The universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed; the decreed cause of events; time. Written 21 hrs ago
In all honesty, I don’t know where to start with this one. I’ve never really been asked about my parents unless it was like another family member asking, “Hey hows your mom and dad doing?” I guess I’ll start it with bullets.
Sean & Mom
Mom (Evangeline Pagatpatan)
- Filipino
- 45 years old
- 4’10″
- For most of my life I’ve only been living with my mom. My mom and dad split up a long ass time ago when I was about nine. It was kind of difficult living with her because she was strict in so many ways. Nowadays, it’s a lot easier living with her because I pretty much can live my own life. Still can’t wait to move out of her house though lol. I want TRUE freedom for myself.
Perry & Dad
Dad (Richard Crooks)
- Filipino
- 45 years old
- 5’5″
- I love my Dad. He’s done a lot for me even though he hasn’t been living with me. There was a point in my life where I didn’t see him for a few years. That was a shitty time. Nobody in my family would give me his contact info even when they knew it because they thought he’d be a bad influence on me. If I had the balls to cuss at my relatives back then I’d say, “You’re full of bullshit,” whenever they told me he’d be a bad influence. That was seriously a bullshit thing to say. They pretty much said that I couldn’t think for myself and that’s what made me mad.
A few months ago I bought a 42″ LG LCD TV for $750. Yesterday, I realized that I haven’t used that shit in days. Almost two months to be exact. Fkn ridiculous. So, I went to Walmart a couple of hours ago to see if there were any sales on DVDs & BDs. Couldn’t find shit for like fifteen minutes because there was a lot of rearranging going on in the store and the movie section was all fucked up. Luckily, I saw this Ocean’s 3-pack DVD set for $10 and hella BOUGHT. Happy to say that I expanded my DVD library for a very good price. I’m happy with my buy :].
I also bought these on the way back home. Couldn’t help myself lol. Fkn Krispy Kreme…
My name is Eric Pagatpatan Crooks and I feel like a robot every time I type up an introduction about myself. That being said, I’m gonna try hard to be “myself” in this introduction. I doubt it will happen though. In thirteen days (July 26) I’ll be twenty-two. This birth date also makes me a Leo for all of you zodiac enthusiasts. A lot of people say, “I feel so old,” at this age, but I’m feeling young lol. I’m currently residing in Las Vegas, NV, but I was born in San Luis Obispo, CA and resided in Los Osos, CA where they have one of the best bakeries EVER. It’s called Carlock’s Bakery and it’s located at 1024 Los Osos Valley Road :]. I recently found out from my Dad that I’m partially black so my ethnicity is close to being full Filipino with a little bit o’ black man.
Me (Left) Bryce Arfuso (Right)
I’m currently attending the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco, CA for a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Web Design & New Media. I actually have about 90% of the skills to be a successful web designer/developer already. The only reason why I’m not making that 50-100k a year yet is because I look like an unprofessional sixteen-year-old designer and I don’t have a degree in web design from any school. The only reason why I’m attending school is to get that kind of proof. Clients highly feel the need to see that kind of proof. Showing them that I know code and design isn’t enough for them even though I already have thousands of people using my WordPress themes… Hopefully soon after attending AAU I’ll be picked up by some web design firm and I can start making a more legitimate portfolio. And then I can tell former potential clients to eat dick for trying to bargain with me and my skills.
I eat, drink, and sleep b-boying. I am not a breakdancer. I am a b-boy. There IS a difference ;]. I also love web design and I’ve been loving it since I started at the age of eleven. I truly have a passion for the both of these things. I used to be into digital photography, but the passion wasn’t there. I mean I can take exceptional photos since I know all that f stop, metering, shutter speed, etc. to take an exceptional photo, but I really don’t have a passion to make the settings right on the camera, upload the photos to my pc and edit them in Photoshop. I DO want to buy another camera though. Only because I want my blog’s photos to have that photographic feel.
