Rest in Peace my dear dear grandfather
Toribio Arias Aiyllon
He passed away at 1:30pm yesterday due to pneumonia..
He was 81 and though I did not get to spend the time I would like to have spent with him, I will never forget the good times and the memories.. 
He was my dad’s dad and now I no longer have any living grandparents from my dad’s side of the family..
Te extraño.
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
Filed under: Uncategorized
This little tune makes me happy when I hear it, enjoy! 
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
Just for the sake of my mental state I’m going to write about some of the other things going on in my life. Steve and the trial are still very much on my mind, but I just need to take a second to deal with the other things in my life.
I got to see Jillian last night, that was real fun actually! Even though I think I may have been given poisoned ass water for a drink, her and I got some real good conversation in. I’m so happy that she’s happy and getting ready for the wedding of her dreams. Brian is a real good guy, and he treats her the way she treats him, I really do think they have that forever kind of love. If ever there was anyone to deserve peace, tranquility and happiness, it is Jillian, the BEAM. However she told me last night that she’s given up on Jimmy so I don’t know if we’ll have to change her nickname now 
School is going to start again on Monday. I’m being welcomed back by a quiz, two midterms, and a fast paced project that will be due soon. Tons of fun :-\. Leo got sick this week so that’s been real hard on me, if you know me, you know that I treat that dog like it’s my birth child so seeing as how this was the first time he’s ever been ill I was unbelievably worried about my little boo boo. I am happy to report that he’s doing very well, and here’s this picture to remind us of a non sick Leo:
I think this picture is pretty awesome, and I’m sure that in no time Leo will be back to refusing to take Kodak moment pictures with me.
Let’s see… the dress fitting for Jillian’s wedding is this Sunday, next Saturday is my Artsbus trip with my school and the following Saturday is my friend Kat’s wedding in PA which I STILL need a date for. I kind of feel like my life is spinning so much that it’s making me dizzy right now, hopefully I’ll be able to get it all together soon.
Other than that, everything is good. I love my family and friends and even though it’s crazy right now, I love my life. I hope everyone is doing well too..
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
Filed under: Austin Cornejo, Brandon Paul Gotwalt, Charges, Civil, Cornejo vs Gotwalt, Jack Steve Cornejo, Steve Cornejo, Verdict, Wrongful Death
Today was the most nervewracking day. We all arrived at 9:30am to await the jury’s decision. Finally, at around 12:15pm it came. I don’t think I’ve ever been so unbelievably nervous in my life.
Then it came, and the clerk read the jury’s statement.
“We the jury find judgement for the plaintiff”
That was the biggest sigh of relief ever. For a slight moment, I think I underestimated humanity, and the common sense of people everywhere.
Then came the damages.
“1,954,000 for Austin Cornejo, administrator of Jack Steve Cornejo’s estate”
I couldn’t hold it in anymore, I started bawling my eyes out. I am so unbelievably happy for Steve’s family, at least now they know that there are people that can read the truth.
I hope that this is only step one of a long road into getting the complete justice that Steve deserves. What’s sad is that this doesn’t bring him back, and this doesn’t put Mr. Gotwalt in jail. But this is justice no matter how we look at it.
My heart is still with you Steve, I wish I could have known you better while you were still with us on Earth.
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
P.S: In case that Mr. Gotwalt’s defense attorney is reading this, or may one day read this. I want to say: “You still having a great time?”
You can’t be a dick to people and get away with it, next time, gloat in private.
Filed under: Accident, Amadeo, Brandon Paul Gotwalt, Cornejo, Court, Criticism, Fairfax, Fairfax County, Falls Church, Fights, Giuseppe Amadeo, Grand Jury, Honesty, Injustice, Jack Steve Cornejo, Our Friend Steve, Sad, Steve Cornejo, Thoughts, Update, Virginia, Wrongful Death, dolor, shooting
So today was.. interesting to me. I had it in my head that the defense would have to put up one hell of a case. Their entire case only included three witnesses, one went yesterday. It was crazy, today two went, and then the defense rested.
