Sunday, November 07, 2010

Orange October/November





Many of you know that I'm a Giants season ticket holder, which means this past month has been
heaven for all of long-suffering Giants fans. Here are some of the scenes I was able to witness.

Giants clinch NL West




World Series Game 1







World Series Game 2





Giants Parade








Wednesday, October 27, 2010

October 2010

My cute niece



Grandfather's Memorial - the family picture


My family at the Memorial


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Happy Bastille Day 2010

I celebrated this Bastille Day helping some stones break free from their dark dank prison known as my ureter. Thankfully, the stones were freed sans guillotine.

Today's Lithotripsy has gone well so far. The 8mm kidney stone is now pulverized and I've been having no problems thus far with passing a mini sand storm through my urethra. I look at these pebbles of calcium and the thought of them once joined together in a huge meteorite configuration reminded me of the threat that beheld the Earth in Armageddon. People, who have had this procedure, told me the days after can be a mini vacation to hell. Luckily, no vomiting, only a bit of nausea, no huge pieces as of yet to pass. I am collecting them in a specimen container so that the hospital can analyze why I've now had to undergo these pains for the third time in my life.

Although much of my summer vacation has passed as I await the completion of the stones' journey, I hope to have a few remaining days of nice weather and relaxation before I start planning to teach senior English for the first time in my life. I've taught seniors CAHSEE class, basic remediation class, and now I will show them senior exit project. May they graduate...

Monday, April 19, 2010

Fun with the new Camera



Here are my early attempts in learning how to use my SLR camera. I still have trouble getting action shots that are not blurry. Lance has returned to pitching for the first time since his surgery. Boujie, my sister's dog, has been my test guinea pig for the most part.











Straight No Chaser



Thanks Macho for introducing this to me.

Glee is back, but so is 6-bee

Jimmy Fallon did a great parody version of Glee the other night.

Friday, April 02, 2010

Filipino references in pop culture

A couple of days ago my brother and I were talking about the many Filipino references that seem to pop up on 30 Rock. Admittedly, I don't know whether or not to laugh or not. I usually don't find too much humor in stereotypes, even if the speaker of the joke is of the targeted group (as I am watching Robin Williams on Ferguson discussing how he offended Australia). References can be both positive and negative, and I usually just let it be and remain a "silent witness."

Oddly, the first time I can really remember hearing "Filipino" in a song was in Motley Crue's "Same Ol' Situation." I thought to myself "What exactly is Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx saying about Filipino women?" and really... just about every song objectified women... and I was just a teenager screaming along to they lyrics without much pause...

College, Life, a near run for a political seat in local politics, teaching have all made me much more aware and sensitive to all aspects of different "-isms." But do I ever really say anything? No. I've wanted to blog about every reference I have heard over the years, but then I felt overwhelmed and lazy and never did.

So, why comment now? Not sure... I'm on spring break and have some time to procrastinate. It's Good Friday, and I was always taught not to enjoy myself, but rather I should contemplate the seriousness of life...

... I woke up this morning not wanting to get out of bed and decided to catch up on the newest Entertainment Weekly, which could fuel all kinds of discussion on pop culture... The first thing I saw was this little blurb that said Glee "is looking for a fifty-something Filipina or Hispanic actress to play... Sue's (presumably long-suffering) maid." Then I began to imagine all the tirades that would emanate from Sue's mouth and how rife with offensiveness they could be. I'm curious how this will be handled.

So after having perked my interest, I see another curious entry from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim. They have a new album called Here Lies Love... the concept for this album... let's read Byrne's own introduction for the CD... “The story I am interested in is about asking what drives a powerful person—what makes them tick? How do they make and then remake themselves? I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if—as this piece would be principally composed of clubby dance music—one could experience it in a club setting? Could one bring a ‘story’ and a kind of theater to the disco? Was that possible? If so, wouldn’t that be amazing!”

The featured track on the website is an imagined duet between Imelda Marcos and Estrella, as sung by Cyndi Lauper and Tori Amos (two artists I tend to like). A picture of Imelda graces the cover and the entirety of the album reflects her story. The idea of a theatrical story being told in a dance club does seem interesting, although I don't know how many of the people there will be visualizing the story of Imelda Marcos.

I am curious and will listen to all the short bits on the website linked above on the album title and probably even more on iTunes when the album is released next Tuesday. I probably won't write any review, but I put this out there for some of you to consider. For those curious, EW gave the CD a "B." If you want to hear some of the songs until the CD is released, you can check out NPR. Personally, I'm finding the collection quite intriguing, especially growing up in the age of 70s disco.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Meet Ava

Six weeks ago L and MA had their baby daughter Ava, which turned me into an uncle for the first time. You've probably seen many pictures already if you're on their facebook, but I wanted to post a couple for my blog.


I love the pic with Ava looking up at MA while she has Will Clark's eyes on her shirt.


The dog is Boujie and he's irritating, but my sister loves him... so I thought to include him for once.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Wii Mii


Because I think it's hilarious how into the Wii my dad has become...

Catching up on my quick jaunt to Hawaii






At the end of January, I was feeling overwhelmed by pain, work, stress, and other mental musings that have been congealing into the mucus that causes postnasal drip and leads to endless fits of coughing.

What better way to fix this problem than by making a quick trip to Hawaii... that's right... on the weekend that LOST was about to make its season 6 premiere at sunset on the beach, destiny called me to Oahu. The Wednesday before the premiere after wallowing in paperwork and listening to my heart and the randos, I looked up the airfares to Hawaii. Surprisingly, semi-affordable. Now, my brain said, "Don't do it! You'll be maxing out the credit card!" My heart thought about Waikiki beach, LOST, and maybe a chance to meet the cast of the show or even Jay and Jack. My BFF May found a cheaper flight, I booked it, and less than 48 hours later I was in Hawaii.

