Queen and Slim ( Film Review) by Cesar Reyes Torres

This movie was amazing on many levels. It’s real, raw, and very honest with the characters that it portrays. A lot of people want this movie to be about social justice and racial profiling, and while there is definitely elements of that woven within this film, there is something else that you end up connecting with in the movie. There is a love story between the two main characters that is as real and honest as it gets. These were two people who were not a match made in heaven. Two imperfect people with flaws that they are quick to point out in each other. You basically get to see the story of two people who can’t stand each other, who end up falling in love in a very deep and honest way. They say that couples who have been through rough times together end up forming a bond that is not otherwise duplicated. This film displays that in the realest way possible. This is one of my favorite films of the year. https://youtu.be/G6Th84oGDno

The Lion King 2019 Movie Review: By Cesar Reyes Torres

Well , knowing I have a few Hardcore Disney friends on FB. Hopefully they don’t get too mad when I say that in my opinion The Lion King remake sucked, the original is 1 million times better. The voice actors WAY underperformed this. Everybody in the theatre clapped at the end but, I’m just sitting there like ... WHY??? Am I the only one who sees that that the voice actors sound like they are literally just reading off a piece of paper... they put no emotion into the characters...The Lion King came out in 1993 and i saw it like a 1000 times. I truly hope I never ever ever see this horrible crappy movie again. The special affects were awesome and visually pleasing, but the everything else sucked. This was just Disney trying to make money by attaching big names to a beloved classic. Why else would they attach Beyoncé and Donald Glover. These actors are not known for voice acting and they delivered an emotionless performance. I know you are still going to go see the lion king, but honestly if by any chance your on the fence about this , trust me when I say you ARE NOT missing out if you skip this movie and watch ANYTHING else in the world.

Subway: Stories from behind the counter(Part 4) A Job with a knife in your hand. By Cesar Reyes Torres

When you're surrounded by a certain environment, you tend to pick up on certain things. Whether you like it or not, the places that you are around and the people that surround you have an effect on you. So in my case when I started working with thugs, ex-cons, and tweakers, I either had to adapt or let them walk all over me. Now if my mentality or my actions sound immature to you, thats because I was only 18 at the time. And I thought that I knew it all. I did some very fucked up things to people and I know that I will pay for them someday, if I haven't already.

John was a hothead and an ex con. But he had a good sense of humor and he liked gangster movies like I did, and we generally got along. I considered him a buddy. Most of my friends in high school were girls and so he was probably my only guy friend. The same thing goes for Gary, he was a pothead, but he showed up on time, he was a Lakers fan, and he was easy-going. We got along well also. These were my boys; these were the guys that became my buddies. Michelle wasn't a friend but we could work together and it was like whatever with her.

But Espi was a different story. I didn't like her and she didn't like me. So few months after the store was sold to the new owners I set her up to get fired. I turned the staff against her. I constantly told them to complain about her. I pointed out every single thing I could about her. And I was able to finally get her fired when I commented to the owner that she paid for three cookies but in reality she really took five. He walked out to the front of the store and asked her to open up the cookie bag, and he pointed it out. That same day he cut her hours from 20 a week to 3 a week. She came back crying and said that she couldn't feed her kids or pay her rent on three hours a week, and when the owner pretty much shrugged his shoulders, she started to curse him out, and that's when the police were called, she was asked to leave the store. She was a pain in my ass, but on the other hand she had three kids and they were barely making do inside the garage they were living in. If I would have kept my mouth shut about $.50 worth of cookies, then, There lives might not have been made worse. But their lives were, and it was my fault. I never heard or saw Espi again in my life.

