Fiesta de Navidad en Palmdale

On Christmas eve, my brother took me and Pumpkin to his parent’s house in Palmdale. This is the annual fiesta that the de Guzman’s have where most of the family gathers to have fun into the wee hours of the night. We drove in two cars - Pumpkin and Sarah in the Subaru with Teri and Matthew (big boy) with Eric and I in the Toyota. We left around 6 PM and headed up the 170 to the 5 north. I enjoy those moments in the car with Eric because that is really a good time to catch up on life and get into some good, meaty discussions. Things were going okay, but Eric was worried about Matthew getting strangled by his seat belt since he had fallen fast asleep and his head was leaning off to one side.  I checked a few times and confirmed that big boy was just fine. Still, Eric was nervous enough to suggest that I drive while he sat in back. No problem. We stopped at a gas station and did the switch. There were a lot of cars moving in and out of the gas station and as I carefully guided the car out of the station, Eric commented on how I drive like a grandma. I didn’t deny it. In fact I wear that grandma driving badge proudly because I always believe that being careful is better than being reckless. Onward we went. The traffic was slow like thick blood moving through the arteries of an old, balding Jewish man who likes to wolf down slabs of cream cheese drenched bagels. Finally the traffic cleared up and it was smooth sailing on the 14 east to Palmdale. We exited the freeway and Eric had a little trouble locating the street to turn on. We missed the turn and I had to do a u-turn at the next street. We arrrived at the house and knocked on the door. After a few seconds Beto answered and welcomed us in. I greeted Teri’s parents and her sisters. Her sisters came up to say hello and hug me but I wasn’t sure who was who. I know Lupita (Pita) and Lourdes but her other sisters like Carmen and Chele. I know Teri will read this post and give me the guidance I so desperately need. On a side note, I started an online family tree that I hope Teri can contribute to so the information will be close at hand if needed in the future. I am bad at remembering names, even my own relatives.I sat down while Pumpkin went off to play. Teri’s sister (Teri - name please) offered me a bowl of pozole, a traditional Mexican soup eaten at important occasions. I have had it before and it tasted really good. Beto had made a giant bowl of hot salsa which I added to the pozole along with all the other good stuff like lettuce and raddish. This was a good opportunity to speak in Spanish since, well, everyone there spoke. David (Lourdes’s husband) brought in a Karaoke player. This was what I had anxiously prepared for. I like to sing songs in Spanish as well as collect lyrics to songs I particularly enjoy. Not knowing what the setup would be, I had gone into my own Yahoo group to fetch some lyrics to some songs and had them in my back pocket just in case. There is nothing more embarrassing than to stand up and try and sing a song and not know all the lyrics. I was determined to make sure that would never happen on my watch. After Beto got it set up, he brought over a bottle of Tequila and asked if I wanted a shot before I started. "Ahora no necessito", I replied confident that I could belt out a song without the loosening effects of alchohol. I began crooning out the songs, "Volver, Volver", "Mexico Lindo Y Querido", "Guadalajara, Guadalajara" and so forth. Somehow, hearing my own voice gave me the willies. Why? I usually sing in my head and only sometimes sing out loud when I am listening to a song on the Internet. Now that I was singing with a microphone in my hand, the high notes just didn’t sound as good as they sound in my head. After the first song, I decided that a lo mejor, deberia tomar un trago de Tequila. So I downed a shot or two with lime and that felt better. Throughout the night I alternated between joining in with the singing and watching my brother play scrabble with Miguel and some of the teenage boys - Chino, Eric and Francois. Time went by quickly. It came time to open Christmas presents. The teenagers came first, followed by the little ones and then the adults. Pumpkin ended up with a large, soft pillow in the shape of a cartoon character and some little toys. As it got later, she came up to me and told me she was bored because the other little girls were not really playing. I tried to help her out but I could tell she was getting tired. It got later and the teenagers invited me to join in a game called Mafia. I said sure and listened as Francois began explaining how this mystery game played with cards worked. Halfway through the explanation, Eric came over and asked if I was ready to go. It was already 11:30 and Pumpkin was half asleep. I decided that it was a good time to go so I said goodbye to everyone and we left. Teri stayed behind while Eric and I tucked the three little ones into the back seat of the Subaru. We started off and by the time we got on the freeway a few minutes later, Sarah was snoring and all three of them were fast asleep. But a new crises arose. The gauge on the gas tank read empty. This was not good. We were starting up the hill to leave Palmdale and it was getting more sparsely populated. We debated about whether we should turn around. Finally, Eric assured me that there was a gas station up ahead a few miles. Fortunately, we made it to the gas station and after we tanked up, we got into some more meaty discussions as we made our way home.