Arrived in SD at 5AM and slept ’til 11AM to start the day. We headed over to 5th Ave. to eat at Dick’s Last Resort. Bryce didn’t know the servers were dicks and he was truly offended when our server threw our silverware/napkins on the table. Bryce: Wtf… he just threw that shit… Me: Are you being serious? Bryce: -confused face- Me: They’re supposed to be dicks to you. LOL. He wasn’t expecting that shit that’s why I found it so funny. He was TRULY offended. There were actually a few customers who didn’t know that the servers were dicks. One customer yelled at my server cause my server was yelling at him and everyone (all the other customers sitting outside) started laughing. Afterward, we quested for the Rainbow Sandals.
(The whole point of this SD trip was to buy Rainbow Sandals. The Rainbow Sandals shop was an hour away from our hotel and was scheduled to close at 4PM and was closed for Sundays. We were at Dick’s (close by our hotel) from 3-4PM so obviously we couldn’t have made it to the sandals shop. We had to think of another shop, like Journeys, that would carry them.)
Quicksilver was the closest shop to us that we knew would sell sandals. Unfortunately, they didn’t carry any. Daniel got hella bummed. I was actually looking to cop a pair of sandals myself so I was bummed too. Went to Puma next door to Quicksilver since I wanted to cop a pair of Puma 917 Lo’s. I ended up buying two pairs of shoes though. I got the Puma Suedes and the 917 Lo’s. Bryce and Daniel also ended up buying two pairs of shoes haha. Bryce was actually the first person to decide that he was getting two pairs of shoes and he didn’t even plan on buying anything in the first place lol. I actually traded in the shoes I was wearing (only wearing my socks in this photo) for a 30% discount on my Puma Suedes too. I say it was well worth the trade ;]. Pumas > Vans > Chucks. That’s how I feel about my shoes.
(When I decided I’d go to SD with Daniel, I decided that I’d only spend $200 for the one day that we’d be there. $100 for gas/hotel and the other $100 for whatever else. The Dick’s lunch and both of the Pumas that I bought totaled $100. So yea, I started swiping my debit card after that ;[. Things never go the way they're planned when it comes to traveling and spending.)
After Puma, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with Aria at the bar. Bryce and Aria bought two Jagerbombs for themselves and Daniel and I bought Irish car bombs. We were pretty much buzzin' the whole day since we kept buying drinks everywhere we went. We chilled in the hotel room for a few hours just to kill time before the nightlife started. Went out at around 9PM. Daniel was looking to eat a place where they had steak so we hit up Lou & Mickey's. Daniel ended up buying a 16oz. rib eye for $39.95 LOL. The bill was pretty big. Since I didn't have any cash (cause of my gay ass spending) Bryce had to spot me and I still owe him $25 lol. Fuck. Now I'm thinking about how much I spent total again FUCK. Aria mentioned a placed called Voyeur where they played electro while we were eating so we decided that would be the next spot we'd hit up. When we got to Voyeur, that shit had the biggest fkn line ever. Cancelled that shit instantly. Walked up the street and found a club called Onyx. That place was pretty poppin' although clubs aren't really my scene. I HAD A MOMENT WITH A GIRL! I GOT HER PHONE NUMBER AND SHIT! Just kidding. She was passing by and said, "You look a little young to be in here." I told her, "Thanks for the compliment! (In my mind: Now keep on walking cause I don't feel like talking to anyone)" The end. Hahahahaha. I hate growing out my hair. I know I DO look younger with longer hair though. I just can't help but think to myself that I could gain back some stature if I just cut it all off and look my age and shit again. I hate when people my age talk down to me like I'm sixteen or some shit. It gets really annoying and I'm not one to take any lip from anybody.
Daniel, Aria and I left the club about two hours later to go back to the hotel room and left Bryce because he was still dancing and said he'd meet up with us later. Aria and I were completely sober since we didn't have anything to drink at the club. That was pretty much where I killed my buzz. Like I said, clubs aren't really my scene. If that place was more like The Griffin then I think I would've had more fun and wanted to stay. I really just wanted to GTFO of that place as soon as I stepped in. I just wanted to sit back and relax. Maybe have a social beer or something. Also, hearing the DJ kill breaks was upsetting me lol. WHY WOULD YOU MIX LIL JOHN AND SEAN PAUL IN A BREAK IT MAKES NO SENSE AKJDSKAJFASKJAHDG!!! Daniel, however, was smashing on beers in the club and they didn't hit him 'til we made it back to the hotel lol.