In the coming months, the stores went through some radical changes. In a short 10 months or so, we went through six different manager changes. The old owner had managers that worked for him for almost 10 years, and this owner hired people that couldn't stay on for more than one or two months sometimes. Joleene the tweaker girl with green teeth, simply walked off the job one day and got in a car in the middle of the lunch rush. Nobody ever heard from her again. She didn't even pick up her last check. Samantha was hired next, but she did not work well under the kind of pressure that the owner put on her and she ended up going to work down the street at Quiznos and she even tried to get some of the employees to follow her. Effrain was hired after her, but he was a pothead, and he sometimes would come in an hour late, and just said he overslept, and justified the whole thing by saying that he was okay and that he just wouldn't eat lunch that day so it would be fine. He got fired. Marie was the next manager and she was a good manager, so good that they took her to the other store on Broadway, to help get it back into shape. Apparently as bad as I thought my store was doing, that store was worse. It's across the street from the library, and apparently the guy that they hired to run the night shift thought it would be okay to take all of the bread that we didn't use at the end of the night, make sandwiches, and go give it to the homeless guys across the street. Eventually the homeless we're just coming into the store at the end of the night to eat for free. And since the owner had put in security cameras, he was able to witness all of it . Not to mention that the store now smelled like piss and cigarettes. And if that wasn't enough, he even caught the employees making their own pizza with the dough, cheese ,marinara sauce and pepperoni. To replace Marie they hired a guy named Javier, who brought his wife Vanessa to work with him, and the owners didn't say anything about it, because her last name was different on her application and they never noticed that she was his wife. Javier eventually stole about $200 from the store and went to Vegas with it. He was the one making the deposits to the bank, but eventually they caught on to him and they fired him, they didn't fire his wife, but she didn't show up after that day anyways. The last guy they hired while I was still there was my friend Kevin, but we all called him Kay. Kevin is not his real name, and for legal reasons and my own protection from what I am about to say about "Kevin", I have changed his name. Kevin was probably the....

To be continued

Subway: Stories from behind the counter(Part 3) I didn't sign up for this shit. By Cesar Reyes Torres

I was now working with ex cons junkies and people on rehab. You can say whatever you want about my reaction to working with these kind of people, but I didn't sign up for this shit. for the past four years I had worked with cute high school girls that I went to school with, it was fun, they were cute, and we were having a blast working there. And now 30 days later all of those girls seemed like a distant memory

I was what they called the night crew leader, which meant I was in charge of the night shift.I had a night staff which consisted of five people including myself. i had a guy working for me by the name of John. He served one year out in Kansas State penitentiary for some drug-related charge and moved out to Long Beach to stay with his brother and hopefully fly straight for a change.He was white , part Native American and part Mexican, he had a long well groomed ponytail and a clean-cut 3 line goatee and a tattoo of his girlfriends name on his left forearm. He was actually a pretty cool guy once you got to know him, but I found out eventually that he had a very short fuse and use to have a bad heroin problem, and that he was kind of a hot head. I made sure to take note of that.

The next guy they hired for the nighttime was Gary.Gary was kind of a sad excuse for an unaccomplished human being and how far you can get in life by mooching off of others and getting a little lucky here and there.Gary was 40 years old and literally did not have one thing to his name aside from his bike and a few zip lock bags of weed that he smoked. Gary moved out to Long Beach from Mississippi. In Mississippi he lived in a three-bedroom house with acres of land around him. He had gotten evicted and he had to move out somewhere else, so he moved out here to California with his uncle where he grew up for the beginning part of his childhood. He was a tall son of a gun who was about 6'1. He was half black, half white with a scruffy poorly maintained goatee. Gary smoked his pay check away every week on marijuana. He was living rent free and utility free in the building his uncle owned. All Gary had to do was take care of the lawn and take the trash out every few days, and his uncle didn't charge him a dime. Gary didn't own a car and he rode his bike everywhere. The only bill he had to pay was his prepaid phone. Every few weeks he had to go over to Verizon to put some minutes on his phone, but that all changed when he called their 1- 800 number to check his minute balance and the automated machine told him he had unlimited minutes. Gary didn't have a contract with them and he didn't even have a bank account. Someone somewhere over at Verizon had made some sort of mistake and Gary was benefiting from it. He now had free telephone usage for life essentially.

The third person was Michelle, she was a short white girl with dirty blond hair. I remember thinking that she honestly had the face of a treasure troll. She had done three months in a County correctional facility for women for drug charges and was released into a rehab program. Even though she was on the road to recovery she had gotten her two children taken away by the state and she was allowed absolutely zero visitation rights. For a mom to get her kids taken away, it takes a lot. They have to literally prove that you're a threat to their well-being and that you are no longer able to care for them. In her case they were able to prove both.

And lastly there was Espy which was short for Esperanza. She was one of the last regular employee that was still left over from the previous owner. I'm going to say it straight out, she smelled like pee, cigarettes, shit and sweat. She wore layers of make up and drew both her eyebrows and her eyelashes on. She lived in a garage with her three kids. She did stupid things like talk to customers in Jamaican or English accents because she thought it was funny. You could smell her coming from down the hall. She was what many who grew up in gang neighbourhoods would call a "Veterana". Which meant that she was a veteran gang member that had seen better days. Despite all of her imperfections, I personally didn't like her because she was slow, she stole food from the store, and she took an hour sometimes to use the restroom. Apparently she was so big, that she struggles at times to clean her self. And she didn't like me because she said I was quote " a little bitch, who had a fucken fit over everything she did wrong". I have certain expectations of people. And one of them is wiping your own ass correctly the first time.