Traveling on Amtrak

Pumpkin and I took the Amtrak train from Van Nuys to San Juan Capistrano yesterday. On the way down to Orange County, we decided to get some snacks in the dining car. While waiting to pay for our food, we heard an angry woman shout out, "where is my water?" What the hell? There were 10 people waiting in line and suddenly this woman was demanding water. She then went on to rant about how she had a business class ticket and she wanted her god damn water delivered to her seat. The poor cashier did his best to placate her. He even apologized for the staffing shortage due to the holidays and tried to convince her to return to her seat. The woman, too agitated and angry about not being served in her seat, marched over to the refrigerator, grabbed a bottled water and stomped off while shouting how she was never going to ride Amtrak again. Good, I hope she doesn’t. The world needs less of these kind of people.

Trip to Orange County and San Diego Zoo

Wow, my first vacation in about a year! Last year at this time I was driving back from L.A. in a rented U-haul listening to Mexican music with a sofa in the back. This time we flew down to John Wayne airport and then rented a car. First leg of the trip was pretty uneventful. I am the type that waits until the last minute to pack and why not? All I need is some clean underwear, t-shirts and socks. Pants can simply be worn and reworn until they disintegrate off my body.

We arrived Thursday late morning and proceeded to rent a car from Hertz. Lucky for us the counter was pretty empty and there were lots of cars. I chatted it up with the clerks at the counter and we ended up with a free upgrade to a nice Subaru Outback. Yea! That was much better than the little, tiny Hyundai we had reserved. Now out on the open road of the 405, if you could call it that, our first stop was lunch. I hadn't eaten breakfast and my stomach was growling. Westminster has the largest Vietnamese population in the entire U.S. and offers visitors an overwhelming number of small cafes selling Fuuh. I don't think I spelled that right but it means rice noodle soup in large bowls with fresh vegetables on the side that you throw into the soup and mix while the soup is hot. It didn't take us long to find one. Simply got off at Magnolia Blvd and headed east a couple of miles. Restaurant was one of those hole in the walls where nobody speaks any English. That's the kind I like. Mmm that was good! After slurping downthe soup we rolled ourselves over to the bakery next door for some dessert drinks and croissants. Next stop was Aquarium By the Sea in Long Beach. The regular price is over $45 which is a little pricey to watch fishies swim around in giant tanks. Thank the wifey for finding out how to get half off. Just go to any Long Beach library and take out a book. Show the receipt at the ticket booth and get 1/2 off. Simple as that. The library is so used to out-of-towners coming in to do just that, they took out the book for me and then returned it just so I could get my receipt. Lovely.

Long Beach Aquarium was really worth visiting. No, it's not as large as the Monterey Bay Aquarium but the exhibits were designed and laid out very well. It was educational and entertaining for all of us and pumpkin really enjoyed the whole experience. Monterey Bay had a lot of jelly fish but Long Beach had big sharks swimming in a pool in the back. They also had more exhibits that allowed visitors to actually touch and feel the creatures. In case anyone is curious, stingrays have skin as smooth as butter and sharks have rough skin. They also had a walk thru bird enclosure where I carried a small cup of nectar and these small birds instantly flew up to me and perched right on my hand while they drank out of the cup. If I can salvage the video it gets more exciting as 3 or 4 birds flew up and landed on me , some on my shoulder and some walking up and down my arms waiting their turn to drink.

A couple of hours later we were getting tired. It was time to go to Nana and Papa's. Since my dad is permanently disabled we really couldn't stay overnight. Instead my mom made a salmon dinner and we stayed and talked until about 9:30. They live in a gated retirement community in Mission Viejo near the corner of Olympiad and Jeronimo.

