got in to a conversation with a group of people that were just sitting outside, and ever since that initial banter, I have since become best friends with these guys. If it weren't for them, I often wonder what I would be doing during my free time when I wasn't studying.

  

  Being at a university is really your first taste of what's in store for you in adulthood. No one is really there to hold your hand, sure there are your pals, but most of the time you're on your own. Feeling hungry? Either go out and buy a meal or cook it yourself. Ran out of clean clothes? Wash them yourself. You have a test tomorrow, are you going to sacrifice much needed bed rest to pull an all-nighter, or do you feel comfortable with what you have studied? Although the typical college freshman has already adapted sufficiently to know what to expect in college, it's still a big jump. Instead of waking up in your cozy bed at home and getting some breakfast, often times you wake up in a slimy dilapidated dorm and pick something up from a vending machine ten minutes before c-lass starts. It's an end of an era and a start of a new one. I'm not trying to be negative about college, I'm just trying to tell you aspiring students what to expect when you get there. Life is what you make it out to be. So without further a due, I will end this lengthy blog with a couple of tips for you crazy kids out there.

  1. Unless you're a genius or have an undemanding major, I would not plan on partying every single night. In fact, I've been to a rave maybe twice this whole year and that's it.

  2. Quarters, quarters, and quarters. Yes, make sure you have change for the washers and driers, nothing in life is truly free, and that means proper hygiene of your clothing as well.

  3. This one is for you guys out there, ONLY get a girlfriend when you have the time and the money to maintain her. As guys, it is our responsibility to pretty much support her or otherwise we look like incapable losers.

  4. DO ALL YOUR HOMEWORK! Yes, I know these are probably common sense tips, but honestly even if the homework is optional, I'd do it, because you don't know how much working something out on your own truly helps out.

  5. Take it easy on your first semester. Again, unless you are a genius, which I'm not, I would not recommend taking more than 15 hours your first semester. Even though, a college schedule has less hours tan a high school schedule, you'd be surprised at how much stress you have to go through.

  6. Eight hours of sleep is better than eight hours of study. Studying too much, especially when you're tired in the middle of the night is not only detrimental to your health, but you often times don't even retain information. You can try to keep your body awake with sugary energy drinks and coffee, but in the end these unhealthy habits are only hurting you.

  7. Talk to people. It's Saturday night, you're alone in your dorm, you have no homework, no tests to study for, you are in your dorm. You could watch ROH on HDNet, but most of us don't get that channel and the episode probably won't be uploaded until the next morning. Instead of doing nothing, how about making friends with your next door neighbor. You'll see how much more fun and afternoon can be with other people instead of when you're by yourself.

  

  8. Make sure to call your parents and/or guardians at least once a week. The more often you keep in contact the better. What were to happen if you were feeling ill for several days and your family didn't know about it, and then you just dropped dead the next day from this illness? That would be pretty awful now, wouldn't it?!

  All in all, college is just like everything else in life, filled with awesome memories and painful suffering. It's an experience nonetheless that you owe it to yourself to go through and it's in your best interest if you wish to work a high paying career. I hope this blog helps those of you out who are going to college, and if you've already graduated or are currently attending college, what were you're experiences. Did they compare to anything I said? Was it worth it? Talk to me!

  • Posted May 21, 2009 7:16 pm PT
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• 6Apr 09

  Wrestlemania 25 Live Experience (8 Years in the Making!)

  Date: April 5, 2009

  Location: Houston, Texas

  Anticipation Levels: High

  On April 1, 2001, I attended an event called Wrestlemania X-Seven. At the time, I just assumed it was another PPV that just happened to be in Houston. My little brother was making a big deal to my parents about getting tickets to the show which would be hosted in front of 67, 925 people in an old dilapidated baseball stadium called the Reliant Astrodome. My parents, myself and my brother got some $45 tickets to sit behind the titantron of Wrestlemania and watch the show through some binoculars. I loved the event and was on the edge of my seat especially for the main event. I had no idea that the event I just went to would be considered one of the greatest PPV's, if not the greatest pay per view of all time. I remember buying $6 hot dogs, going to the restroom during the Gimmick Battle Royal, watching the TV screen during the hardcore match when Raven, Big Show, and Kane were beating each other in the back, and of course cheering my 11 year old marky self for the Rock at the main event. Sadly, I don't have many memories of Wrestlemania 17 because we didn't take many pictures and my fuzzy mind prevents me from recalling every single thing of an event that I thought was just another event. I'll eventually upload the few pictures that were taken at the event on here just so I can prove that I did attend the greatest PPV of all time. I'm not Mr. King after all.