So until 5pm the jury had not reached a verdict, and they will resume deliberation at 9:30am. Hector, Juan and I got to talk to Giuseppe Amadeo (I most likely butchered his name there – we now call him Peppy) a lot, and I think it helped to have some good jokes and laughter. He’s a real good guy, he’s one of the neighbors that tried to save Steve’s life. He wanted to stay around to hear a verdict, but unfortunately as I said, none was reached today.
Apparently Mr. Gotwalt’s girlfriend sat next to me for awhile in court today, I had no idea. His lawyer is still a jerk. He said things in between recess which I will quote here:
To Mr. Gotwalt:
“Well I think we did a great job! Especially with that Mike character eh?”
To some other man:
“This case is shut! I’m having a great time!”
I understand that this is his job, but when the father and family of a man whom his client killed is right in the same fifteen foot vicinity as you are, you can definitely have the courtesy to gloat in private. No matter what, a man is dead, he’s just a jerk who doesn’t care about people, just winning.
Here’s to hoping that tomorrow the verdict is for the plaintiff.
By the way, Hector and I have started a MySpace page for the memory of Steve. You may access it here:
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
Filed under: Brandon Paul Gotwalt, Fairfax County, Jack Steve Cornejo, Trial, Wrongful Death, civil suit, justice, shooting
Today has been an exhaustingly emotional day so for now I will keep this very short.
The plaintiff’s side of the case was presented today, it was really hard sitting behind Steve’s killer, and then looking him in the face. I was hoping he would look like a piece of crap, unfortunately for me, he looked normal. He looked like someone I could have been friends with, I think that made me really upset. I couldn’t explain to you why. Never during his testimony did he express any sign of remorse, that pissed me off even more.
The defendant’s lawyer is a complete asshole. He likes to tear the witnesses down and make everyone whether directly related to the case or not feel like worthless pieces of crap. He was on an asshole streak starting at 10am and didn’t stop until 5:15pm. It’s going to be hard to have to listen to his bullshit for the remaining two days.
Steve’s family is unbelievably strong. As emotional and hard as it is, they have been able to keep themselves composed enough to sit in on the trial.
That’s all I can bring myself to write right now, Steve, I miss you and I hope justice will be served.
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
Filed under: Brandon Paul Gotwalt, Charges, Cornejo, Court, Fairfax County, Falls Church, Grand Jury, Injustice, Jack Steve Cornejo, Robert Horan, Steve Cornejo, Trial, Virginia, Wrongful Death
It’s hard to think that almost two years have passed by since the life of Jack “Steve” Cornejo was so unforgivingly taken away. The day was June 25th, 2005, and in the early Saturday morning hours, Brandon Paul Gotwalt ended Steve’s life by shooting a close range shot directly into Steve’s back. As if that solitary incident wasn’t enough, the pain intensified every day with the following occurrences:
- Gotwalt was never arrested
- The Fairfax County grand jury refused to press charges
- Robert Horan refused to prosecute
- The identity of the killer was only made known recently
- Steve was made out to be just “another latin thug”
There was such an intense mishandling of the case that it is hard to bottle up my emotions and write a G-rated article here but I’m doing the best that I can. His body was not autopsied for a long time, the results of the autopsy weren’t made known to the family for an extended amount of time, their questions were rejected, and the identity and profession of the killer were protected.
This man lied to the cops about his involvement, he flushed his shirt and bullet used in the killing down the toilet and it wasn’t until later that he told the truth. Yet he never spent a single second in jail. Who is he and what does he do? Why is he being protected? What is sad is that I consider myself to be very optimistic, and I want to believe that racism no longer exists. This murder made me realize, had Steve shot Gotwalt, he would be rotting in a jail cell right now.
How do you shoot a man in the back and call it self defense? I have never seen nor held a gun in my hand, but I’m not an idiot, I sure do know that to shoot someone in the back means they’re running away from you. It was close range, and the gun experts say that to coincide with Gotwalts’ story, he would have had to be holding Steve down with one arm (while they were wrestling/fighting), meanwhile with the other hand pulling the concealed weapon out, and with the same hand pulling the safety, and shooting Steve in the back, who meanwhile was weaponless.