Daniel, Aria and I just chilled in the hotel room until Bryce came back from the club. Aria and I hit up 7-Eleven for some snacks. Some bum told us, "keep drinking, keep smoking and keep moving forward," on the way back to the hotel. I'm sure that's not what he said word for word, but it was something close along that line. He was pretty much just telling us to love life though hahaha.
(I'm attending two online classes for AAU at the moment and I had five assignments due before Sunday 11:59pm that weekend. I was planning to complete my assignments the night of Saturday/morning of Sunday, but I realized I didn't fucking bring my power cable for my computer. I brought my whole computer, as in tower and monitor, to SD with me. Yeah, you're probably thinking why didn't I bring a laptop. 1) I don't have a laptop. 2) My mom and brother's laptops aren't good enough to support Adobe Illustrator. So, I was stuck with bringing my computer and yes it was funny walking through the lobby with that shit lol.)
Day 2:
Aria and I get back to the hotel and I decide to start my homework. I fucking realized that I didn't bring my power cable and I started trippin' out like the world was going to fucking end. I really needed that power cable because I was thinking, "OH FUCK IF I DON'T DO THESE ASSIGNMENTS I'LL BE ON ACADEMIC PROBATION FUCK!" I was seriously not having a good night after that and it ruined my whole trip. It was to the point where I was wishing I was back in Vegas. A few minutes later I found out that the nearest electronics store that would sell a computer power cable was Radio Shack. That shit was about four miles away from the hotel and opened at 10AM. That meant I had to wake up at around 930 and take the cab to and from Radio Shack with enough time to finish my five assignments before our 12PM check-out time. I woke up at 10, left at 1030, got back at 11 and freaked the fuck out cause I only had 45min to do my shit and 15min to pack up and leave the hotel. On top of that stress I couldn't believe that I paid fucking $64 for my total cab fare including the price of my power cable. Optimistically, I'd say I paid $64 to get myself away from academic probation. Pessimistically, I'd say I just bought another goddamn computer power cable (now I have six total) for $64... FUCK! I DID finish my assignments though. I felt so fucking relieved.
Bryce, Daniel and I hit up Toscano Cafe & Wine Bar for some lunch and walked around downtown a bit afterward. Later, we decided we had nothing to do so we drove back to Vegas. (Yeah, we didn't go to the beach. Long story and I don't feel like explaining it here lol.)
I was the first person to drive since Daniel and Bryce drove the whole way to SD. I drove up to Escondido to fill up the gas tank. We almost died on the way out of the gas station. Okay try to paint this picture in your head. So, we're pulling out of the gas station. I look to my left and Daniel looks too. Bryce is sleeping in the back so he has no idea what's about to happen. We see a car going pretty fast down the street. I have two lanes to choose from. At least I thought I did. (You know when you're driving and do that thing where when you pull out of a plaza and you see a car going hella fast in the right travel lane down the road to your left and you think to yourself, "I could drive in this right travel lane and speed up so that guy doesn't have to slow down and nearly tailgate me, OR I can just use the other lane and get out of his way."? [that's some fucked up punctuation] Hopefully you do or else this story won’t make sense from here.) So, I start pulling out of the gas station and start to drive into the second lane. That lane was for oncoming traffic though. Daniel and I both thought that this two lane street was one way. I’m still looking to my left to make sure that car down the road doesn’t hit me. I’m close to driving into the other lane. Daniel looks back to his right and goes, “WOAH WOAH WOAH!” (He was actually really casual about it.) I instantly look to my fucking my right, see this SUV coming towards me and my initial reactions were: slam on the brakes, jerk the wheel to the right and speed off so that car down the road doesn’t rear end me since he was coming close. We almost fucking died. The accident would’ve been a head-on collision with the SUV, us spinning to the left to face that car down the road and that car hitting us head-on. I’m pretty sure Bryce would’ve gotten a concussion if that happened because he was just laying in the back without his seat belt. As I’m speeding off, Bryce goes, “Did we almost just fucking die?!” Daniel and I just start fucking laughing saying yeah. Bryce goes, “Why’re you guys laughing?! We almost just fucking died!” LOL. God, that shit was so damn funny afterwards. Dying in Escondido would’ve sucked. Fuck Escondido and their ghetto ass gas stations and fucked up road formats. For like an hour straight, Daniel and I couldn’t stop saying, “We almost just fucking died in Escondido,” and laughing about it. Why’s there always gotta be a time like that during a road trip? And why did it have to happen to me? Shit. Funny though.
