Love Thoughts Renewed

Yesterday, I renewed my promise to have only loving and nurturing thoughts. And, of course, I enjoyed a wonderful day. So today, I will continue to focus on this simple task. I thought about it more when I got up this morning. I understand that many people find it easy to hold grudges and to let their reactions control their emotions. I used to fall into this trap myself. I would let an event, like an inconsiderate driver cutting me off dictate how I felt for the day. Then, when I got to my destination I would feel impatient and even angry. And then, I could tell that people would sense that in me, and they would feel uneasy, and angry themselves. They would, in turn, transfer that to someone else later that day. A big chain reaction eventually engulfs several people all because I refused to let things go.

I could have just paid no mind to the person cutting me off. I didn't know the intentions of that person. That person probably didn't even realize that he cut me off. And I let it affect me. Then, it eventually negatively affected hundreds of people, maybe even thousands. Instead of just me having a bad day, thousands of people have a bad day. So, in a way, to make this world a better place, we must learn to let things go.

And what it comes down to, reacting to things and situations in a negative way involves people adopting a victim mentality. We feel victimized because we feel a lack of control over the situation. We give in to our emotions because in our minds we don't feel we deserved whatever negative situation came about. We must never lose control. The truth - you can chose exactly how you want to feel about any situation. You demand this of yourself. You demand that you will be happy by any means necessary. You demand that you will only have loving and nurturing thoughts. This can work as a chain reaction in the same way that anger can infect a group of people. And that simple action and promise makes the world a better place.

The Way of the Braza - Love

One of the coolest things I continue to experience involves my sister whispering to her son (my nephew) that the secret to life is to love. And whenever I see and hear her do that, I reaffirm that belief to myself. I remember the happiest times in my life involved the times spent around people who I love: friends, family. I also experience happiness around people who vibrate in the Love realm. I don't have to know them to feel the love. I feel the love as I process the energy that they send out.

A lot of people don't believe or understand that our thoughts affect others and the environment. And, they really do. You don't have to say a word to someone for them to know when you're feeling sad or excited or lonely. When you hate someone with a passion, they know it. So, you shouldn't get surprised when that person that you really hate doesn't give you that raise or doesn't help you with a favor. On the flip side, people also know when you love them. They go out of their way for you. They smile when you appear in their sight. As you get older, you learn to sense other, more subtle emotions and feelings like sincerity, sarcasm, annoyed, relief, etc.

I knew this before and I keep having to remind myself of this. So today, I begin once again, to have only loving and nurturing thoughts. And this doesn't only extend to just other people. This extends to places and inanimate objects. For example, I will have loving thoughts about Bakersfield. I used to hate Bakersfield, but now I love it. I will have loving thoughts about my computer, my tax return, my socks that easily get holes in them. I will also extend this lovefest to situations and scenarios like I will have loving thoughts about having just one follower on this blog. You're a cool person whoever you are, follower. May you live a prosperous and long life. Yeah, you know what? I love you all. YEAH!

Joe Braza - The Comedian

People ask me all the time what do I talk about in my comedy. And, I really can't narrow it down to one thing. I'm pretty much all over the map. The only thing that's constant is that when you leave the show, you know my name. If you don't know what I mean, take a look at this recent show that I did in late September:

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed performing it. Had a really fun time. I'll be sure to post more of my comedy up in future entries.

Space Exploration

There's been an uproar about how NASA spent $79 million to collide a probe into the moon in search for water. You hear the arguments and beliefs about how spending money on Space Exploration is wasteful, that the money should be spent on other areas. But, people fail to realize that space exploration has provided huge benefits to mankind, more than anything that has come before. You can find just a fraction of the valuable products that have been developed by space exploration here. And, just think about how different our world would be without satellite imaging or satellites period. Basically, I'd still be posting these blogs up using a dial-up modem. I would still be buying porn instead of getting it for free.


Don't get me wrong. We can spend money in other worthy areas to improve our society and our civilization., our planet. But, spending money on space exploration gives back a very high return on investment. People talk about high gas prices and the need for alternative energy sources. Well, I believe space will provide us with answers and other possibilities for better and more environmentally-friendly energy sources. In fact, at some point, the oil will run out and we won't have any choice but to find another energy source. Maybe, we already reached that point.

Regardless of all the benefits and logical reasons for exploring space, I personally just get excited about it. I get excited about the possibility of mankind living on the moon and on other planets. And as we try to figure out how to do that, we will gain more knowledge and create and invent more products that will improve our existence. Maybe if we focus more on exploring space, we could focus less on wars and our differences. We can come together in peace and understanding. That's why I don't mind NASA spending $79 million to find out if there's water on the moon. Hey, maybe the moon can be the solution to our clean water issues on Earth.

Fro Update

As you can see, we have a guy who's very happy and upbeat about life. The Fro is really starting to take shape. People that knew me when I was completely shaved don't recognize me or do double takes when they see me. I want to reassure you all that, although I now have The Fro, I'm still the same lovable, huggable guy that you all knew or will soon really know. I like sports. I like watching sunsets and taking long walks on the beach because chicks wear bikinis on the beach. And I like to scratch my nuts when it itches.

But, yeah, we are currently at 63% of Full Fro Realization. I'm 2/3rds of the way there. I'm planning on having some kind of party or celebration when we reach 100%. Probably gonna have it at Dairy Queen. Whos with me?

The Art of Negotiation

I went to Rome back in September 2006 for a good friend's wedding. And whenever I travel, I tend to pack very light. Any experienced traveler knows that the more stuff you bring, the more stuff you gotta carry. So, knowing that I wanted to spend about a month total in Europe, I decided not to bring a suit and just buy a nice shirt at one of the shops there. I didn't plan on wearing a jacket as it was pretty hot there.