We spent the night at Laura and Michael's house which is just a couple of miles away in yet another gated community. That's how it is down there. Everyone wants to lock themselves away from the outside world to keep the riff raff out. Mission Viejo is an affluent Orange County community surrounded by other affluent communities such as Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel. Okay, I am going to digress here to get some stuff off my chest. Mission Viejo is a very Republican area, similar too Placer County. And surprise, surprise, both Laura and Michael are right of center. Sorry, that was an understatement. They are way out in right field and adhere to a very rigid, ideology of the world that makes it difficult for the rest of our family to relate to. And BTW, this is not at all a condemnation of conservatism. The Republican party before it was taken over by the religious right was the party of fiscal restraint, a strong military and limited government. But today the party of Lincoln has morphed itself into a frightening brand of neo-conservative ideology mixed with religious fervor that is hostile to science and threatens our democracy and civil liberties. And for the life of me I can't figure out how any rational minded person could swallow such crap. I really can't. This is why I can't figure out how someone as intelligent as Laura ended up embracing this nutty idea that unbridled capitalism cures everything. In other words, all economical, environmental and social problems can be solved by private companies operating in a completely free market without regulation and the only purpose of government is to provide national defense. I would like to know what society exists on this earth that has successfully implemented this type of ideology. And the operative word here is successfully. I challenge anyone reading this blog to give me even one example.

The truth is that it is just an ideology. It isn't even a theory. Like a religion, it lacks scientific support either in the form of hard evidence, corrobative statistics or even common sense rationale that would give it legitimacy. Instead, it brings out the worst in the people that gravitate to its message of exclusion and division. Whether it is spewing out hateful invectives against gays, liberals, Mexicans, Blacks and anyone else perceived as unpatriotic, lazy or just different or simply bemoaning the existence of the welfare state, as they refer to it, there is just no reasoning with its followers. I liken it to Scientology or some cult because like a cult, it shuns and belittles reasoned arguments and asks people to simply blindly follow it because it is the right way. How much better the world would be without government they constantly remind us. Excuse me, but government does serve an important purpose and if you want to live in a civilized society there is a need to help those that are unable to help themselves. Every government in operation right now represents a mix of political policies, a blend that is not all one way. There are always going to be poor people. And ironically, the poor are the key components to keeping the capitalist machine operating smoothly. If you discard them like garbage on the street, they will create social unrest and threaten the stability of society. If the poor are provided with some of the basics, affluent people won't feel so afraid and be so inclined to lock themselves up in gated communities to keep the riff raff out.

Instead of focusing on the really important issues such as dealing with global warming, health care and jobs, conservatives keep harping on all the idiotic social issues such as abortion and gay marriage that have zero relevance to the average American but force everyone to take sides so we end up being a nation divided. So what is left? The only thing left is the issue of paying taxes which is one of the key underlying principles or motivating factor behind the ideology of the far right. They simply do not want to pay taxes. Well, heck, neither do I but I also understand that I live in this society and use the services that my government provides so it is my responsibility to pay for what I use. And what the hell is wrong with being compassionate? Why is that such a bad word? If you want dog eat dog go live on an island without any rules and see how pleasant that kind of existence will be.

Okay, now I am really fired up...

I am fucking sick and tired of being labeled unpatriotic for questioning the pathetic excuse for government that we have today. Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, not some stupid magnetic sticker on the back of an SUV that says Support our Troops. You want to support our troops? Get rid of that 4500 pound mammoth tank you have, get off your fat ass and start walking a little more. That's right. Patriotism means individual sacrifice, not proclaiming yourself patriotic simply by wrapping yourself in an American flag. Instead of asking the country to unite together thru collective sacrifice after 9/11, Bush asked everyone to go shopping at the mall. All the sacrifices were going to be made by brave 18 year old men and women and that is how it has been. This is their sick, perverted strategy to keep the war effort going. It's their war, not our war. Even media coverage of the coffins coming home was suppressed to prevent erosion of support and keep Americans focused on buying things. But guess what? Support has eroded anyways because thankfully, many Americans have finally pulled their heads out of the sand. There is enough dissatisfaction and anger out there to push the Repubs out of power completely by 2008. It is not going to happen without a fight but I remain hopeful that the trend started in the midterm elections of 2006 will continue next year. And I don't care which Democrat wins - Obama, Clinton or Edwards. Any of them would be a 1000% improvement. I don't envy whoever does win due to the massive mountain of crap otherwise known as the legacy of Bush/Cheney whom some are now referring to as the worst administration in U.S. history.

All this ranting and raving brings me back to Laura. Had she not married Michael, there is no way in hell she would be buying into this dogma. You see, Michael had a personal experience that changed him. Fact is, he used to be a moderate Democrat, but some experience he had while teaching angered him so much he did a 180 degree turn and went over to the other side. And Laura just followed him down that path of extremist ideology, without questioning, without any reflection, without really any pause to figure out if this stuff really makes sense. She just converted to Michaelism. And although they spend a significant amount of time brainwashing Molly into following Michaelism, there is hope for her as she gets older. At 12 years of age, I can see that her personality is similar to pumpkins - headstrong,stubborn and defiant. My hope is that when she is about 16 or 17, she will have had enough experiences and contact with other points of view to reject this nonsensical ideology and stake out her own views. I wish for the same with the pumpkin. I always encourage pumpkin to never simply accept what someone says as true just because they say it is true and question anything that doesn't make sense. If she just uses simple critical thinking skills, I will have done my job as a parent and if that means questioning me, then so be it.

