October 2010

My cute niece



Grandfather's Memorial - the family picture


My family at the Memorial

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...

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.

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.

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.