I went from working with four beautiful young Latinas, to working with a short tempered ex con, a pot head that was mooching off anyone he could, a junky who had all of her kids taken away from her, and a lady who was not handicapped but who couldn't wipe her own ass correctly.

Life is all about adapting to the circumstances that you find yourself in. In my mind I had to do one thing and one thing only, and that was to survive. I had been their for four years, and I was gonna find a way to make things work. But I had to become.....

To be continued

Breakthrough (Film Critique): By Cesar Reyes Torres

To be honest, I judged this movie before I even saw it. I thought I understood the basic plot and premise. I told myself it was a movie based on a miracle and events leading up to it and the aftermath. But that is an unfair simplification of it. The film is based on a true story, but it also tells a story about something that many people struggle with, and that is that you can’t control the outcome of everything so that it turns out the way you want in life. I’m sorry but it doesn’t work that way. WE need to learn to let go of certain situations beyond our control or input and let God handle it. I gained a lot of from this film. If anything, it just reminded me to thank ALL the people that root for us when we fall. There is a lot of people who want to see you fail so they can stand tall or prove themselves right. But there are SO MANY more people who are rooting for us to get up and keep going. And I believe that they deserve our attention much more than the ones who do the opposite. I know that at some point or another we have all prayed for a miracle, only to wait and wait and then not get one. Sometimes we may even ask ourselves, “Why does God choose to save some and not others?” There is no simple answer for that question in my opinion. This is more of a reflection on the film than a review, I guess. I loved the movie, I hope everyone gets to go watch it. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Lady Bird (film critique) : By Cesar Reyes Torres

Your parents end up doing more for you than you’ll ever know or realize. So I’m sure that it would hurt any parent to think that there daughter or son feels ashamed of them. The story is a familiar story, and it’s been told before. It’s a coming of age story about a young girl dealing with adolescence and discovering who she is. There are many small details about this movie that set it apart. For one it’s told within the backdrop of the  start of the 2003 Invasion and War in Iraq. The Catholic in me was able to relate to many of the angles and subtle nuances that the movie points out. The story and movie was enjoyable, although somewhat predictable. This movie is currently trending at 100% on rotten tomatoes , and the reason for that is the several different side stories this it manages to balance really well. Topics such as sexuality, abortion, race, war, and family economics. I liked this movie, and I do believe it’s an oscar contender , although I don’t see it as an oscar winner. 

Justice League (Film Critique) : By Cesar Reyes Torres

Pure action and entertainment, and definitely worth seeing. The movie is currently getting bad reviews by other film critics. All I can tell you in my opinion is that I think their wrong. They are still comparing this Batman to the Dark Knight movie. While this movie is not as iconic as the Dark Knight, I would argue that it doesn’t have to be. Ben Afleck doesn’t do as great a job as Christian Bale, but he doesn’t have to. In and of itself, this movie is very entertaining. With standout performances by Aquaman and the Flash, the audience and myself shared many laughs. I definitely  recommend this movie to anybody who enjoys good fight sequences between some of the most iconic  superhero’s we grew up with. 

Straight Outta Compton (Film Critique). By Cesar Reyes Torres

This movie is raw, real, and flat out legit on all aspects, and it is a must see movie of this summer. In a way the movie only reinforces what we all already know. But whether you grew up in the 90s or late 80s , Straight Outta Compton is a movie that's almost like retelling history. The history of how a few young black guys from Compton spoke the truth and made the truth rhyme thanks to some geniuse lyrics by Ice Cube and game changing beats by Dr Dre. At the same time during this process, they wrapped it all in a big middle finger that intimidated Middle America and even the Federal Government. Truth be told I went and saw this movie and the police departments are so threatened by what this movie says that they actually had a real police officer inside the movie theatre in case somebody took the movies message too serious. While this movie does cover police brutality, it is about much more than that. This movie goes through the ups and downs of fame, the betrayals and the bonds between men. The bad choices people make and their attempts to make amends for those bad choices. I've seen every major movie this summer, and I can tell you this is the best one so far. Go see Straight Outta Compton. 