I enjoyed some wonderful time hanging out with May and her family. Her son is growing up so much. Aside from the premiere, the weekend was great. I got to eat at my favorite places, especially Bubbies and the Old-fashioned Pancake House.

So if you'd like to hear the rest of the story, you can... go to iTunes and listen to the Randy Rando Randonopolis Podcast or click here... you can actually hear my voice on one of the first segments of the show. Then, stop and listen to the rest of their podcasts and subscribe to their show. Leave comments on iTunes about what a great guest I am, so they can bring back the D-Rock P. Zilla to make another cameo...

one of the best parts of the entire trip... no one sat next to me on both flights to and fro... YES!



May got to get a pic with Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonel)

Friday, March 12, 2010

On Call Doctor

Around 8pm tonight, I received a very unexpected call from my physician at Kaiser. Recently, I've had a few lab tests done on my urine and blood. Just two days, I was fitted for orthopedic shoes, which will h0pefully alleviate the foot pain I have due to bone spurs growing into both my Achilles' tendons. Now, Kaiser does send me emails to let me know the results of these lab tests, but when I read the numbers of my test results, there is no real explanation for they mean. I know some numbers are within range while some are elevated. So when my doctor called me at home for the first time, I was slightly alarmed. It's Friday night, and she's going over my case files... finally hitting her paperwork possibly... and then she sees the need to follow up with me...

Well, evidently I have high levels calcium, which maybe caused by some parathyroid issue (I'm not even sure if that's right). But I do remember her saying there's 4 of them near my thyroid and I may have to have some of them removed surgically and something from my arm would be taken out to replace it. What? Well, I need to see an endocrinologist a week from now to determine just what's going on this time in my body. It may be nothing and no surgery will be even needed. Calcium could just be high. But the possibility of another surgery looms over me. And if the orthopedic shoes can't work wonders, summer of 2011 will be spent recovering from surgery to remove the bone spurs in my feet to prevent the further shredding of my tendons. It may even cause me to miss a month to a semester from work... I guess I won't renew my Giants tickets in 2011.

Gina's early birthday dinner

Last night, several friends and I went to Beijing Buffet to celebrate Gina's birthday. I am so thankful to have the people that were there in my life. Many great stories were shared, but the highlight of the night of course was Macho recounting how he proposed to Gina a fortnight ago.

Congratulations you two!

On an odd note: I also like how the two of them fear the thought of me speaking at their wedding or even scarier for them, my brother or Auntie Shirley.... muah ha ha ha... muah ha ha ha... maybe Auntie Shirley will make some special candles for you.

Lip Sync Rally and more

This year's edition of the 2010 lip sync rally was based on the mash-ups shown on Glee--a combination of unlike songs paired together to produce some interesting results. I'm pretty sure there will be youtube videos up soon, since they usually pop up within the next 48 hours.

However, the most disconcerting, but understandable, part of the rally was the lack of a teachers' performance. Unfortunately, it did not happen this year for a variety of reasons. After the rally, students came up to me asking what happened to the teachers. I just said it didn't come together, but I know some teachers said it was due to budget cuts in a mocking way to poke fun of what is a very serious situation at our school. The state budget crisis is forcing our school board to make some difficult decisions, which may or may not include the cutting of some elective programs. The thought of students no longer having the opportunity to take classes that provide life skills such as auto and foods is truly sad. I know those electives may not fulfill college prerequisites, but there will always be a need for careers in automotive and food industries. As the activities director, I admit that I fear other programs like dance, music and student leadership may one day face this same challenge, and though we might be spared this year, if the crisis continues, there is no telling what may happen in the future.

This mood has been pervading our campus as students and teachers question just what the future holds, and with today being a rally day for me, I was in more stressed out mood than normal. So, when an ex-EC student set foot on campus during the rally set up, my tension seemed to build when he was disrespectful to our security when he wouldn't stop. I had to follow him and he was none too happy to see me. Although he did make a threatening gesture and vocalized some profanities to me and got my blood pressure boiling, no incident followed, especially when more security and administrators arrived to the scene. Thank goodness. I did have a hard time settling into the rally prep with adrenaline pumping through me, but I am just happy a possible explosive situation was diffused.

Now a quick trip to the past to remind all of you what you may have missed from the previous lip sync rallies.



Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Flash Snow Storm

Wednesday, March 5th, my co-worker DV and I drove up to Reno for a CADA conference. However, our journey would be delayed as the biggest snow storm I have been in that I can remember blocked our path. The journey took from 8am to 5:30pm. 3-4 hours of that was spent never moving. We were stuck somewhere after Gold Run. Before we actually were stuck, the snow came slamming into the windscreen and visibility was quickly dropping to 200ft. to 8ft. I probably cursed us when at breakfast I made a comment that being a teacher is what taught me to finally have patience in my life.

Oddly enough, upon my return from my conference, I saw my father and he told me there was an article in the Chronicle about the snow, so here are some pics of where I was.













Above left: This is the beginning of the line of traffic. DV and I were stuck about 400ft. behind that red truck. I remember starting at that damn thing for hours just hoping it would move.

Above right: This is basically a picture of me, except we didn't have chains on our vehicle and, for once, I wasn't wearing shorts, but I was standing out there a long while hoping blood would flow in my varicose veins again.


Below: Well, if you looked away from the highway, the scene was rather tranquil.