  I eventually got out of wrestling one year later largely in thanks to my favorite wrestler of all time Stone Cold Steve Austin no longer wrestling for the WWE. Fortunately, he apologized at the Hall of Fame a couple of days ago about his walking out incident, and I forgive him. Back to the story, I got back in to wrestling in October 2004 and ever since then I've been looking forward to the day Wrestlemania comes back to Houston. Every Wrestlemania that I have watched, I saw the promo videos for where next year's event will be hosted. Chicago, Darn! Detroit, Crap! (Hindsight, I was right about Detroit being crap. J) Orlando, Aww man! And then it was that I saw the glorious message on a wrestling website. WRESTLEMANIA 25 COMES TO HOUSTON! I was stoked, and was looking forward to getting my tickets as soon as they went on sale. Fast forward one year later, and here I am, a 19 year old freshman college student going to an event I've wanted to go for a long time. So after all that spiel, let's get this story started.

  I arrived at the stadium at about 3:15 PM and the gates opened at about 3:30. The place was packed, and I swear I have to question some of these people's sanity. One guy had two $300 replica belts on, A Rey Mysterio mask, a Hulk Hogan bandana, and a Wrestlemania 25 jersey, which I must admit looked pretty nice, not worth the $30 though. A lot of people also made note of the pro-Shawn Michaels signs I had with me including "The Deadman Dies Tonight!" and a "16-1" sign. I got lots of support and lots of hate, playful hate though. As I was making my way up the escalator of Reliant Stadium, which is a far nicer and newer stadium than the Astrodome, I noticed that the ticket stub I printed out mentioned I was in the VIP Riser section. Looking at the Reliant map, I had assumed I was on the second floor, so I immediately thought to myself, I was going to be on the inclined seats of the first floor. To my surprise, I was wrong. In fact, I'm glad I was wrong, because I was really close to the ring, basically on the floor on an extremely small incline, supposedly the Riser. How close was I, you ask? Really close!
  

  

  I was only 6 rows away from the $755 seats. The problem with floor seats though is that when something interesting happens, people tend to stand up and block your view of the action, especially when they decide to hold up signs. Inside the stadium I met a lot of people, including Bill and Doug, who are actually pretty nice in real life, and the Sign Guy. So with all the people, might as well get to know the people I'm sitting next to. There were New Yorkers behind me who had gone to Wrestlemania 1 and Survivor Series 2002, a couple of Aussies in front of me, a little kid with a John Cena autographed shirt (Lucky Sun of a Gun), and the guy sitting to the right of me from Toronto. That's right Toronto, me and my 16-1 sign were not going to get along very well with him. But we did. He was crazy hardcore, he had supposedly gone to Wrestlemania 6, 18 (I asked him why he was so quiet for the main event), 23, 24, and 25. My God! How do people afford to go to all these events? So as the event gets started to our shock, MizMo vs. Colons went on first as a dark match. I immediately felt the paying PPV customer's pity as the match had been advertised on Pay Per View. Anywho, it was a good match and people seemed to enjoy the Colons winning. Now the event started.

  We got a fine looking Pussycat doll to sing "America the Beautiful", afterwards we got a sweet intro video and then the show started. Money in the Bank was the first match, and I don't know how it came off on TV, but we the crowd were booing CM Punk and wildly cheering for Christian to win. I don't have to tell you all that the match delivered and was probably on about the same level as last year's match. Not as good as Wrestlemania 21's Money in the Bank but better than 22 and 23. Next on the card was Kid Rock. I immediately turned to the guy next to me why they are wasting PPV time on Kid Rock. The fact that he went on FOR TEN MINUTES STRAIGHT was completely ridiculous. It didn't help that a lot of people seemed to enjoy the singing except for me. Oh and Kid, get rid of those stupid glasses and end your career already, no one "wants to be a cowboy" and it's not Summer! Needless to say, the next match on the card was the Divas match. The match was dull but Santino, err I mean Santina winning got the crowd to pop for him/her. His post match antics were hilarious. However, I have to think of the day when this transvestite gimmick will eventually wear off and when he will be actually treated as a serious threat. He has the makings of possible future main eventer, now whether Vince sees that or not is another question, but Santino will need to become credible sooner rather than later.

