Short tours are fun too
Just to add to the tours that we've done, I remember going down to L.A one year and performing with another group down south. Their name escapes me but I'm sure someone will remember. We performed at a small church but the only thing that I can truly remember about the gig was how gay one of their dancers was. It wasn't that he was flaming but that he showed no manly moves. Every movement was soft, even the warrior dances. I'm glad to see that our dancers, gay and straight, all know how to get into character. But as some of you know, the real action came when we went to Melrose in downtown L.A. to do some shopping. We had two vans that we parked off of Melrose in a regular neighborhood and all of our stuff was left in the van. It was a really nice day so no jackets were needed. As we shopped around, up and down the street, enjoying all the cool shops, we finally made our way back to the vans an hour later. Someone noticed that the doors looked a little open and sure enough, we were robbed. Some lost more than others. I lost a brand new leather jacket that was all of 2 weeks old. I also lost some new boots that I had just gotten as well. Hey, back in the day as a college student, that's some of the more important things that you own. Others can post what they lost. I know UPSer lost A LOT! We did have a good time, it's just crazy that what happened on Melrose is what sticks in all of our minds, not the performance. I'm not trying to jinx you guys but just be careful with what you bring and where you leave it. We don't need anymore horror stories. I'm knocking on wood and praying for a safe trip for all of you.
All this talk about Brazil...
...reminds me of our big trip to Malta. Yes, that trip to Malta. Although there was heartbreak, there were so many fun memories. Here's some of my favorites (and not so favorites) in no particular order:
Flying into London's Gatwick airport and hanging out at their "mall/terminal". I felt like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible with my leather jacket on. Someone left their purse at the security check-in and delayed us.
Getting picked up at the airport by a lovely married couple and explaining that Laurie and I were not a couple (even though I wanted us to be). The female also told us to go to "MMM-Dina".
Seeing the Mediterranean Sea from our hotel bedroom that I shared with Moe and Liza.
Walking around the town with everyone and taking pictures.
Doing our gigs all over the island, especially at that hospital/school and it's festive streamers on stage. Oh, and the game show that we were on that no one understood.
Staying up late in the hotel lobby and getting everyone in trouble for being loud and drunk.
Having our pow-wow and crying like a you-know-what.
Coming up with the "who would you "date" in the troop both male and female" question that everyone had to answer. Laurie didn't say me, that sucked, but I said Fides anyways.
Seeing all the different churches in the different towns was nice as well.
Going to Moshta and buying that Indiana Jones whip for a dollar.
Being a fifth wheel.
Partying on new years at the club and not hearing Prince's "1999" when it turned "1999".
Hearing Cher all over the place with her "Do You Believe In Love" song.
Seeing Rome and all of its history.
Being with Likha has opened up so many doors that I have to look back sometimes and appreciate those times. Those of you lucky enough to go to Brazil should give it 100 percent. Sure there will be time to bitch and moan but don't forget that Likha has built a reputation that allows it to make these wonderful tours. Come back with a boatload of memories.
Going to the Home Dept
When we first moved in my buddy warned me that I'd be going to Home Depot everyday and he was right. I'm gonna go there after work and walk around like I know what I'm doing. I'm even wearing carpenter jeans right now. I printed out some instructions from a link the neekoh gave me (thanks!) and I'm gonna get to work. Kinda sucks though because it's gonna be around 7 at night by the time I get home.
Here's a network question: At my mom's house I hooked up her DSL modem to a wireless router and it used to work fine. Now, there is no longer an internet connection. The wireless card can recognize the signal, but there is still no internet connection. When that happened, I just connected my laptop directly to the modem, bypassing the router, but still got no internet connection. Sounds like a bad modem to me, am I wrong?
Damn this cough
I still have a lingering cough that I can't shake. I hate it because it's that rough cough that feels like there's something stuck back there. No matter what I take it's sticking around. It's embarassing while at work because I'm supposed to be on the phone and I'm constantly putting clients on mute. Sometimes I forget to take them off of mute and they're taking and wondering if I'm still there. All the while I'm talking away as if they hear me also, good one. Also, we've fallen off the workout wagon. This illness takes that away from you also.
We have a yard service that handles are front yard, part of the HOA, and apparently they broke one of our sprinkler heads and so now I can't water our lawn unless its manually with a hose. Never realized how convenient those sprinklers can be. We're supposed to water the lawn twice a day considering how hot it is but I can only get it done once a day at this rate. I need to see if I can cap where the PVC pipe broke off underground so I can get the other heads running. Any suggestions on how to do that?
