Through the Finer Things in Life
Written by Matthew on October 30, 2009 – 9:48 am -Hello All,
It has literally been ages since I have posted and I apologize. That will all change soon. A very important women in my life told me that if you have too many hobbies, it is impossible to reminisce on them all. I would have to agree. I find myself in a multitude of different projects. A few of which are extremely fun. Okay, okay…all of them are fun.
Here is a quick recap of the last few months. I went on an amazing cruise through Alaska with Princess Cruises, grew extremely close to my sister, Jaime Mintun, met a very special lady whom I have grown to love, bought a Mercedes, recorded an EP, and have not seen my closest friends enough.
Let’s start out with the new toys:
I know you guys remember the GTO.
Here’s the new toy:
And I have another surprise…Asha bought a 1989 Bronco that we are going to fix up! This last weekend we redid the whole exhaust system. The past owner was apparently not all there.
Here’s a nice before and after:
Turns out the previous owner was running straight cats. Now if that wasn’t enough, check this out…he cut the header on the passenger side between the Y-pipe and the manifold. This guy had the passenger side running straight headers and the drivers side running cats only. Who was this guy?
I am excited for the future of this beast. We have plans to build it into a 4×4 beast…but it is still Asha’s truck, so it will be her hobby…I’m just going to help (shhh don’t tell her that)
I have made quite a few new friends since I have lived out here in Irvine and I have to admit, I am quite happy. They have been the best part of my life since I have moved and it has helped me grow into what I am becoming.
Of course these guys have always been there for me: Jimmy, Mark, and Brian.
This was a fun trip to San Diego to party!!! Nick and Nick in the front seat, Nicole, and of course Jimmy!
Oh to the wonderful nights like this. You wouldn’t know it, but we were literally the only people there (of course Brian is here but not in the picture)…we know how to make our own parties
You might not know it, but these guys owned that fateful night in San Diego
These two…not so much! Good memories had by all!
Now
on to Asha…turns out my friend Nick has a cousin. Actually we all typically do. I didn’t know this when I met her though. Basically it ended up turning into “Hey we are basically family!” I won’t steal the context away with the juicy details, the mystery is much more exciting.
I knew I wanted to be with her as soon as she started snoring on my shoulder. Luckily for us, well…me, she decided to go through the tonsil removal surgery. Say goodbye to snoring!
Stay tuned, I will definitely have many adventure posts about us in the wild, driving up north, going to Arizona, taking cruises, flying to crazy countries, and making the best of life. Isn’t that what life is about?
Make Life Happen
I will admit, within all of this excitement, I find myself both sad and happy for one particular reason. Jaime decided to take a leap and leave. She is now traveling the world with her life packed into her BMW. Some call it crazy (yes they actually did Jaime), but I call it purity. Make life happen. I will be meeting her in various cities, countries, what-have-you during her journey to make a small journey of my own.
We are all different and to me, having a home base is my happiness. Having spontaneous adventures is my cocaine.
New Trades, New Marksmen, New Philosophy
I have taken it upon myself to do things as they come up. If I have a sudden craving to do something I will do it. The newest trade in this sense is video editing. Funny how things just fall into place when you least expect them to. I have a new desire to start video editing and have actually been putting it to the test. Both for me and for business. Myogenics Fitness has quite a few of my videos, but those are more simple.
I will be putting together more videos for my personal enjoyment as time moves on. You can find my videos either by the link at the top or by clicking here. Below you will find my very first Matthew Production “Yoad to Rosemite”, which is an adventure my buddy Jimmy and I went on at the last minute up to Yosemite (from Orange County), a good 18 hours of driving. Oh yeah, did I mention we only stayed there for about 40 minutes for a beer? -classic-
Yoad to Rosemite
Model Cars? Are we 5?
I also found out Asha likes building model cars…I know most people probably think this is nerdy, but when I was younger I took pride in the model Skill Level 3′s I would build! It only stopped because I was overwhelmed. eBay had just made its appearance to the world and my Mom and I were HOOKED! I am talkin’…new auctions every night that we were watching! Funny because those days, they didn’t have automatic bidding, they didnt have DSL, they didn’t have Buy it Now. All they had was a “Bid Now” button and you would enter your bid. I remember hitting refresh every few seconds to see if we won, and every time having to wait that 6-10 seconds for it to load!
