I always talk about myself here. Mainly because it's my blog (Cristela). The goal is to talk about Mind of Mencia-related manners and throw in some current affair stuff that I know MOM viewers will like to read about.

Well, today I must talk about someone very important to me, whom I NEVER had the pleasure of meeting. I was reading the news yesterday and read that George Carlin had died of heart failure yesterday. It's weird how even not personally knowing him-I felt like I did.

This takes me back to when Richard Pryor died. Both of these men are such legends in the stand-up community. When I started out in stand-up, I always heard the same names thrown around with "legendary" status. Among the sea of Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce and a handful of others, you would always hear the name George Carlin in that group. These were some of the people that you had to respect and within good reason.

I grew up in a very poor town. Of course I didn't know it was poor till I moved out of it. But then again, I guess that's a good thing. If you grow up happy, it doesn't really matter how much money you have.

Even though I didn't have money, my mother always made sure we had cable TV. For her, that was making it. She always said, "We can have no place to live...we could be living in a park...but we'll always have cable tv." I think part of it was because I was a latch-key child. I think the first time I stayed alone, I was about 8. Today in age, that would be crazy, I think it was crazy back then too but if you have no choice, you have to make money somehow. My mother would go and work at the local restaurant "Garza's Cafe" which was THE place to go for Mexican in this town (San Juan, TX).

It was then that I fell in love with comedy...stand-up comedy. I would watch the HBO specials with comedians (even though I had no idea they were comedians-I was a kid). I would sneak around and stay up to watch Carson and Letterman (the best late night combo ever). It was on Carson, that I discovered Mr. George Carlin. I was really little. I laughed though I had absolutely no idea why.

It wasn't till I was older that I realized what strides this man had made. He was able to really give his opinions about everything and anything. He didn't say things because he knew they would be funny, he'd say them because he felt that they HAD to be said.

He is best known for the "Seven Words You Can't Say on Televsion" which I obviously can't include in this blog (which I guess means they're also the "Seven Words You Can't Type on a Blog") but the man believed in what Lenny Bruce did-abolishing censorship. Being able to say what you want when you want it. Truth being: Why should you have to censor your ideas, your thoughts, if these are what make you the person you are today?

I respected George Carlin a lot. And I still do. Just because he's passed, doesn't mean that the legend disappears. In fact, it makes me remember him even more because when someone that you truly respect passes, you have to make an effort to remember what that person left behind.

George Carlin, you will be missed...and most importantly, you will always be remembered.