sooo good to be back in berkeley. there's nothing like the bay.

saturday night was youth speaks semi's. the slam was HOT!!! the entire crowd was feeling every single poet, just going off...i heard it was even hotter on friday night. I think youth speaks and cal slam are putting out the dopest slams in the bay right now. i got first, with a 59.9 outta 60. I was so damn nervous. I met a lot of cool people last night and just had a really chill night. So now this Saturday, April 3rd, is Youth Speaks Finals in San Francisco at the Herbst Theatre in front of 1200 people (!!!!!!). Crazy.

Being home was cool....being back in the 909/IE/San Gabriel Valley/LA County makes you realize, in a sense, why you left in the first place. I'm happy to be away from the primarily white middle class soccer mom enviornment that is La Verne, and away from Pomona, where it's nothing but economically deprived minorities, where 3 immigrant families live in a garage....on the other hand, I am away from my family, the force that keeps me grounded and sane. And from my tight homeys that I rarely get to see these days. But being back in the 909 brings back a lot of old memories, bad memories of feeling so isolated at Bonita High, memories of all my old skateboarding friends who have for the most part gone down the gutter, memories of just utter depression......The suburbs are so funny cuz on the one hand, everyone's trying to have that cool Hollywood style and imitate LA, while on the other hand everyone's trying to be like the OC with their surfer-style clothing, bleach blonde hair, etc., when in reality, the true suburban style is white trash trailer park kats who do meth all day. It's all imitiation (a microcosm of america?). I'm just fortunate to have had some good friends throughout high school, guys I still kick it with today, and to have had my family. I don't know what I'd do without them.

music of the moment:
Rjd2 "Deadringer"
Stevie Wonder "Golden Lady" (i love this song so much, it reminds me of my mom)

it's 8:21am on a Sunday morning, and I have no idea why I'm up this early.