Me and God. By Cesar Reyes Torres

Me and God

When I feel like I have nothing left to offer the world, I turn to God and he puts me to work
When I feel tired from what seems like never ending list things that need to be done, I turn to God and he gives me rest
When I feel like I'm drowning in the middle of an ocean, I turn to God and we go for a walk
When I feel like I can't trust anyone, I turn to God and he reminds me that I must always trust in him
When I feel like I can't go on, I turn to God and he says go a little farther
When I feel like something is wrong with me because I don't fit in, I turn to God and he reminds me that he created me this way for a reason
When I feel like crying, I turn to God and he gives me a reason to smile
When I feel full and satisfied in all aspects of life, God reminds me to share
When I feel alone, God reminds me that I'm not
 When I feel like  I'm done, God give me more to do

Amy (film critique) By Cesar Reyes Torres

 We all have demons. Vanity is a demond, fame is a demond, addiction is a demond, loneliness , hate, pride, over indulging. In life very few people will ever have a friend that sticks by them even when it becomes a burden and a hassle for them to be in there life, or a friend who can say to them that their fucking up and say it with pure love. Amy Winehouse was surrounded by all the fore mentioned demonds and a lack of any true friends,as she had all of her problems amplified by a society that enjoys judging others weakness and failures online. This documentary on Amy Winehouse's rise to fame shows Amy at her best and worst. At her best Amy Winehouse was one of the most gifted signers that ever stepped up on stage. She was an artist, she was a poet, she liked to smile , she was genuine and she was real. At her worst she was nothing more than a broken piece of a shattered mirror who was somehow trying to put herself back together and find another piece with whome she could connect with, but in the end she just ended up hurting her self moré and more. The world really lost out on an amazing talent in Amy Winehouse. In her own words she simply put "I'm all fucked up!" God willing and hoping she has hopefully found a peace somewhere that she never found here on earth. Rest in Peace Amy Winehouse 1983-2011.

Pray for Charleston SC (short reflection) By Cesar Reyes Torres

As Christians we are all welcoming people with a sort of open door policy. And it's heart breaking that something like this happens as a result of what is meant to be a gesture of trust and peace from Christ to all who seek righteousness

They lived meaningful lives, and they died nobly. They say to each of us," Dr. King said, "black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely with who murdered them but about the system, the way of life, philosophy which produced the murders. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American Dream.And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace."-Martin Luther King Jr.

I am SAVED!! And your going to Hell. By Cesar Reyes Torres

A man gets up everyday and puts on a suit, a dress shirt, dress shoes, and tie. He grabs pamphlets and goes door to door telling people to repent or burn in hell. On weekends he stands on street corners with a microphone in one hand, and a sign that says “ Jesus Saves” in the other hand. With a roaring tone in his voice, and in a powerful rage, he speaks of Gods love. A woman passes by him and calls him crazy. He looks at her and laughs and says, “Jesus is the only way, if you don't accept him you will burn in hell. I can't speak for you but I know I am saved”. 

To be saved by Jesus, and to truly accept Jesus in your life. You must look at everything that Jesus stood for. Look at everything that Jesus taught, look at everything that he preached, and when you have done so, and when you have accepted it in your heart, and in your mind , and in your life,and his way has become a way of life for you, then you can say you have accepted Jesus Christ in your life, then you can say Jesus saved you.

On the contrary if you lived a life in anger and frustration and bitterness, spent on the sole purpose of condemning others and judging everyone who did not see eye to eye with you, and putting them down as if they were dirt for the sole purpose of raising and glorifying yourself. If you rejoiced at the thought of everyone burning and suffering in hell while you delightfully sat In heaven.Then you can say that you are saved all you want, but your fate has already been written for you 

…21"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness ”. –Matthew 7:21-23

Que es el AMOR? By Cesar Reyes Torres

El amor no es un algoritmo, El amor no es una lista de verificación, El amor no puede estar contenido dentro de un selfie, El amor no es lógico, no puede ser probado por la ciencia, no puede ser reproducida en un laboratorio, no está contenido dentro de un día, el Amor resuena entre almas , el amor  viaje através de la vida, el amor habla todos los idiomas, El amor es intemporal, el amor se conoce a través de todas las culturas que existen, han existido o existirá, El amor siempre entiende, amor cura, el  Amor es refugio, Amor te mantiene en marcha hacia el futuro, el amor no es vengativo, Amor Nunca se debe despreciar, donde hay amor hay un camino hacia adelante, victoria sin amor es una derrota disfrazada, siempre y cuando usted tiene el amor, tiene el sentido de la vida.

