i’m still sad about my grandfather passing.    i was speaking with my mother today and she was telling me about my grandmother’s reaction.  when they told her yesterday that grandfather had passed away, she was kind of in disbelief, confused and scared.  my mom told me that this morning my cousin lucy found my grandmother crying.  lucy didn’t know what to do so she called her two older brothers to talk to grandmother.  after grandmother hung up the phone with my cousin, she asked my cousin lucy, “how is grandfather?”  apparently she has moments of clarity and moments of confusion.  a part of me thinks that this is a blessing in disguise because she forgets so easily she will probably just live life as a happy-go-lucky lady. 

when i called my mother today, she told me that they had laid out a tray of rice, veggies, incense, a blown up picture of my grandfather and an electrical candle light so that the spirit of my grandfather would know where his home is.  my cousin has been up almost every hour making sure that the incense is buring constantly.  my mother says that the spirit of the dead will normally come back and you will see a foot print in the rice.  she said that they found a handprint in the rice today.  she thinks that since grandfather hasn’t been walking in awhile, maybe he crawled back.  i suggested that since he was in a wheelchair for so long that he wheeled himself back home and grabbed a handful of rice.  no one took a picture of the handprint – it would have been cool to see.  when i was talking to my mom, i could hear my cousin yelling in the background.  apparently my grandmother took the tray and shook it and the handprint was gone forever.  aiya grandmother!!!!  that handprint story my mother told me made me feel better.  it was as if my grandfather knew where his home was and had come back to visit. 

mila coloring with her great-grandfather.  i’m glad ed had me take these pictures.  they were so cute and so endearing.  it’s not normal for mila to feel so comfortable with people she doesn’t know very well.  but when she saw him, she walked up to him and she would color with him or touch his hand or hold his hand and he would have tears in his eyes.  i was so glad that they shared these brief moments together and that i was able to capture them in pictures – even if they are from my cell phone.  at least there is photographic proof of this very tender moment.

now all i am waiting for is when my mother calls me to tell me when the funeral is. . .

my mom called me today to tell me that my grandfather passed away in his sleep at around 2:30am.  i knew this was going to happen but i was still in a little bit of shock.  *sigh*  the baby sister doesn’t know yet.  she is in sydney australia visiting her friend cheston.  now i’m just waiting for the call to know when the funeral is going to take place.

12/25/2006 : left SFO on christmas on our way to tokyo, japan.  let’s just say that i tend to overpack whenever we take the shortie on any trip.  i was going to be in a foreign country with my little familia and i wasn’t sure what was going to happen so i packed everything – diapers, extra wipes, first aid kit, cold medication for me and ed as well as shortie, allergy medication for shortie and me, etc… you get the picture right?  anyway, got checked in at the airport, checked in the bags..  my bag was marked as “heavy” – go figure, must have been all the crap i packed.  the flight to japan was okay – there were many bits of turbulence though and mila was not having the staying put for 10+ hours. 

12/26/2006 : finally got into narita international airport, caught the airport limousine bus to take us to the hotel.  2+ hours later, approximately 7pm-ish, we were at the hotel, checked in, picked up the rental cellphone and connected with the family.  just chilled that first night, had dinner and slept. 

12/27/2006 : took the JR line and disney resort line to get to tokyo disney sea for mila.  that place is freaking awesome man.  they have different lands that make you feel like you’re in different parts of the world.  if you’ve been to disney epcot center, you’ll know what i mean.  you first head into the mediterranean harbor which makes it seem like you’re in the mediterranean sea / italy, then we headed to mysterious island and checked out the “20,000 leagues under the sea” ride – kind of like the submarine ride at disneyland. 

mila was really excited about disney sea since they had a area where ariel was called mermaid lagoon.  we stayed there for quite awhile riding “jumping jellyfish”, then “blowfish balloon race”.  we checked out “ariel’s playground” to check out the ship that eric came on, the grotto where all of ariel’s treasures were at and then rode “flounder’s flying fish roller coaster”.  that was mila’s first time on a roller coaster and she was holding onto my arm for dear life.  poor thing was so freaked out since the ride was faster than what she is used to.