  Up next was the Legends match, and I'll admit, I had absolutely zero expectations for this match. Piper and Snuka were eliminated and then came the good stuff. My God! Steamboat wrestles so much better than some of the pieces of crap on the payroll *cough*Vladimir*cough* and the "You Still Got It!" chant was well deserved. Anyway lots of Jericho fans, including the Toronto guy sitting next to me, figures, and Chris winning was actually good for the business. Afterwards we were all waiting for the glass to break and for Stone Cold to come out and totally destroy Jericho. We were all severely let down, when all that happened was a confrontation between Rourke and Jericho. Oh well, Hardy vs. Hardy was next. The Toronto guy tried to start a "Let's Go Hardy" chant. Oh sneaky, sneaky! Matt won a good to great match with a sick Twist of Fate on a Steel Chair. It's simple but so effective and it looked nasty. Next was Rey Rey vs. JBL, short but harmless, next.

  Now was the match most people were looking forward to. Most people that I had talked to said they were looking forward to two matches, "Randy Orton vs. Triple H" and "Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker". From Shawn's opening chorus to the final Tombstone, the crowd was alive for what I thought was the greatest match I have ever seen, maybe it'll even best Chris Benoit vs. HHH vs. HBK for Match of the Decade. I don't know, but it's definitely up there.

  

  Houston was torn 50/50. And that crazy Toronto guy was always trying to be louder than my HBK chants, what with his "You Screwed Bret" chants. I politely told him Bret screwed Bret. At the end of the match though he said that that was the greatest Wrestlemania match he had ever seen live since he's been to so many. Match was excellent. The New Yorkers sitting behind me said that the following two matches were going to have a tough time following that show. Sadly, that was the truth.

  The Hall of Famers segment was great and Austin got a massive pop, him riding around in the humvee was a nice touch. I also got a great pic of Stone Cold drinking beer in the ring. The Triple Threat match was nice and the Army of one thousand Cena's was a great touch, since he always seems to get the best entrance, 50% of the crowd still booed him though. Crowd popped for the big spots was quietly mostly throughout the match.

  Then came the main event. So with the excellent build up it got and the fact that Randy Orton and Triple H hated each other so much, they were going to pull out all the stops and have balls to the walls action, Right?! WRONG!! I love Randy Orton, but he was just not on the ball today. Me and several Orton fans, there were a lot tried to get the crowd up to start chanting "RKO", what happened, the crowd didn't stand up, and why, because these two were in a horrible excuse for a Mania main event. What a weak match! And the fact that Triple H won in the end just totally no sells Orton's Rumble win. Orton was not right, but Triple H easily wins Worst Wrestler of the Night. You have a chance to go all out, and you just put Orton in to a corner and start doing basic kicks and punches. What the hell?! The crowd wanted to start a wave, but it never caught on. Triple H winning did get a big pop though.

  

  In the end, my Toronto friend summed it up best, most Wrestlemanias are one match shows. Unlike X8, some of the other matches delivered as well, not just the one big match. However he said, although this was better than 23, it was worse than 24, and I agree. So eight years later, I attended another Wrestlemania. The fact that they didn't bring up the fact that WWE had been to Houston before for historical significance was kind of a head scratcher. Even more of a head scratcher was the crappy order of the matches, and the fact that we got NO BACKSTAGE SEGMENTS! No Slick and Cryme Tyme, No King Booker and freaks, no Festus ring antics, no Edge awesome insults to the fans. Just pure matches. And although I am fine with it, it leaves a lot to be desired for the perfect Wrestlemania experience. One thing I will commend the WWE for is the fact that they actually used all four hours of PPV and did not pull that ending thirty minutes early crap that they pulled at Wrestlemania 23.