It turned into a family event! Refreshing as the seconds counted down to find out if you had either won or lost. That was where we went wrong and eBay went right! It turned into a game! And you know what? WE ALL LOVE TO PLAY IT! However, I digress…
My Mom loved eBay so much that within a week I had atleast 20 boxes worth of models sitting on the front step. Multiply that by a months worth of eBayism…you have a slight dilemma on your hands! I actually found myself overwhelmed. Just recently I sold a few of my old models for other hobbyist’s to build, but I am excited to say that I still have many many models left to choose from for Asha and I to build! Is that nerdy? I hope so!
Where…
It took a close friend two sentences to change my whole scope on my future. No I’m not talking about business…I am talking about a little place called Colorado.
Jimmy and I were talking one day and he says “I think I am going to move to Colorado and work for a few months, want to come?”
I was quick to say “dude, YEA!” but then I realized I was stuck into a current lease on my current house. However, this has changed, I find myself wanting to live in Colorado! Although this is a couple years down the road, you just never know what could happen…I’m keeping my eyes open.
Well, that is all for now. I know there are pages and pages of new happenings I could post about, but I am positive it would freeze up my server. I promise I will update sooner then 5 months down the road. Take care.
Everyday Should Be A Good Day To Die…
Matthew
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Hectic Life!
Written by Matthew on June 15, 2009 – 7:30 pm -So, Things have been a little hectic lately. Just went to Alaska on a cruise on Princess Cruises. I will get back to you guys on how all of that went with pics and everything! I purposely made a few of my posts private for the sake of memory. A lot has happened in the past week, not sure how it will all pan out. I guess we all just have to have hope right?
I will get back to you all soon with updates, pics, and videos! Stay tuned…
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Just Another Happy Day!
Written by Matthew on May 1, 2009 – 5:56 pm -Disneyland Round 2: California Adventure
This day was more of a change in life for one of my closest friends, than the conventional day at California Adventure. This weekend wasn’t the start of a new life for my dear friend Mark, but it was definitely the start to a very happy life that he is living now. He underwent some heavy turn around after speaking with Jaime Mintun about his life and deep emotions. Mark typically takes things to the next degree when he decides to do something. He is definitely not one of those to just talk and let it wittle away, along with his life. Instead he made the change and has benefitted from it largely.
(I guess I wasn’t aware we weren’t making faces)
The Change
Many people would benefit from changing their life in the way that Mark has. Whenever he feels like he can’t do something, he turns it around and does it. From the smallest degree to the biggest. I can say that I definitely look up to him. The first big step was the fact that Mark finally got out of his bubble of living called Santa Clarita. It was a while since he had driven out of the valley for anything other then work.
After the 2 and a half hour trip in Friday traffic to Orange County, CA…Mark made it. Excited. The night consisted of Beer Pong in our $250,000 kitchen (now that’s a site!) and hide and seek in our $1.3 million dollar house. I can’t believe how hard it was to find people!
The next morning was the adventure, needless to say we were all excited. Although quite tired from falling asleep 4 hours before waking up.
Jaime Mintun and Jimmy
Me and Chris! Who said you can’t be goofy?
Chris and Celia!
Tower of Terror! Funny thing was, I tried my hardest to scream as much and as hard as I could and almost threw up. The heights coupled with the drop and the fact that I downed a flask of Jagermeister could be the culprit.
The Famous Jaime Mintun!
I think I might have been angry?
It boggles my mind that people don’t smile this much at Disneyland! In fact, I was astonished how many people looked upset and depressed! Sadly those people outweighed those that were happy. Lucky for them, our whole group was happy enough for everyone.
Caught in the action…of what? I’m not sure…
Jimmy Chris and Celia
The Experience
It was all made apparant that Mark had changed his whole outlook when we saw the octagon that shoots you straight up and acts like free fall. I am not sure what it’s called, but I was scared. Mark flat out said “No”. Chris Celia and I walked to the line and realized Mark was with us. Upon his meeting up with us he basically said that he got the feeling of being overpowered and fear and had to battle it. In this case, it was riding the terror of a ride. I am fiercely scared of heights as well as Mark…but we both battled it out, even if we were screaming like 8 year old girls on the way up. Actually, there were 8 year old girls around us, and they weren’t scared at all. What does that say about us?
It was well worth the experience though.
The Next Level
Yes there is a “next level” when it comes to Mark. Not only did he get out of the valley and say yes to everything we did. Nope he didn’t JUST ride a couple rides that shoot you straight up into the air and let you free fall. No, all of this sounds like peas in a blanket compared to what he did the next weekend.Dare I say it?
Sky Diving.
Yes. He did it. He conquered something I have wanted to conquer for years. Jaime and I will be jumping near end of summer. Mark is a trooper. Not only did he say he’d jump. He did it 4 days later AND booked the jump that day! Have you ever seen Yes Man? This is it.