after mermaid lagoon, we checked out “arabian coast” so mila could ride on the “caravan carousel”.  at first mila wanted to sit on the little benches but when she saw her auntie ride the “genie” and “horse” she wanted to join in the fun.  so we headed on over to a “horse” for mila and i ran into the side of a bench and jacked up on my leg with a huge ass bruise.  by the time we finished the carousel ride, mila passed out. 

then we headed to “lost river delta” to ride “raging spirts” or raaaaaging spiritooos” as the japanese called it.  it was VIE-GOR-OUS ride that would “rock your socks off.”  actually the ride sucked ass.  there weren’t really any scary or breathtaking drops, just going round and round and then ONE 360 degree turn and then it just ended.  it was like there was a build up and then it just faded flat. 

by the time we were done riding that ride and ginger and olivia had their turn we were hungry and the park was going to close soon.  we ended up eating at some korean bbq restaurant outside of the park and then headed back to the hotel.

12/28/2006 : woke up late and then headed to olivia’s town – maebashi in gunma.  it was such an adventure getting to maebashi with my dad since he injured his foot and had to be wheeled around in a wheelchair.  but i have to say, the japanese people that worked at the subway station were so efficient and so friendly with helping us getting my dad up the stairs on this wheelchair mover and getting him a ramp so that we could wheel him off the trains.  the station master would help us on and off the trains, tell us which train to get on so that they could call the next station so that the other station master would meet up with us at our next destination.  that’s what i call customer service.  when we finally got to maebashi, one taxi took my parents, ed and ginger to the post office so that they could exchange money and the second taxi took mila, olivia and i to her apartment so we could drop off luggage, etc.  then the three of us walked to the post office so we all could head over to martown for pizza.  afterwards we headed back to olivia’s apartment to meet up with her host parents to go to dinner at grace inn maebashi.  they are so nice and so friendly.  i’m glad that olivia has such awesome host parents that take care of her. 

12/29/2006 : went to harajuku so that we all could peep out the BAPE store.  when we finally got there there was a sign that said it was freaking closed from 12/28/06 – 1/3/07 for the new years!  OMG.  WTF.  we found this other store that had BAPE products a few stores down.  i found a t-shirt that was hella cool and bought it for $82.  i have never paid so much money for a t-shirt.  ed, ginger and olivia ended up getting the same baby milo hoodie for $300+.  jesus, what is the hype about this brand?  i guess they make a limited amount of the clothing that they’re in high demand.  afterwards, we just walked around harajuku, bought a few things (i bought a beanie cause it was so freaking cold, olivia bought a knitted hat and a skirt and ginger bought a dress and a skirt), ate some food (doner kebabs and a crepe – yum!), people watched – saw some people hella dressed up like anime characters, then headed to shibuya.  shibuya is a trip – so many orange / tanned people (boys and girls), headed to mcdonald’s there to check out the skyline and get shortie something to eat and then met up with my mom’s friend for dinner at this awesome restaurant that looked like it was from the shogun movie in meguro.  the dinner was traditional japanese – 8 courses of small dishes of various foods.  it was so beautiful there and i think we found our next hotel when we come back to japan to visit.  after dinner we all headed back to the hotel and got ready to go out and check out japanese nightlife.  we ended up in shibuya again to this hip hop lounge / club called shibuya nuts.  clubbing doesn’t start in tokyo til after 11pm and goes on til 5am.  the club was awesome.  the bartender that helped us was so freaking nice.  the people at the clubs were freaking hilarious.  found this guy at the club that reminded me and ed of this guy that ‘danced’ at the dna lounge in sf.  totally doing his own thing and not caring what other people thought.  i knew this guy was a character when he started doing some stretches before wowing us with his dancing prowess.  i would have taken pictures but the security guard at the front door had to take my camera battery from me, DAMN IT!!!!  japanese girls don’t really dance but stay in one spot swaying one side to the other and japanese guys were a trip especially mr “i think i’m michael jackson” who jumped on stage and made the crowd go crazy with his dancing antics.  later that night they had two live performances from i have no clue.  they were cool.  espeically the second act that did this one song and everyone was making “S” signs.  after the club, we headed to grab something to eat and then take sticker pictures of purikura or poopookaka according to me and gin.