Almost over the hump
We're still sick. At least Laurie's and my flu is almost done, Andres' temperature is gone, but Mio is still a little there. It's been rough going because you just can't do everything at 100 percent. You move slower and think slower and since it's all of us, even just getting some juice for the boys can be tough. We've been to the hospital 3 different times this week so we have a pretty good-sized bill for it, plus the prescriptions. I expect to be back at work on monday but I know I'll be feeling it when I do. Thankfully there are no gigs this weekend although I definitely could use the money. Not much to post about because all we can do is watch tv and rest while at home. I'm afraid our electricity bill is going to be huge this month because of all the time the tv was on as well as the computer. One thing I have been able to learn to use is the Comcast On Demand. We watched some movies that they had available, particularly "Scratch", a movie about dj's and turntablists. Saw my buddy Mix Master Mike in it, as well as Q-Bert and all the other pros. It was nice to see the Pinoy dj's get some love. There was even a kid from Vallejo, Snake Eyez, who was a competitor at the 2000 DMC. I was able to put on some shows for the boys too like Animal Planet's Most Extreme and a National Geographic show on sharks, all literally "On Demand". It'll be like this for us on saturday and sunday as well.
Rough couple of days
The family is sick. I haven't gone back to work since last friday and now the wife's been out too. I think it may continue for a couple of more days also. It all started when Andres got sick on saturday. Laurie took the boys to a party and by the time they got home Andres was burning up with a fever. I was at the gig so I didn't see them till I got home but I felt so bad for my son. So as saturday nite came, we could tell the Andres' fever was getting worse but when he woke up the next morning he was still hotter than ever. We decided to go to Kaiser and get him checked out. It was weird because when they check his temperature it said 98.1, not sure where that came from because he sure felt hotter than that. He won't take medicine, so we have to invent ways for him to take it. Finally, Laurie just put it in an otter pop and he ate it like it was nothing, nice job wife. Come sunday I could tell I was starting to get affected by it also. And when I woke up on monday to go to work, there was just no way. Laurie did end up going to work but she did feel worse as well. One other thing, Andres had muta in his eyes, a lot, which is a big sign for pink eye. Luckily we have drops for that. I ended up calling in sick. Laurie ended up coming home early so now we've been home that past few days. It's hot out here as well but it's not that bad. Add to the family woes, Mio was playing on one of the stools, climbing it from behind. It ended falling on him and hitting him in the mouth and he now has a small gash on his upper gums. We took him to the hospital too but the doc said the mouth actually heals very well. He's still up and running around and laughing although he's having a hard time eating. I'm still debating on whether I need to go into work tomorrow. I doubt if I will.
Oh, as far as the gig I did on saturday, it was cool. The reception was at the Ritz Carlton in SF by Chinatown. It was a small but well dressed crowd. Majority was Pilipino of course which makes it kinda easy. Apparently the bride was a model back in PI, Carole Cuasay (ring any bells?). Her mom is married to Judge Ron Quidachay, who is one of my role models in the Pilipino community. I didn't get to conversate with him. I would've asked him about the upcoming supreme court nomination. The reception dragged (not our fault). There was a slide show which had about everyone in the PI in it, congratulating Carole. Apparently the 2 met just 18 months ago and no one really got to meet each other outside of the families, interesting. Ryan happened to go to my old high school, St. Pat's in the V. One of his buddies is my old friends younger brother who was able to get me some phone numbers. Since the reception stuff took awhile we ended up with just under an hour of dancing which was fine with me. We played mostly old disco, some cha cha, not a lot of ballroom. I did bust out with the VST which kept them dancing for awhile. Other than that it was pretty boring. Oh well.
Just a thought, what do you all think of a send off bbq for the Likha heads or a welcome back bbq? We'll offer our place or somewhere else. I think from experience that a relaxing evening with Likha heads, doing everything but practicing, could help out. Let me know what ya'll think.
Another gig this weekend
Moe and I have a gig in SF this weekend. A couple is getting married and the reception is at the Ritz Carlton at lunchtime. We gotta be there at 10:30am (woohoo!) which means I have to leave the double V at 9:00am, which means I gotta wake up around 7:30am. On a saturday? That's just wrong. Anyways, they are a young couple and the groom actually went to my high school. Small world, even smaller is that one of the primary sponsors is the Honorable Judge Ron Quidachay. He actually spoke at my Fil-Grad from SF State (the wife reminded me of that). I actually think there will be some important people there because apparently Nora Aunor's immigration lawyer, Lourdes Tancinco, is also a sponsor as well as Senator Tito Soto of the PI. Anyone know those names? The bride is from PI also, and they wanted to hear a lot of standards and jazz, more mellow music. We'll play some 70s R&B as well as some 80s New Wave but no hip hop. Should be interesting. As long as the groom doesn't get all piss-drunk this time it should be all good. We shall see.
Heat? What heat?