It was a pretty smooth ride back to Vegas after that. We got to Vegas at around 8PM. As soon as I saw the strip I felt angry and depressed. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to go home. Bryce did since he was still hungover from clubbing the night before and wanted to rest. Daniel and I dropped him off and just hit up Cheesecake Factory for a Habachi Steak. Damn, that shit was good. Gave Cox a call and said he was on his way back from Utah. We picked him up when he got home which wasn’t too long after the phone call. Drove around Vegas a bit, bought 24 Krispy Kreme donuts and chilled at Desert Breeze Park ’til we called it a night.
That was pretty much my 4th of July weekend. If you actually took the time and read all of this then goddamn. You must really wanna know about my life lmao. Cause I don’t expect anyone to read this shit knowing how long it is without any pictures in between paragraphs.
On the way to San Diego, the idea of writing down all the songs that we listened to and blogging them as the first SD blog post crossed my mind:
Band of Skulls – Patterns
Jim Croce – Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
The Shins – Phantom Limb
Pandora – Deadmau5 and Kaskade
Paul Oakenfold ft. Brittany Murphy – Faster Kill Pussycat (Radio Mix)
Pandora – Steely Dan
Pandora – Earth Wind & Fire
Metric – IOU
Metric – Hustle Rose
Metric – Succexy
Metric – Combat Baby
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)
Queen – I Want To Break Free
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Me And Mia
Velvet Revolver – Slither
Go West – Goodbye Girl
Hall & Oates – Kiss On My List
Randy Newman – You’ve Got A Friend In Me
Tears For Fears – Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Third Eye Blind – Never Let You Go
Counting Crows – Mr. Jones
Justice – Phantom
Justice – Phantom Pt. 2
Justice – Newjack
Daft Punk – Digital Love
James Morrison – You Give Me Something
Mumm-Ra – She’s Got You Hight
Phoenix – On Fire
Phoenix – Lisztomania
Pharcyde – Oh Shit
MGMT – Flash Delirium
The Von Bondies – C’mon C’mon
The Von Bondies – Pawn Shoppe Heart
Muse – Supermassive Black Hole
Muse – Knights Of Cydonia
Cold War Kids – Mexican Dogs
John Mayer – 3×5
John Mayer – Slow Dancing In A Burning Room
Michael Jackson – PYT
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
The Beatles – Hey Jude
The Beatles – Strawberry Fields
Had another one of my HTML dreams. They’re starting to amaze me so I thought I’d share these dreams with you. In 2006 I started this WordPress blog and began developing themes for the WordPress community. On average it takes me about fourteen hours of non-stop coding to complete a W3C valid theme. I’ve developed twelve themes in the past six years and I’ve only released five to the WordPress community. If you know how to develop websites then you know how much trial and error is involved. However, I have dreams of code (I know this is really nerdy) that completely cancel out the involvement of trial and error. Let me explain. Whenever I can’t correct and validate code, I tend to get designer’s/developer’s block. And the more I try to correct that code the more my mind gets blocked. The only way I know how to prevent that is to just sleep on it and try again the following morning knowing I’ll wake up knowing the correct code because I’ll dream of it. I’ll sleep seeing the invalid code in my head, dream of the valid code and wake up remembering it. I’ll type in the code, test it and VOILA! The code is correct and validated. Crazy right? I’ve had so many of these dreams. Had one last night and it’s just now starting to amaze me. I’m a fucking nerd.