My parents and I think alike politically. That is to say, we are left of center and I am very proud of that fact. I firmly believe that scientific methodology, not political or religious ideology, and not some nonsensical dogmatic shit is the most reliable means to approach and solve the problems in our world. We made it to the moon, decoded the human genome, and produced the fastest computers through scientific research. And now with all the critical challenges facing us such as global warming and overpopulation, science will once again play a crucial role. Do I want to elect leaders like that incompetent fool in the White House who has regular conversations with God, believes that man walked out of the garden of eden and employs whatever subversive strategy he can muster to suppress science or do I elect leaders that are committed to using a common sense approach to solving these critical problems? As far as I see, only the Democrats offer that kind of leadership.

So to keep the peace, we have an unwritten code of silence when it comes to discussing anything remotely  resembling politics around Laura and Michael. We avoid it like the plague. All this has taken a toll on my mom. She thinks Michael doesn't like her and perhaps deep down she is right. He may see her as a threat. Who knows? But they seemed to get a long just fine when we were down there.

Okay, now back to the vacation. Boy that was quite a digression.  Early Friday morning we headed south to the San Diego Zoo. Unbelievably, we made it through the entire park in about 5 hours with practically no resting in between. Looking at the map of the park it didn't seem possible but somehow we managed. Towards the end, pumpkin started to poop out and just about that time I found an abandoned toddler stroller that was just perfect. That allowed me to push her down the road at a fast clip. All she wanted to see were the zebras and they were on the far side of the park, way on the other end.

That was quite a workout and it worked us up to a big appetite. We finished off our day with a feast at Black Angus. Way too much food. Couldn't finish it and had to take the leftovers back to Laura's.

Saturday was picture day. We all met at the photographers for a group shot. Somehow I just knew that it is highly unlikely that we would all get together again like this since I can't even remember ever doing this before.

Sunday it was back to Sacramento. We took a morning flight back and that was that. Not enough time and tha's how it always is but enjoyable nonetheless.

Traveling to L.A.

Flew down to Burbank this weekend for a short stay and see wifey and pumpkin off to Taiwan. Stayed at Eric and Teri’s Friday and Saturday night. The flight was scheduled for 1 AM Monday morning so I took pumpkin and wifey late Sunday night. Couldn’t believe how crowded LAX was at 10:30 PM on a Sunday evening. Long lines of Indians dragging huge suitcases and boxes snaked out of the terminal. On the other side, an equally long line of Chinese passengers waited outside. At 12:30 AM it was time to board. Said goodbye and pumpkin started crying. She had me baobao her for the whole time we were in the airport up until the time we said goodbye.

Now the adventure, so to speak, began. First thing Monday morning my brother dropped me off at Budget rent a truck in Van Nuys. The arrangement was to pick up my mom’s sofa and loveseat and haul back to Gold River. Now I just needed a little help. And that wasn’t hard to find at all. After picking up the truck, I drove down Van Nuys Blvd and headed right on Oxnard. Looking over to my right, a group of jornaleros were running towards me, waving their arms wildly and yelling at me. I stopped and they nearly fought each other to get inside. I told them solamente necesito un par de brazos, nada mas and then a short guy named Jose pushed his way in and said "I can help you" in somewhat broken English. Everything loaded up fine plus some additional items that I didn’t really ask for but mom wanted me to have anyways such as plates and end tables and lamps. Paid Jose a $20 and I was alone to drive back up to Rancho Cordova. First stop was 99 Ranch market to pick up some lunche and drinks. Drove about an hour and a half and made my first stop at bottom of Grape Vine. There is a cluster of fast food restaurants and gas stations right there off to the left and I sat and pigged out for about an hour. The rest of the drive was loud Mexican music all the way. As one station got weak, I simply switched to another station that got stronger. Made it back to Rancho Cordova around 6:30 and called Melody’s husband Jim to help me unload.Ah what a relief. Now I was home alone, literally!