The day the grand jury refused to press charges, was the day my heart broke and it was also the day that I, who wanted to be a crime scene technician at one point, lost complete faith in the justice system. Every day we hear about people involved in hit and runs going to jail, drug dealers being put away for life. We hear about arrests being made for defamation, slander, or using racial slurs. How can you take someone’s life, and be completely protected by the organization that is in place to prevent crime, or punish it when it occurs?
Steve is not someone who ever radiated fear. He was tall, lanky, not built, not huge at all. In a crowd, unless you knew him, he did not stand out to you. He was a normal 22 year old attending a birthday party for his best friend. My heart hurts when I think about how this active man had his life ripped away from him, and the only thing that the family can do now is file a civil suit. What we really want is Gotwalt behind bars, rotting for the rest of his life, thinking of what he did to Steve.
How do we live in a world where you get put behind bars for driving under the influence, or going 20 or so miles above the speed limit, but where you can sleep happily in your bed after putting a bullet in someone’s back? I’ll never understand.
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week (03/12/07, 03/13/07, 03/14/07) the civil suit trial of Cornejo vs. Gotwalt will begin. He is on trial for wrongful death, and we are asking that as many of Steve’s friends / supporters please attend the trial. Come look into the last pair of eyes that Steve looked upon in his life. Make him feel the pain and cold that we have all been feeling.
I will be there, I hope you will too. Please comment / message me for any questions.
This is the poem that I found, and dedicated to Steve. It was read by his friend at his Vigil at his home, and I post it here again.
“I Did Not Die”
- Mary Frye
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
Rest In Peace Jack “Steve” Cornejo, forever in our hearts
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
While talking to my F2 I saw this commercial, I think THIS is my number 1 commercial, tied with the taco bell commercial
It’s the asian guy singing for the amp’d commercial
ENJOY!
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
Filed under: Commercials, Funny, Kevin Federline, carne, fedex, geico, kfed, kinkos, mac, pc, taco bell
I’ve really been waiting it out for some good commercials, unfortunately my advertising and marketing worlds are not living up to my expectations and therefore I really waited a long time. Here’s what I have so far!!
My number five commercial:
Even though I’m currently hating Kinko’s, I will say that this commercial is pretty funny just because it pokes fun at commercials themselves. I don’t know, just a nice chuckle is generated from me.
My number four favorite commercial:
MAC’s commercial with the vista security guy. I’ll say one thing, while browsing the net for this vid, I was completely flabergasted by all the debate on PC and MAC. Holy shit, I don’t care if you’re a Mac lovah or a PC lovah, it’s a friggin machine etiher way. This is a series of COMMERCIALS, not aprohecy for the afterlife. Of course they’re going to say that they’re better, it shows they have pride in their product. I wouldn’t buy something if the company wasn’t 100% sure that it was the bomb dig, so shut the hell up and type away at whatever it is that you like to use.
My number three favorite commercial:
GEICO Cavemen at a party. I will say this, I love all of the commercials in these series, I just chose this one because were starting to see more interaction between all of the cavemen.
My number two favorite commercial:
As much as I hate to give him props for anything since he ruined the life of my favorite pop diva, this commercial is hilarious because it’s true. I’ll give him props for being the bigger man and making that paper as well, and as long as he stops shittalking about Britney who whether he likes it or not is the mother of his children, then maybe I’ll give him more props down the line.
My number one commercial:
Taco Bell “CARRRRNE Asada” .. it’s hilarious, the more I watch it, the more I love it.
Hopefully there’ll be a slew of awesome and funny commercials to come, but things are looking mighty grim in the commercial world. Hope everyone’s having a great Saturday
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
Filed under: Britney Spears
I’ve been so busy! I wanted to holla at all my readers real quick though, I will have a nice long post tomorrow… I’m thinking an update on some favorite commercials, and a song ranking. I love it I love it, ya know brah?
I hope everyone’s happy and afterglowin’
<3 siempre,
AristoKat
P.S: Yes, I still love and support Britney. I’m pulling for her! 