  So was this better than Seventeen? No. Was this one of the top five Wrestlemanias of all time? No. Was this one of the top ten Wrestlemanias of all time? Yes, and I can probably make a case for it. All complaints aside, I mostly enjoyed Wrestlemania and if given the chance I'd do it again, because there's no substitute for the live experience. It was fun and it beats the crap out of doing college work on a Sunday Night. So what did you guys think of the show? Did you guys happen to see me?

  I have lots of Wrestlemania 25 pictures available on my facebook account here…

  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=104119&id=604434898

  See you later guys!

  • Posted Apr 6, 2009 8:57 pm PT
  • Category: TV
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• 8Jan 09

  Hurricane's 2008 Year In Review

  So, with the year 2008 in the books, there's nothing left to do but look forward to the year 2009. Several people make a big deal about how this is a new year and how things are going to be different this year compared to last year. To cope with change, most people make resolutions that they usually never keep past the first couple of days of the new year. I think that everybody tends to make the new year to much of a big deal. What's the difference, it's the same fake people that I have to put up with every year.

  Well, anyway, instead of looking forward to another year, I think I'll look back on the year 2008.

  Things I learned in 2008:

  Everybody says that high school graduation is supposed to be one of the greatest moments of your life. Honestly, all I remember was eating Outback Steakhouse, my favorite restaurant, with my parents and grandparents, and throwing my hat in to the hair during the Alma Mater. To me it was just another day, and although the graduation was supposed to signify the end of era, it certainly didn't feel like it, and I still feel like I'm in the same era as I was during most of my high school tenure.

  Prom is overrated! I don't understand how some students can afford to have a limo pick them up and drop them off at the location of prom and how some of them can afford to go to lake-houses right afterwards and party some more. Honestly, after I was rejected by a girl because she was already going out with someone else, I found out she was indeed telling the truth at the dance because I saw her with that other guy, I just felt pretty blah. The DJ played generic crappy songs like "Soulja Boy" and Mariah Carey songs. The event was alright as I did dance a little, but overall I enjoyed my homecoming dance a lot more. The Senior Night after Prom though was a bit better. Mostly because I won a laptop as a door-prize and saved my family $600. Maybe if I would have had a girl, gone with a group in a limo, and went to a lake-house afterward, I might have enjoyed it. But overall, I was disappointed, especially because I spent $60 on a prom ticket, and $20 on the Senior Night After Prom.

  The college experience is not all it's cracked up to be. Maybe it was because I was working a job, maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was taking ridiculously extreme calculus c_lasses on my first semester of college. Maybe it was the fact that my GPR is in the tubes right now. Overall, I just didn't really enjoy college as much as peope told me I was going to. There were former alumni that told me that college was pretty much wild party after wild party. Well now I see why these former alumni are fast food employees, because with my heavy-loaded schedule that is required of an engineer and my low-paying minimum wage job, I don't have time to party. Well all that studying was all for not as my GPR is a low 2.7 and if I dip any lower than that, I'm on academic probation.

  The government doesn't care about the middle c_lass I'll be honest, I don't exactly have money, but we're not poor either. However, we as the middle c_lass are the people that contribute to society the most. The rich are either pampered celebrities that do nothing for society as a whole except entertain us really, and the poor do not contribute ANYTHING! I'm not calling anyone of these groups out, your economic level is your economic level, but the middle c_lass are the hardest workers. Yet when the government looks down upon us, charges us outrageous taxes and then claims that my family's expected contribution for college is $37,000, well that just pisses me off because my family can barely pay $2,000 for a semester's tuition. I don't know where the financial aid office is pulling that number from, but they forget to take in to account that because we generally have more money than the poor, we pay more money in bills and taxes to enhance the city's economy yet we get diddly-squat in return! There really is no money left over to pay for college, and with the economy being in a rut, it makes taking out a loan even worse to help pay for the over-mounting fees. In total, by the time I get out of college, we'll have an estimated $30 thousand debt to pay if the government continues to ignore the middle c_lass and not cut us a break. I certainly hope this changes with the new president, because the way things are going, we're all going to be poor.

  Sorry for the rant. So what has the year 2008 taught you? Any exciting experiences? Anything that pissed you off? Talk to me!

  Hurrapop: 2009 better be better than 2008! I'm just sayin'!

  • Posted Jan 8, 2009 11:05 am PT
  • Category: General
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