What is LOVE? By Cesar Reyes Torres

Love is not an algorithm, Love is not a checklist, Love cannot be contained within a selfie, Love is not logical, it cannot be tested by science, it cannot be reproduced in a lab, it is not contained within one day,  Love echoes, Love spans across lifetimes , Love speaks all languages, Love is timeless, Love spans across all cultures that exist , have existed or will exist , Love always understands, Love heals, Love shelters , Love keeps you going , Love is not vengeful, Love should never be underestimated, where there is Love there is a path forward, victory without Love is a defeat in disguise, as long as you have Love you have the meaning of life. 

Follow the bible, Not false Prophets By Cesar Reyes Torres

God does not call on you to be poor in wealth and to purposefully make your self struggle. Nor does he grant wishes like a genie and call upon you to accumulate vast wealth and riches. He does not provide a life in which he guarantees you will never come across a storm of massive strength. He only guarantees that faith in him will lead you through the storm. He calls upon you to follow him and to not make material items the center of your life as if you worship them. 

23And Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24"Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." -Mathew 19:23-24

Looking at his disciples he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."-Luke 6:20

21Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.-1 Sam 12:21

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. -1 Peter 1:6-9

Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control- 1 Corinthians 1:7

Lecciones de mi abuelo (descansa en paz abuelito) By Cesar Reyes Torres

No es fácil en estos días para realizar tantas tareas diarias de la vida. En los días de mi abuelo, la vida parecía más simple comparado de lo que parece ser como hoy en día. Mi abuelo tenía un pequeño pedazo de tierra que trabajaba. Él plantó y cultivó maíz. Se casó joven, y creció 5 hijos y 2 hijas. Él vivió en la misma casa durante toda su vida, y murió allí. Es difunto de este mundo, pero nunca olvidado en mi memoria y en el corazón. ¿Qué es lo que creo que ha contribuido al mundo? Bueno, eso depende de lo que entendamos ser contribuir. El nació y se crió en México. Creció con el valor que el trabajo duro y el cuidar de su familia era la manera que cada hombre debería vivir su vida. Sé muy poco acerca de mi abuelo Gregorio Reyes. No sé su color favorito o si tenía uno. No sé su canción favorita, o su película favorita. No sé cómo conoció a mi abuela Carmen Reyes. No sé si su relación era tan complicada como las que veo todos los días. Yo no sé si ellos salieron juntos durante un año, antes de que llegaran a cazarse. I no sé si alguien le hizo una fiesta de cumpleaños sorpresa en algún momento de su vida. No sé lo que era un sábado normal para el o un viernes normal. No creo que la palabra Selfi era un concepto para él. No sé si estaban locamente enamorados el y mi abuelita o si eran dos almas perdidas que encontraron consuelo el uno en el otro. Pero lo que sí sé de mi abuelito es que yo lo aprecio y lo llevo conmigo. No tengo historias muy detalladas y recuerdos aventurados que contar de mi abuelo. Sólo he tengo recuerdos de el que parecen aveces ser recuerdos y aveces sueños. Mi mejor recuerdo de él es cuando le conecte una videograbadora para él para ver una película de Mario Almada. Me acuerdo de la sonrisa inocente en su rostro mientras el observaba con admiración y interés como le conectaba un sencillo reproductor de vídeo.