Trip to Disneyland

Flew down to L.A. a couple of weeks ago and drove down to Disneyland with Eric, Teri, Rebecca, Sarah, baby Matthew and us of course. Stayed at the Crowne Plaza Resort on Harbor Blvd South, right across the street from a Target and approximately 1 mile away from Disneyland. It is a 5 star hotel, pretty expensive but we had the whole thing for $99 for 2 nights and 2 adult passes to Disneyland. The catch was that in order to receive our Disney passes, we were going to have to listen to a 90 minute timeshare presentation.

We arrived at the hotel around 6:30 PM on Friday evening. The traffic was horrible! Ever drive down the 5 from downtown L.A. to Anaheim on a Friday night? It’s not pleasant. We had Rebecca in our car which gave us a lot of time to talk and chat while moving around 5 miles an hour. Anyways, we got to the hotel a little worn out but ate dinner at a Thai restaurant down the street and then came back to rest for next morning. We had room 248 and Eric and Teri had room 247 across the way. Turns out that our room was right on top of one of the ballrooms used for a Christmas party. The music was vibrating and booming loud enough that pooch had me go down to complain. This was around 10:30 PM. I got down there and checked out the party. It was going strong with some Mexican Nortena band playing. The hotel staff was very accommodating. The woman at the front desk immediately assigned us to 813, far up and far away from any noise. That turned out to be a good move cause the view from 813 was better than looking at a Target sign from 247.

Next day bright and early, we all trooped downstairs to the lobby to wait for the timeshare presentation. This was nothing new to me. I knew these type of salespeople never take no for an answer and pile on the pressure to buy something that I have no interest in acquiring. After a breakfast of sour milk and a bagel, I was psyched up and ready for the session. We checked in and were led in by a woman who said we had to put the kids in a childcare during the presentation for obvious reasons. After checking in the pumpkin and Sarah and Rebecca, we asked the woman about Matthew who was only 10 months. This turned out to be our lucky ticket cause the childcare was only licensed to handle age 2 - 9 and that meant someone would have to take care of the little tyke while we were occupied. We all sat down and after reviewing the situation and speaking to her supervisor, the woman gifted all of us and we didn’t have to sit thru the sales pitch at all! This gave us a 1.5 hour headstart so of course we went straight to Disneyland via bus. Disneyland was as crowded as the 5 freeway was the previous day before. There were long lines to get in. Somehow we ended up in the line where all the strollers were going thru which was moving like a snail so we switched to another line that moved a lot faster. Finally inside it was a zoo everywhere. Every ride had long lines. We waited nearly an hour to ride the Peter Pan ride in fantasyland and then everyone was hungry so we walked around looking for a place to eat that wasn’t too packed. We walked into Frontierland and settled on a place that was called something like Southern Belle something or other. Another 45 minute wait to order a plate of BBQ chicken while the girls waited for an open table. After lunch strolled around and sat down in main street for the 3 PM main street parade. That was fun and pumpkin really liked seeing all the characters.By this time, all the kids were sleepy, including the pumpkin, despite me baobaoing her most of the time. It’s either daddy baobao or daddy, I want to be on top of you. We decided to head back to the hotel for a rest and then return to the park in the evening when we expected it would be less crowded. I insisted on walking back since that is the only real way to get to know South Harbor Blvd. Everyone else took the bus back.For some reason I had a ton of energy. I walked at high speed and in a short amount of time had visited a t-shirt place and made it back to the hotel within 1/2 hour. Opened up the room and pooch and pumpkin were both snoring loudly. Decided to do some exercise and went down to the weight room. The weight room had a few old treadmills and a couple of weight machines. I started on the treadmill to get a good sweat and noticed the air was stale as an armpit. Went outside and notified the front desk. The clerk said not to worry. Would call engineering. Engineering? All I need is someone to work the thermostat to get some air circulating. Went back to continue on the treadmill and after around 20 minutes still no one showed up. Again went out to the front desk and complained. Same answer. "Don’t worry, we will call engineering."  Went back in and lifted some weights. Around that time, Rebecca came in and started running on another treadmill. Right after that, a woman that looked like a housekeeper, not an engineer, opened up the door, looked at me, looked at Rebecca, looked at me again, looked up at the ceiling and then closed the door. That was enough for me. I left and changed into a bathing suit and took a dip in the pool and sat in the jacuzzi. That was a lot more pleasant, except for the lady with the tree trunk legs with her boyfriend or husband smoking only 10 feet away. Finally, they left and I was alone in bliss in the hot tub.Went back upstairs and pumpkin and pooch were up and ready to eat. We all decided to eat at Cocos across the street.