LonnyGomes.com

It’s sad really … www.lonnygomes.com has sat dormant for quite a while.  Since my last post I  have gotten side tracked with moving, getting my car stolen, getting locked out, having my apartment flooded … the list goes on.

In the midst of all the drama I have gotten a few things done.  I’ve made a mix tape, done some demo recordings and started research in developing applications for the iPhone.  I’m going to work at being better with updating my site with upcoming projects so stay tuned!

It is almost 2 AM and my friend Jerald and I are ready to brave the cold and the estimated crowd of 2 million to experience the Inauguration of our 44th President.

The plan is to head to DCA (Reagan National Airport) to pick up out other friend Ethan.  This is a start of what will be a long day.  By the end of it, our patience will be tried and as well as our endurance to the elements.

I will be making periodic updated throughout the day and I will also be trying to capture much of the experience on video.

Today I watched the Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a Dream” speech.  The King foundation allowed CNN to rebroadcast the speech at noon today.  I never actually saw the footage in it’s entirety, and I found it very interesting.  Much of the b-roll footage showed the diverse crowd of people who were in attendance, and in the background the weathered visage of honest Abe looked on.

I’ve been to the Lincoln Memorial several times — often playing tour guide to those visiting DC — but never really stopped long enough to think of all the history that has taken place on it’s steps.  Yesterday, we were watching the free pre-inauguration show, which took place on the same very same steps.  

Some of the biggest names in politics and entertainment were sharing the steps that King did 46 years before.  It definitely brings another perspective to the monument and the man it remembers.

Today, Soledad O’Brien interviewed a few people who were in town for the inauguration who were also in town August 28th, 1963 to hear Dr. King speak.  Some say, King was the Moses and Obama is Joshua generation.  Continuing with the bible reference, some have even said from the death of King to the election of Obama represented 40 years of walking in the wilderness and it now is time to see the promise land.  I’m not sure if I’m ready to go *that* for with it, but one thing is for sure, I will be in DC tomorrow to share in the experience of history.

A couple years ago, I made a “tribute” mix to MLK … it’s actually more a commentary on freedom.  It’s a bit long (about 10 minutes), but check it out when you get the chance.

I haven’t made many posts since I’ve gotten back from the Caribbean.  Between that time, I’ve gotten input and suggestions from more experienced bloggers in efforts to improve my site.

I will be making updates within the next couple weeks, including my inauguration experience so stay tune!

First, I will have to say that I’ve been really bad lately about getting things done. I think I’m still suffering from the lingering effects of PVLS (Post Vacation Laziness Syndrome). I’ll get back into the swing of things hopefully by the end of this week!

Anyway, my parents found some old video footage of us from way back in the day and my dad got this little video camera for Christmas. So putting the two together, some of this footage ended up on you tube! Below is raw footage of my short-lived career as a child rock star. We were it back then, but then my brother and I started to have creative differences and the pressure got to me … I gave it all up!

With the advent of websites like www.webmd.com, it has become increasingly easier to self diagnose oneself. By no means am I a hypochondriac, however I self diagnose myself all the time.

There was one particular instance where I was having a chest pain and after I entered my symptoms in webmd I was told that I may have a heart attack and that I should see a doctor ASAP!!! I went to the doctor’s office and they did x-rays and even one of those AKG thingies that monitor your heart and they came up with nothing. It could have just been a strain in the pectorals.

I’ve also self-diagnosed myself as having ADD … it makes it easier to explain my constant absent mindedness!! There is another “disease” that I have which isn’t even documented in webmd so I had to come up with a name for it myself. It is called the Post Vacation Laziness Syndrome or PVLS for short. It’s really a serious condition in which the victim becomes extremely unmotivated to do *ANYTHING* after coming back from “Holiday”. This usually can last anywhere from 1 to 7 days and in extreme cases the victim may never recover!!!

The important thing to note is that it doesn’t matter what the person was doing during vacation, it’s more the fact that they were away from the daily routine. For instance, sometimes my vacations are pretty busy … often I don’t really ever just rest and relax but that’s all I want to do when I get back from vacation. The cruise that I just went on was different in that I did a lot of laying around on the beaches and chilling in the hot tub but yet I the symptoms of PVLS were still exhibited on my return.