    Pienso en mi abuelo en el respeto a la vida que estoy tratando de construir, y todas las preocupaciones que se asocian con esa vida. En este país se nos enseña a ir tras nuestros sueños, se nos enseña a creer que si trabajamos duro lo suficiente podemos tener éxito. Se nos enseña acerca de
la religión y cómo funciona, pero nunca se nos explica sobre la belleza de nuestra fe, y muchas veces
 se convierte en otra institución en nuestras vidas con restricciones  y reglamentos que debemos seguir y nunca se les permite cuestionar por miedo de ser castigado. Crecemos con historias acerca de la justicia, mientras toda la injusticia nos rodea en el mundo. Somos entretenidos con comedias románticas que pintan los cuentos de hadas y mariposas sobre el amor, y finales ha esas historias que no son posibles en la vida real. Bodas gigantes que casi llevan a la gente a la bancarrota, y solo  para pintar la ilusión del amor de cuento de hadas y la felicidad. Celebramos cumpleaños que parecen ser caricaturas y ferias. Viajes sencillos en cualquier lugar estos días requieren verificación  por el internet y que te tomes un selfi. Que si lo pones en Snapchat, o Instagram, y luego Facebook o luego Twitter  . Nos venden la idea de que la escuela es la clave para el éxito. Tal vez no las respuestas que buscamos en la vida, pero sin duda la clave para encontrar más respuestas. Así que primero debe obtener a través de la escuela secundaria y sobrevivir a eso patio de la prisión que la escuela secundaria estadounidense se ha convertido. A continuación encuentra una manera de llegar a la
universidad y pagar por ella. Para que puedas obtener a través de eso  tu diploma, y que se supone
 que es la llave para abrirte las puertas, y cuando tu no puedas encontrar suficientes puertas que habrán con esta llave, debes de ir para tu maestría y obtener otro diploma,o por decir otra llave para abrirte más puertas. Y si todavía no has tenido todas las puertas que buscas, entonces debes de ir a obtener un doctorado que se supone que va ha abrir todas las puertas. Mientras realizas y pagas por todo esto, esperamos que estés financieramente disciplinado y hagas establecido buen crédito. Así que si usted conoció la pareja perfecta, y vivió a través de su comedia romántica de una relación con un cuento de hadas y mariposas que termina con el final perfecto, se puede proceder a pagar por la boda de cuento de hadas, y después de todo eso ojalá  se tomó unos snapchats y selfies, Facebook y Instagrams. O y se me olvidó de mencionar que había que mantener a Dios en su vida, ya que si hiciste todo esto y se te olvidó mantenerte cercas de Dios, luego vas directo al infierno, y esencialmente todo lo que luchaste por fue para nada.

    Nuestras vidas son lo que hacemos de ellas. Tu puedes optar por hacer cualquier cosa que sea el  
centro de tu vida. Tu puedes optar por hacer cualquier cosa que sea tu propósito. Tu puedes optar por hacer cualquier cosa que sea lo que tu prosperas para hacer cada dia, ese viaje que no puedes esperar a seguir por el encanto que te trae a tu vida, lo que da sentido a tu día, lo que llena tu corazón, lo que llena tu alma. La ciencia no puede probar que tienes un alma, pero en el fondo creo que todos sabemos que tenemos una. Creo que todos los seres humanos pueden admitir a sí mismos que tienen un alma. Yo creo que los ateos incluso creen que tienen un alma, aunque no lo admitan en público creo que saben que es verdad dentro de ellos mismos, incluso si niegan la existencia de un Dios.

    Ninguno de nosotros fue puesto en este mundo simplemente para pagar las cuentas y morir. Nuestro propósito no es simplemente sentarse en el culo y desear que sucedan cosas buenas para nosotros. Dios no nos evoluciono solo para tirarnos al día de hoy, con la esperanza que pudieramos sentarnos y ser entretenidos, y tener entretenimiento como el constante en nuestras vidas y el centro de nuestras vidas. Si al final de tu vida, todo lo que tienes son momentos llenos que te enseñan en constante busca de entretenimiento, seria una vida  que estarías orgulloso de mirar hacia atrás?

    La lección que tomé de mi abuelo es que el punto de la vida es vivir una vida que puedas estar orgulloso. Que debes encontrar un motivo para vivir y dedicarte todos los días hacia el crecimiento y el éxito de eso que amas tanto. Y a lo que sea que le dedicas tu tiempo, asegúrate que si al final de tu vida todo lo que tienes son los recuerdos de haber dedicado tu vida ha eso que amaste tanto y dedicando tanto de tu tiempo, entonces todo valió la pena.

    Como ya he dicho que no conocía mi abuelito muy mucho como me hubiera gustado. Les puedo decir que hacia el final de su vida el tubo momentos en los que todavía quería sembrar su maíz y aveces  se escapaba a los campos para sembrar su maíz y monté su burro aunque el doctor se lo quizo prohibir. Cuando el dio su último suspiro, fue rodeado por su familia, y estaba rodeado de oraciones que se rezaban por las personas que lo amaban.

    De lo que sí sé, mi abuelo hizo el trabajo duro y su familia el centro de su vida. Él era humilde en espíritu y en la vida y no le presto mucha atención a las posesiones materiales de lujo o metas que le ganaban alabanza gloriosa de la gente en su alrededor. Si al final de tu vida esas son las cosas que puedes ser recordada por, y esas son las cosas que te llevas contigo. Entonces yo honestamente puedo decir que mi abuelito vivió una vida increíble. Estoy orgulloso del hombre que era y la vida que le tocó vivir.