So Concord is burning up and you know the double V is definitely burning up. We hung out in Benicia last night since we had a softball game and it was burning up over there too. Not too bad though. Ate some good pizza from a place I love to get it from, Napoli's. It's a mom and pop restaurant that's been around in Vallejo since the 60s. I actually went to high school with the sons of the family. It's nice to see that they still do well. I found out they have one in the double V so I can get some out there. If you ever come down and we get pizza, that's where will go.
So like I said, I lean left of the political spectrum. I've been mulling this in my head for awhile so here goes. We've all seen the yellow ribbons on the back of cars saying "support the troops". Since we're by the military base, we see a ton of them. I never question peoples patriotism but I would challenge their common sense. If you support the troops why would you...
... send troops to war on false pretenses
... allow for veterans funding to be cut which affect death benefits
... close veterans hospitals all over the country
... not support a plan to get them out of Iraq earlier than later (or at least any plan that grades progress)
... make soldiers hide their sexuality
The list goes on but then I come to my own conundrum. If an estimated %85 of the military voted for Bush in 2004 how can I support them if that's what they really want? So as I see them making their way to the base should I feel sorry for them that they may be stuck in this war for years, putting a strain on their family? %85 represents more than 8 of 10. That's a huge difference. My dad was in the Air Force during Vietnam and I grew up really pro-US, the kind of thinking that the US can do no wrong, but I've wised up and realized there are other stories out there. My love for the military is still there but my head tells me that they're not all there or they're in denial. Being in denial is worse because they'll never want to know the truth and stick with the lies that got them there in the first place.
Ahh... mexican food
I have a taqueria in concord that I visit frequently, hence the lbs. that I've added to my frame. I went there for lunch and got myself a torta sandwich. It's bomb but it's also hot with jalapenos. I'm sweating from my nose and cooling my tongue with a cherry coke. I was supposed to baon this morning. Laurie was gonna make us sandwiches but I figured don't worry about it. I didn't have a torta sandwich in mind at the time though. It just came to me at lunch. So I walked over there, a couple blocks down, and it's hot. With nothing but pavement in front of me it just got hotter. Shade showed little mercy. Although I'm looking forward to going home, I know it's gonna be even hotter. The double V is muy hace calor.
We started a workout program last night and even the garage at 9:30pm is hot. I remember growing up in Vallejo and playing outside with my buddies in this type of heat, but as an older person I am just wienie-ing out. (At least you know how I got so dark.) I'm trying to find a cardio plan that won't be too boring so after watching "Coach Carter" I got the idea that I can do "suicides". We called them ladders in my day but I think suicide is more like it. I ran up and down our street at 9:45pm like a mad man, but boy was I huffin and puffin.
I'm doing this for a couple reasons. One, I need to get off my ass and do something. Two, the wife also wants to get off her ass and do something. We'll do it together. Three, if we get in good enough shape maybe that'll mark a return to the stage for the Laxa's. We'll see. Seeing all the Brazil chatter makes you long for the days when you could just take off and go, no matter what. With a family and a house you really have to give it a second thought. And hey, if we prepare for next year, get to our idea weight, we'll be ready to go. If we can't go, we are still down to our preferred weight. Wish us luck.
Just winding the weekend down
Hey all, we had an eventful weekend. Thankfully it was actually started on thursday since I didn't have to serve jury duty. I was able to avoid being called in from thursday and friday but I was also able to stay away from work as well. So as we prepared for Tahoe, I was able to get stuff done in the house as well. Laurie's brothers also came down on thursday so they can come up with us which was cool. The more, the merrier. The drive to Tahoe was nice. Although we left at 7:00pm, we got in about 9:30 at the Marriot Grand Lodge. The 2 1/2 hour drive was nice considering I remember it taking sometimes up to 4 hours on a friday weekend, especially come from further down 80. The double V does have it's advantages.
Coming in late into Tahoe was nice because we just had to unwind from the drive, didn't rush to eat a late dinner. We got to unpack, hang out with our fellow D.O.Mers and even take a shot of some ice cold Petron. For the gamblers, sorry, we didn't hit the casino that night. (I know, we're fired!) As we hit the sack, I took in a movie on the tube, knowing that our first game was at 9:00am. Unfortunately, the tv had all the good premium channels and I ended up watching, Borne Supremacy, a little of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but I did watch all of Dawn of the Dead. That movie was pretty good. I used to love horror movies, but I had paid much attention to them lately. This one was pretty good, not very full of suspense, but very full of gore. I ended up going to bed at about 3:30am.