12/30/2006 : ed headed out with his friend hiro to check out the sights of tokyo.  i woke up in the afternoon, olivia, mila and i headed out to harajuku to look for burberry blue and it was freaking CLOSED!!!!  apparently stores in harajuku close early.  why?  it’s freaking a saturday, you should be opened later than 6pm so i (who came all the way from america) can come to your store in tokyo and shop at your store but NO you’re freaking CLOSED!!!!  so we just walked around to find evisu but nothing in japan makes sense in terms of finding places.  couldn’t find the damn store so just met up with ed at the harajuku station and then bought a couple of things at the snoopytown store for kyra and mila.  after having dinner and packing up the bags, ed and i got ready for our midnight shiatsu massage.  these two little skinny older ladies were so freaking strong.  they would hit a certain spot on my back, my ass, the sides of my ass, my legs, my armpits and i would wince in pain and do some lamaze breathing just to get over the pain.  afterwards we (ed and i) headed out into shiba area to get some grub. 

12/31/2006 : headed out to harajuku again to the blueberry blue store and why was it freaking CLOSED AGAIN?!?!?!?!   come on japan, why do you hate me so much?  fack!  after that disappointing trip, we just walked around harajuku and omotesando.  ended up at the camper store, found a pair of beautiful boots that i am thinking of buying back in the states.  olivia liked them as well and these moccasin-type boots so she tried them on.  why did the boots not fit over her calves?  all three of us (ed, me and olivia) couldn’t stop laughing about the boots.  apparently olivia needs US size 7 boots with size L calves.  poor thing.  it was kind of funny and sad and disheartening for her.  poor kid.  must be the biking she does daily to school.  anyone know of a good exercise or way of thinning out calves?  after the boots adventure and walking back towards the harajuku station, we headed back to the hotel to catch our airport limousine shuttle to the airport to catch our 7pm flight.  we’re finally home and thank god cause i’m exhausted from this trip. 

*i haven’t downloaded pics yet but i will post when i finally get to them.

i watched the movie “world trade center”.  it was hard and it was emotional for me because i know the outcome and ending for me and my friends.  there will never be a “happy ending” for arnold.  he will never be found alive under any of the rubble.  i will never chat with him on IM or hear his voice on the phone or hang out with him when i visit new york city. 

this is the conversation i had with mila today… or mila had with me rather…

mila : “oh good job mama, you go potty”

me : “oh thank you mila”

i told my girlfriend and she asked if i wiped.  i said, of course i wiped. the right way too. 

why is it okay for rosie o’donnell to mock the chinese language but it’s not okay for michael richards to use the “N” word?  i’m sure that if asian americans or americans for that matter made fun of lesbianism she would be up in arms.  if michael richards can’t use the “N” word then she should not be able to say “ching chong . . .”  maybe a lesson in ethnic sensitivity is in order for her?

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12092006/gossip/pagesix/rosie_to_asians__loosen_up_pagesix_.htm

seriously…. some people are sharp as a marble…

some days i just can’t handle it.  some days i am okay with it.  it’s never easy when you have a disagreement with a family member let alone a shouting match.    it didn’t go so well.  we both were very heated and things were said that might not have been said if both of us were calm.  i know that this person pushes my buttons sometimes and vice versa.  but some of the things that were said about me were not taken too kindly but rather hurt and stung to the core.  what i have been accused of, this person has done the same to me but she doesn’t choose to see her fault in anything.  it’s not a tit for tat kind of thing the reason why i write.  it’s just random senseless stream of consciousness writing at the moment.  a kind of venting per se.  although i’m not like.. oh shit, what is his name.  james joyce?  no.  maybe?  who remembers high school english honors anymore.  i don’t remember.  i don’t remember much anymore.  being a mom has made me forget a lot of things which is why i rely on my stupid treo so much.  it hurt, i cried and now my eyes are dry and i feel like my face is puffy.    i don’t think ed noticed which is good because i don’t want to recount everything that happened.  thank god for shams.  she seems to understand where i am coming from. 

 five years in a row and we kick the shit out of stanfurd’s ass in the big game… ah sweet victory…    man, i wish i was able to go and watch the game but just knowing that we won is enough for me right now.

below : happy cal fans and players celebrating the “stanford axe” staying at cal for another year. 

big game back on our own cal territory and we beat the pants off of the stanfurd cardinals…. 

congrats too to ucla for kicking the crap out of usc.