Mantenlo tu vida simple, la vida es demasiada corta para el lío complicado que la hacemos  aveces

Lessons from my Grandfather (RIP Abuelito) By Cesar Reyes Torres

It's not easy these days to multitask life. In the days of my grandfather, life seemed more self explanatory than what it appears to be like today. My grandfather had a small piece of land he worked. He planted and grew corn. He married young, and raised 5 sons and 2 daughters. He lived in the same house all his life, and he died there. Gone from the earth but never forgotten in my memory and heart. What is it that I think he contributed to the world? Well that depends on what you mean by contribute. He was born and raised in Mexico. He grew up with the value that hard work and providing for your family was the way every man should live his life. I know very little about my grandfather Gregorio Reyes. I don't know his favourite color or if he had one. I don't know his favourite song, or his favourite movie. I don't know how he met my grandmother Carmen Reyes. I don't know if their relationship was as complicated as the ones I see everyday. I don't know if they dated for a year, before they got engaged.i don't know if anyone threw him a surprise birthday party at some point in his life. I don't know what a normal Saturday looked like, or Friday. I don't think the the word selfie was a concept for him. I don't know if they were madly in love or if they were two lost souls that found comfort in each other. But what I do know I cherish and carry with me. I don't have elaborate stories and memories to tell from my grandfather. I only have faded memories from him that teeter on being memories and dreams. My fondest memory from him is when I set up and connected a VCR for him to watch  a Mario Almada movie. The innocent smile on his face as it lit up, when he watched in awe and amazement as I connected a simple VCR. 

I think about my grandfather in respect to the life I'm trying to build today, and all the worries that are associated with that life that I am trying to build. In this country we are taught to go after our dreams, we are taught to believe that if we work hard enough we can succeed. We are taught about religion and how it works, but are never quite explained the beauty of it, and many times it becomes another institution in our lives with rules and regulations that we must follow and are never allowed to question in fear of punishment. We grow up with stories about justice, all the while watching injustice all around us. We are raised around romantic comedies that paint fairy tales about love, and endings that are not possible by anybodies standards. Elaborate weddings that nearly drive people to bankruptcy to paint the illusion of fairytale love and happiness, and birthdays with themes. Simple trips anywhere these days require check ins , and selfies. To decide to Snapchat this, then Instagram it, the Facebook it, or tweet it. We are sold the belief that school holds the key. Maybe not the answers that your seeking in life, but surely the key to finding more answers. So first you must get through high school and survive that prison yard that American high school has become. Then you find a way to get to college and pay for that. So you get through that, and you get your bachelors degree, and that's supposed to be the key to open doors, and when you can't find enough doors for that key to open, you must go for your masters degree and get a key to open more doors. And if you still haven't had all the doors your looking for opened, then you go for a PHD and that's supposed to open all the doors. While you accomplished and paid for all this, hopefully you were financially disciplined and you build up good credit. So that if you met the perfect mate, and you lived through your romantic comedy of a relationship with a fairy tale ending you can then proceed to pay for the elaborate fairy tale wedding, and after its all said and done you hopefully took a few snapchats, Facebook selfies, and Instagrams. Forgot to mention that you had to keep God in your life, because if you did all this and forgot about God, then you go straight to hell so it was all essentially for nothing. 

     Our lives are what we make of them. You can choose to make anything the focus of your life. You can choose to make anything your purpose. You can choose to make anything that thing that you thrive for, that journey you just can't wait to go on, that which gives meaning to your day, that which fills your heart, that which fills your soul. Science can't prove that you have a soul, but deep down inside I believe that we all know that we have one. I believe all humans can admit to themselves that they have a soul. I believe that even atheists believe we have a soul, even if they don't admit it in public I believe they know this to be true within themselves even if they deny the existence of a God. 

     None of us were put here to simply pay bills and die. Our purpose is not to simply sit on our asses and wish good things happen for us and to us. God did not evolve us and push us into the present day just so we could sit and be entertained, and have entertainment be the constant in our lives and the center in our lives. If at the end of your life, all you have are moments filled with you looking for entertainment, is that something you would be proud of looking back?

     The lesson that I took from my grandfather is that the point of life is to live a life you can be proud of. That you should find something to live for and dedicate yourself everyday towards to growth and success of it. And whatever it is that you find you should just make sure that if at the end of your life all you have are memories of that which you loved every day dedicating your time to, then it was all worth it. 