So I had to get up at 7:30 to leave the hotel at 8:00 so we could warm up. We only had 11 guys on the team which was going to put a strain on us. Most of the guys are at 40 and above so I'm considered a young guy. I had to pitch all the games we played. We won our first game 12-10 although it didn't get close until the last inning. We were up 12-7 when it started. The second game we played we scored 13 in the first inning alone, nice. I even went 5 for 5 at the plate. Unfortunately, a couple of my buddies were on the other team so I kinda felt bad for them. Oh well. Our 3rd game was later in the afternoon at 4:00. We ended up scoring 2 runs. They scored 13. That sucked. The next game, an hour later, we ended up losing 7-1. That really sucked because after 2 losses you're out and done with the tourney. We went 2-2 last year but we lost our 2nd game on sunday. At least now, we could just spend sunday with the families poolside. Also, we had a nice buffett dinner at Harrah's, and since our realtor, Auntie Fe, was there, she treated us all to dinner. That was really nice. I was first looking at spending 120 bucks on the Laurie, her 2 bros, and me but that settled that.
Come sunday we now had a chance to wind down. We went swimming in the pool which the boys loved. Andres was a chicken who didn't want to go out in the middle whereas Mio wanted to go everywhere, even jump of the ledge. I bought them the padded swimsuit so they could float but I don't know how well those worked. The wouldn't let us let them go, unless it was on the pool stairs. I gotta get those kids swimming lessons, if only for their own good. We then took in a late lunch at the hotel. The rooms all have kitchens so we got sandwich stuff at Raley's and also cooked whatever we had left over. After a power nap, we then hit the road and made it home in another 2 1/2 hours.
Although this may be one of the last trips we'll be taking for the year, it was nice to get away with the family. I need to thank the wife for a beautiful time. I also want to thank our softball family who make it fun as well. The discount for the room at the lodge is nice also. Laurie and I also talked about how we can get our family friends to do a big camping trip. She's never done it whereas my parents used to always take a big camping trip every year so I'm up to it. Let me know if any of you are down for one: Yosemite, upper Nor Cal, even Clear Lake might be nice. Something for everyone up there.
Stuck in a rut
Ok, so I'm cool at my job with the bank. I've got a decent position, with an officer title (woohoo). But if you're familiar with banks you know that the work is just not very challenging but very tedious. I wanna look for other things but just not sure what's really out there. Plus, living out in the double V, I have to see if there's work out there, maybe in Sac or just back down in the east bay. The city is just out of the question unless I was getting 6 figures of course. At least at the bank there a couple of things going on. I finally got a laptop, although I crashed it viewing sites that gave me spyware, dammit. No, not those kind of sites. Well kind of those sites, but not really the hardcore stuff. Anyways, I do have time to surf the web, check people's blogs, read newspaper all across the country (which I love to do, especially op-eds) and see what people are selling on craigslist. And that's why I feel like I'm in a rut because I do this basically everyday. I'll get off my butt and look around.
Looking forward to Tahoe. It should be nice up there and the family will get to swim at the Marriott grand lodge right next to Heavenly. We could end up playing just 2 games if we lose 2 in a row but I expect us to play well. We went 2-2 last year which was cool. I pitched most of the games which was tough because we play in the heat and the thin air which can take your breath away quickly. Just running to first base can be murder. It reminds me of dancing in Bagiuo and running up and down the stairs for quick changes. I never felt more tired than I did that day. Although there was that time we hiked in Mt. Tam carrying camping gear on our backs for about 4-5 hours straight. That was tiring also. We should try that again, right UPSer?
Thanks for the memories
The weekend is over and I'm already looking forward to the next weekend. We'll be in Tahoe for a softball tournament, which is a yearly trip for our D.O.M Softball squad. It stands for Dirty Ol' Men. But in between I'll have some dates at work to attend to but I also have jury duty on thursday in Vallejo. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get out of it, let's hear it. Although I would love to do my civic duty and serve, I also know that I would just embarrass myself and fall asleep during the trial. I don't think I can tell the judge that though.
As for the weekend that just passed, I want to thank all of you who took the time to make the trek out to the double V. I really enjoyed bbqing for ya'll. I hope you enjoyed the OYSTERS. Those guys were huge! I hope your hearing all came back after pumping the surround sound to the top levels. And I hope you'll all come back down again. We're still looking to do a real housewarming and houseblessing. Congrats to Ledge and Aileen on having their house blessed this weekend also. Good things do happen to good people.
3 (days off), it's a magic number
Almost at that weekend, just a couple hours more. I'm thinking of all of you, whom I consider a friend but really as family. Be safe out there. Not to bring anyone down but a lot can happen out there so whatever you do, be mindful of your thoughts and actions. When you're holding that bottle rocket between your butt-cheeks, think again. When your taking that 6th shot of Petron, make sure it's not before you're driving home. And as you dress yourself in the colors of our beautiful flag, remember that there are people out there who are trying to limit your rights as an individual. Thank God that we live in a country that still allows us Freedom of Speech but for how long, we'll just have to see. Fight the power!