Props go out to you man.
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A New Outlook
Written by Matthew on May 1, 2009 – 4:25 pm -Many many things have happened since I have last posted. In my last post I mentioned I was flying to Indiana to pick up my GTO…well that didn’t happen. It was much too expensive to fly out, put a down payment, and potentially drive across the US in a basically brand new GTO. Instead I had it shipped.
This was what I saw at about 10am on Friday morning. I almost feel uncomfortable saying that this was the most nervous/excited moment of my life but it pretty much was. There have been so many things happening in my life lately that it’s tough to know exactly what is causing my emotions. I mean that in only the best of ways.
I was nervous about receiving the GTO because it was the first investment I have ever purchased without actually seeing it. In the end, it ended up working hugely in my benefit because I picked up a 2006 Pontiac GTO Brazen with 3,661 miles on it.
After a good wash, my Tiger is looking better then ever. I find it sad that this GTO was parked for most of its life in a garage. However, I don’t mind it because I ended up with a steal.
I will continue to post more and more things as I find time. My schedule has been packed lately. It’s nuts. If you want to follow my life, follow me on twitter.
To Happy Days!
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The Happiest Place I Have Been In A While…
Written by Matthew on March 22, 2009 – 7:19 pm -
March 21st, 2008: Best day ever.
Chris, Celia, Jimmy, Jaime, and I went to the greatest place ever, Disneyland! Took it easy the night before and enjoyed happy hour at Tia Juana’s then migrated to RA Sushi in Tustin. Got in bed around 11pm in preparation for our early departure. We were all up by 6am and were on our way by 8am.
We were all extremely excited to get on our way. Mainly becuase it was a nice get-a-way for all of us. Finals/midterms/workloads were all causes of a much needed vacation. Overall the park was amazing. I won’t talk much but instead I will let the pictures of us 5 tell the story. I will say one thing though, the best part of the night was the fireworks show. It was well worth the 3 hour wait we endured on some extremely comfortable concrete. Even better then the fireworks show was Tinkerbell’s show above the castle during the show.
Onto the pictures!
First fast pass ride of the day: Indiana Jones!
I had to get in on the fun…trip to the park.
Space Mountain! Best. Ride. Ever. Weird, my date didn’t show up in the picture. hmmm…
Gotta love randomly taken pictures…The woman’s face on the left in the red is hilarious. Guess those stairs were treacherous.
We knew this one was taken…well maybe Jimmy didn’t. How could you help but not be happy at Disneyland??
Some crammed action on the Winnie the Pooh ride! You can’t tell, but I was basically standing the whole time. Jimmy’s fat ass wouldn’t move!
In line for the longest ride ever, Peter Pan’s Storybook! Wait in line: 55 minutes, Ride length: 55 seconds. Worth it? If you’re five.
Who says you can’t have fun waiting 3 hours for a fireworks show that almost got canceled?
Jaime knows how to have fun! Jimmy does too, I think he was watching Step Brothers on his Blackberry Storm, that he hates.
This is basically our whole experience! Hazy, Ridiculously fun, Smiley, Rockstar day that could never be ruined.
Thank you for making this day so amazing! I haven’t had such a fun day in a very long time.
Remember, Dreams Can and Will Come True. Good job Walt.
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The Road Most Likely Traveled
Written by Matthew on March 10, 2009 – 7:05 pm -
When you ask mostly anyone if they have ever taken a roadtrip, you will usually get the, “uh yea…” answer. Me? Not so much. Don’t get me wrong, I have traveled and taken short trips. I do not believe that a 6 hour drive to Arizona is a roadtrip in the slightest. When I was younger, my parents would always take the family out camping all over the Western United States and Canada.
Now I am 22 years old and realized I have never done what most have done by the age of 18…road trip across the US! Most do it for the fun of it, others do it to get away. I am going across the US for both of those reasons plus the fact that I am taking delivery of my new car!
What’s Better?
Buying a new car? Or having a friend who would drop his life to enjoy the road with you to create new memories and build an already unbreakable friendship?
I choose friendship, no matter what.
James and I will be flying to Indiana to buy my new car at the Merrillville dealership and taking the scenic route back home.
2,032 Miles
Not too bad huh? That’s the straight shot across. We will be all over, making trouble, creating out of nothing, and having a blast. Follow me on Twitter here to get updates of where we will be through out the days.
Get to know James by clicking the above picture!
To Life and Living.
Tags: cross country, Friends, road trip, Travel
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