     Like I said I did not know my grandfather very much as I would have liked. I can tell you that towards the end of his life their were moments when he still wanted to plant his corn and at times he successfully went out to the fields and farmed his corn and rode his donkey. When he gave his last breaths, he was surrounded by family, and he was surrounded by prayers that were prayed by people who loved him.

     From what I do know, my grandfather made hard work and his family the center of his life. He was humble in spirit and in life and did not fancy flashy material possessions or goals. If at the end of your life those are the things you can be remembered for, and those are the things that you takes with you. Then I can honestly tell you that my grandfather lived an amazing life. I am proud of the man that he was and the life that he lived. 

Keep it simple, life is too short for the complicated mess we create sometimes

Giving up something for Lent. By Cesar Reyes Torres

Last year in 2014 I decided to give up meat for lent. I ate only fish as we are aloud per our catholic faith. It was not an easy task but considering the sacrifice that Christ made for me, and everything he was tempted with and that he turned down, I took on the challenge of not eating meat for 40 days and 40 nights. The first couple of weeks that I did this, it was challenging . It was challenging not because I wanted to eat meat so badly, but because it was everywhere. All of a sudden BBQs started presenting themselves in front of me. Out of nowhere I remember this guy coming into my office and offering myself and my coworkers lemon pepper marinated beef jerky. Fortunately I was able to just say no and go about my day and eat my Tuna Sandwhich. But on about the 23rd day I was out and about at the house of one of my church friends. Me, her and a couple of other church friends were gathered at her house for a morning meeting. I remember how happy I was to just be around them and joke around with them. We all sat down at the breakfast table and our gracious host served us breakfast and we ate homemade ham and cheese croissants with coffee. About an hour later after we were all about to leave for the rest of the day, I realized that I had just messed up my entire offering for lent by eating that ham and cheese croissant. At this point I could have gone 1 of 2 ways. I could have just said oh well that's that and gone out and eaten a cheeseburger or I could  have just admitted my failure and kept going with my offering for lent. I chose to keep going. What I learned with this offering was what lent was partially about. That giving up something for lent is a tiny fraction of a much bigger and deeper concept. I learned that being Catholic is awesome. That our faith is a stronger one when you take the time to appreciate its history which is founded in the bible and based on biblical teachings. I learned that sin itself is something that is real and it's something that is everywhere. It disguises itself and knows when and how to catch you off guard. It won't just come at you in the most obviouse places. It will come at you when you think you are safe. It will present itself in ways that you won't even realise are a sin.  And when you get hit by it, you can choose to say oh well and keep sinning or you can repent and learn from your mistakes and try hard to not commit them again.  After that day, I finished lent and for the rest of the 40 days I finished my commitment. Lent is a part of a larger concept. A concept that I think I understand much better now. When you apply the concept that sin is everywhere, to your entire life, then you can understand that your gonna fall sometimes. It's gonna knock you down. It doesn't mean the rest of your life is worthless. It doesn't mean that you just throw in the towl. It doesn't mean that you should just listen to the instigators that will encourage you to continue to stay down since you have already fallen. Christ gives us the opportunity to repent and move forward.  I'm not a theologian , and I'm sure that their is wiser people out there who are better versed on the meaning of lent. But faith has always been a relationship between your self and God. And I truely believe that this is a lesson that God wanted me to learn. He saw fit when and how I was gonna learn it. Im giving up meat for this years lent . 

Still Alice (film critique) By Cesar Reyes Torres

My biggest fear in life is to be nothing but a burden to people and to not be able to contribute anything to anyone's life or my life in general. The movie "Still Alice", shows us in very detailed form what Alzheimer's does to someone. Julianne Moores performance is tear dropping, and she depicts perfectly what it's like to see your self deteriorate and have everything beautiful in your life fade away and you being powerless to stop it. Your memories disappear, and you end up in such a vulnerable state that you will end up in a position where whether or not people take the time to care for you and keep you in mind, will depend on what kind of life you lived and the amount of love you shared. Alzheimer's sucks, it really just sucks , and if you wanted to describe a disease that rips away your most cherished memories, and your dignity, and makes you feel like a burden, then Alzheimer's is that disease. The movie is not long, and Julianne Moores performance is the only memorable one. I reccomend this movie, because to be honest it's scary, it's very scary. I would not wish that disease on my worst enemy. In most troublesome times in life, many people ask and pray to God for help. But imagine a disease that made you forget who God and Jesus were, and that made you look at a bible and make you wonder what it was. That's scary

Southern California Beaches (video) By Cesar Reyes Torres

http://youtu.be/05pTUoEl00Y