The day before the wedding, I went out and looked for a place to buy the shirt. And, if you know anything about Italians, they take their fashion seriously. Went inside one place and as I walked in, I felt a condescending feeling from the workers there. Apparently, I should have dressed up better before I went into their store. I would think that they would want a guy like me, who in their mind, needs their store. But, I looked around and I saw something that convinced me that I really didn't belong there. They had a clearance section where the cheapest item was a t-shirt that cost 80 euros. After doing a quick Euro to Dollar conversion, that t-shirt would have cost $100. For a t-shirt! I didn't even bother to look at anything else. And, as I walked out of the store, I chuckled to myself at the 50 euro "designer" solid black socks. What the hell??

Walked around more and found more stores that weren't as pricey as the first store, but still way above what I wanted to spend. I thought, maybe I should go shopping in the "bad" part of Rome, which coincidentally wasn't too far from my hotel room. Yup! Finally found a small shop owned by a short, rounded Italian woman with a warm and friendly, welcoming vibe. Conversed with her using all the phrases I learned from the Italian phrasebook. She picked out a few shirts in my size. Tried them on and settled on this Ivory colored one. The price was 35 Euros. I only had 25 euros on me. So I asked her if she accepted credit cards. She said no. I suspected that she actually did accept credit cards, but didn't want to do a bunch of paperwork. Then I told her that I had to go to the ATM. She then asked me how much cash I had. I shrugged my shoulders and pulled the 25 euros from my pocket. She smiled as she grabbed the 25 euros from my hand and gave me the shirt wrapped in a nice box. Grazie!

I thought, Cool, as I walked away, purely satisfied with the deal I got. About a block from the store, I suddenly realized that if I would have just pulled out the 20 euro bill, and left the 5 euro bill in my pocket, she probably would have accepted that. Dammit! I turn to look back at the store to witness her locking it up and shutting down for the day. She walks toward my direction, still with the big smile on her face. And as she passes by me, she reaches out and squeezes my arm. 2 things I learned that day: everything's negotiable and never let 'em know how much money you have or are willing to spend.

Ganja Gratitude

I had a strange day yesterday. To summarize it real quick, I got offered weed by 3 different people on 3 different occasions. Now, this would be great if I smoked weed. But, I don't. I know that some people who have read my blogs think I do. But, I really don't. Weed doesn't do anything for me. I'm already a chill guy. And I do a lot of meditation, so I already experience different types and levels of consciousness. I have done weed in the past and the only thing it did was make me feel lethargic for a week and make my vocal chords burn. So, I politely declined all 3 offers.

I do feel grateful for the offers, though. In fact, I feel happy whenever I get offered anything because it means that people still like me. And, I like being liked. Being liked is definitely better than not being liked. I remember back in grade school when I told this girl that I liked her. She laughed at me. That would have been a good time to have weed. It would have helped me cope. But, it's cool because I had Super Mario Bros. to get me through.

I do try to find the reason why I got offered weed on 3 separate occasions. Like, I'm trying to figure out what the Universe is trying to tell me. I do this a lot, because, I don't believe that there's such a thing as a completely random event. Everything happens for a reason. For example, that girl back in grade school who didn't like me, I found out about a couple of years ago that she's a lesbian. She didn't even have to potential to like me. And, I let it depress me. If I can go back and talk to my grade school self, I'd tell him not to worry, that there really is more fish in the sea. And, that I should try to go for fish who shave their armpits and don't play softball. So, I thought about it more and more why I got offered weed 3 times. Didn't come to any crazy realizations, but, I've come to the conclusion that I hang out with a lot of pot-heads. Not a negative thing because they're all pretty cool people. I feel blessed.

I'm baaaaaaack!

First of all, I'd like to apologize to all you Braza-maniacs out there for being out for over a month. Got caught up in a few things. But from now on, I'm not gonna let anything get in the way of our relationship. First of all, I'd like to dedicate this return blog to a pretty young woman. You know who you are. I find it really interesting that you really enjoyed my blog about lap dances. I enjoy it when any woman enjoys reading about lap dances. I'm not going to read into that too much, I'm just gonna let me imagination run wild.

Okay, so there's this Vietnamese girl, right? She works at the Dairy Queen near me, very cute, very good personality. Always has the brightest smile on her face. After some time, I began to have a little bit of interest. Here's the problem. I don't really know how old she is. Since she's Vietnamese, she could be anywhere from 39 to 14 year's old. Her mom's the owner and I see her there all the time as well. And she looks young too. So, I think I can rule out that the girl's in her 30's. But, again, you really don't know when it comes to Vietnamese or for that matter any person from the Asian countries.

Now, if I can somehow confirm that she's over 18, then I have to figure out how to maneuver around the over-protective Vietnamese mom. I mean, yeah, the mom thinks I'm a nice and funny guy. But, I know that the moment she finds out that I wanna go out with her daughter, I instantly become a scum bag and then she puts a restraining order on me. And, I don't wanna go through that again. I mean, yeah, I can just ask her how old she is. But, then she might think it's creepy for a guy like me to ask how old she is. And then, every time afterward, when she sees me come in, she'll have that look on her face like - oh, I gotta make the creepy guy a sundae.

Bottom line here, at some point, I have to find out how old she is and then I can go from there. And, so I will let you guys all know when I find out and also, the aftermath. I dunno when that'll be as she hasn't been working whenever I've come in. But, I'll definitely let you guys know, even if it makes me look like a jackass. But, of course, you guys would never think of the Braz as a jackass, right? Right?