I’ve been so lazy that I meant to type this up yesterday and am just now getting to it. I have to setup a website for my family to upload pictures to and I still haven’t even gone through my pictures to upload yet!!! It’s a shame really. With all my “research” I’ve found no cure. What usually happens I get so tired of being a bum that I finally snap back into reality. The perpetual fear is that one day I may never snap back!

in puerto rico
enjoying winter in shorts
all comes to an end

Well, that tittle sounds worst then what it really is. I actually have yet to make it to El Yunque. In fact I’m approximately 2 miles away. I probably should have learned by now that cheaper isn’t always better.

Estela helped me get a bus to go to “El Yunque” (it’s a rain forest in Puerto Rico) and I had two options. One guy offered to take me there for $40. There was another guy who had a group of people and was going that way. He said he would do it for $3. Without getting the details, I went with the $3 deal. I mean one guy is saying $40 and another is saying $3, what would you do?

It took about 40 or so minutes … To be honest, I wasn’t really sure how long it took because I was actually dozing off! Someone had to wake me when my stop came up. The driver just tells me to take a road and follow it straight up the mountain. Well, I start walking and the neighborhood is a little shady from the get go. As I walked farther, the sidewalks became more narrow and poluted with trash and dried weeds. It seemed as if this path wasn’t walked much.

I finally got to a point where the sidewalk on stopped both sides. Around that point I passed a section of the path where a snake had shed their skin. And this snake looked HUGE! And as if it was scripted, it started to rain!

I took this all as a sign that I saw enough of the rain forest today! I walked back to the road where the driver dropped me off and I walked across the street to a souvenir shop. It was there where the lady told me that there are no taxi’s in this area!! That’s gonna complicate things when I try to head back to Rio Piedras!

Right now I’m in a restaurant called Don Pepe’s. Apparently, it used to be owned by Mexicans. Anyway, I ordered this arepa … It’s good, but it’s not like the ones on Queens Blvd in Jackson Heights! After I ate about half of it, I decided to take a pic of it.

A Puerto Rican Arepa

I’m back from the cruise but not back home yet! I am staying in Puerto Rico until tomorrow (December 30th) afternoon.

There is so much to say about the cruise. There were a lot if hiccups along the way but it was a great time and it was good to see family again. The last time I saw everyone was under different circumstances … It was a grandmother’s funeral.

Anyway, I’m not going to say much about the last week right now but will be periodically posting stories and pics about the experience.

Yesterday we got off the boat around 11:00. My mom — who never got her luggage — went to a hotel with my aunt while others tried to find a tour guide to check out the city. We ended up finding a guy that dropped some of us off at the hotel where my mom is at so we could go to a near by beach (pictured below) while the rest took the tour. It worked out perfectly because the bus was big enough to hold all the luggage so we didn’t have to cart it around. I ended up deciding to not take the tour and stopped off at the beach. My mom was there, I had yet to checkout the beaches in PR and I was supposed to meet up with my couch surfer host soon.

We hung out at the beach for a while and then decided to get Puerto Rican food. Sadly the timing was a little off and the tour bus got back to the hotel just as we put our order in. We waited for a good 25 minutes before it was ready. I ordered arroz com pollo and jugo de acerola and it all worth the wait.

Soon afterwards, I met up with Estela, my couch surfing host, and her aun Mariat. We had more Puerto Rican and talk a lot about her experiences and why she thought Puerto Rico was like no other place on earth! Hah!

When it got later, we dropped Maria off and Estela showed me around Loíza. She is really nice and more then helpful. Apparently, it is really packed there on Sunday nights. I had a “arcapulia” (I know I’m spelling that wrong!!) which I liked and danced merengue since I would have embarassed her and myself if we danced salsa!!

Oh, and also we stopped at this place for a meeting called Open House. It’s not really a church meeting, bit more of a diaologe about religion and social matters. There was an interesting vibe there and I liked it.

Well, today Im off to the rainforest. It’ll be a self guided tour, but let’s hope and pray that I make it out well! Haha, not even sure how im gettibg back but everything will be fine.

Well, she got on a transfer flight but the ship leaves at 10 PM tonight and she won’t get in until after 11. The plan us to meet us at the next port, which will be Saint Thomas.

I went back to the airport to try and pick up her bags … The United people were no help at all. They have no way of scanning the bags, so all the unclailmed bags are lined up along a wall.

I didn’t find my mom’s bag but did find my cousin who was in a similar position. And also, in the baggage line with us was none other than the Dad from the hit TV show, “That’s so Raven”. I know this because I was FORCED to watch a “That’s so Raven” marathon while I was at my cousin Ruth and Naomi’s house for 1 thanksgiving! I was too stars-struck to talk to the guy. And I’m sure he probably isn’t to proud about it either so I just took a picture.