PART 1 – vacation….
last week, we had a three day vacation from UC Berkeley….it always bugged me when students came back and asked – “how was your spring break?” i had to bite back the retort –
“i’m not a student. i really work here – full-time.”
i know they don’t mean to group me with the student population and that it was a general question. instead, i say:
“i don’t get a spring break – staff keeps working.”
that’s not mean sounding, is it? just the truth….
gau, mark, and i took off on thursday for los angeles – to visit my bro and to see family and old friends….the weather was nice and hot – but too windy…stupid Santa Ana Winds…we wanted to go to catalina on friday. i monitored the traffic reports on the various news stations – one traffic helicopter went on a bit of a vindictive kick. the traffic reporter witnessed a hit and run on the 101 with this white car – she had the helicopter deviate from it’s standard freeway coverage and tail the white car, through van nuys and all over la….it was funny and shocking….and when i started to reflect on it….pretty damn disturbing. think about it – ktla morning news is not only creating it’s own “car chase” story (which la news stations love) – the traffic reporter was also calling on police to come get this guy. she was trying to fly low enough to get the license plate. every bone of journalistic integrity protested what was unfolding on the local news. what happened to objectivity? what happened to being a witness to events? in this newscast, the traffic reporter became an active particpant in the chase and the news story wasn’t about a hit and run and the guy who got away. the news story evolved into the traffic reporter trying to bring this guy to justice. it’s wrong. so wrong.
well…thanks to other stations’ traffic coverage – we found out the 101 had a big rig accident and that it was shut down in the east bound direction. we ended up using that freeway anyways and made it down to the balboa pennisula. it was soooo quiet down there…and windy. sadly, we missed the only boat out to catalina. we skipped out of balboa and chilled at newport beach for a bit. i had a yummy lobster burrito at sharkeez. we also hanged out on the sand and ran into the water…..it was sooo cold but oh soooo refreshing. (i had some lovely pix of us in the water, but my stupid camera had a tiny opening, exposing all the film…argh) i felt so carefree – running into the water…just like when i was little…and you could feel the tide pull – something that no human can really screw with. i don’t think. just letting go my inhibitions and baggage….it was lovely…
we also dropped by the block in orange and vetoed gau’s idea to watch “head of state”….we opted for “sprited away” instead. heck, it’s won the oscar for best animated feature. i’ll write a review for it when i get a chance….
oh yeah – we also had a blast with some rock and roll bowling. my dad nearly had a score of 200 (in reality: 199). i was rolling a 15 lb ball – which improved my consistency, i suppose 🙂
we celebrated jennie’s 23 b-day on saturday….all that yummy food….all that yummy bbq – and i couldn’t eat the bbq 🙁 that’s what i get for giving up meat and chicken…..still, my dad had a nice salmon dish that satsified my hunger. we also talked a bit to my other cousin, jc. He came over with his family, from the Philippines, a few months ago. The stupid high school thought this sixteen year old should be stuck as a freshman – he already took those clases in the Philippines. I suspect they are a bit biased when it came to ESL students….still, I encouraged him to enroll in some community college courses for future college credit. he plays the guitar quite well, and we bobbed our heads to his rendition of pearl jam’s daughter.
we jammed down to the hub…one of my old high school haunts – for some cool 80’s arcade games. during one of my last night in so cal, before i went off to college – my high school boyfriend asked me to walk with him, out in the parking lot (it’s a safe neighborhood…don’t worry). so, we broke away from my wacky buddies (mostly thespian club people) and talked, next to the train station. he told me that singapore was trying to draft him into the army – his family fled from the country a few years before – seeking political aslyum or something like that. They still had all their financial assests tied up in that country. Singapore promised to give his family access to their money, as long as they sent my boyfriend back to serve in the army (i think the country has mandatory service, when a guy turns 17). he was thinking about going back….i was terrified for him…..but his family told him not to worry about it – that they were doing alright with the business they built, here in the u.s. in the parking lot of the hub, that was were we decided to stay together through our college years – he was going to uc santa barbara. he said he wouldn’t let 400 miles keep him from loving me….awwww……yeah…that was sweet….but like most trends in my life, the relationship didn’t last past Halloween.
still, the hub was a great place for teenagers looking to get away from the diamond bar suburbs and drink coffee with the college students. one of the guitarists from my church choir had a few gigs there, out in their courtyard area.
besides, where else can i play paperboy? they added another arcade with modern games and i was almost crushed, thinking they got rid of the 80’s arcade….no worries, we found it in the next room.
i split off from everybody to meet up with my skating buddy Stacy….we’ve known each other since i was 5 years old…..we went to school together for a little bit….and we’ve seen each other grow-up on the ice.
these are her dogs – nikki and rocky
rocky has an asthma problem and he doesn’t like me – he kept wasting his breath on barking at me.
stacy got engaged in january….still a shock to me – since we’re the same age and i’m nowhere near ready to tie my life down with another human being. apparently – my dad’s company sends samples over to her lab. (our familes are close) – he recognized her voice on his voice mail – when he asked her if she was from brea – she figured out he was my dad….small world.
her dad had a claim jumper gift certificate and we caught up, over martinis and appetizers….argh…i couldn’t get the portebllo mushroom pizza in a small size…honestly, she looks the same to me, from back in college. she was a very graceful skater and she kicked butt in figures. she told me once that figures helped her focus on her studies – she didn’t pysch out easily on exams…..not after staring at thing tracings on the ice, for some time….she joked that she wanted to do a study on the affects of figures on our eyesite….i think we all needed glasses, after a while…..i figured my bat-like eyesite was due to the countless hours hiding under the covers with a flashlight and a book. she’s so smart….and despite being talented and outgoing and all that jazz – i was amazed by how down-to-earth she was with her friends….she had a bite to her personality – a sass that you needed to survive in skating. my goodness, she went through so many injuries – but she was tough – she kept coming back for more…i think we had some of our favorite moments skating, when we did shows for glacial gardens. for the disney show – i choreographed a group routine for her and two other friends, to a sleeping beauty tune….
ok…this is a long entry…i’ll start up another one for the rest of my recap…