Random Picture Post: The Portland Edition

I began writing this post in Portland but I'm finishing it in California. So I'm back and the sun is a very welcome heat source.

Here are a bunch of photos of my second week in Portland.



Dj, Palmarin (a friend and co-worker of DJ) and I walked around a lake near Mt Hood. We took the doggies of course.


Look at that! Just look at that! It's like a Bob Ross painting. It's even more beautiful when you're there.


Bala and Nangi keeps a constant eye for squirrels and that evil cat across the street.


On Wednesday Palmarin showed me around other parts of the city. We went to a couple of boutiques that sold very pretty and pricey clothes. We also went thrifting a little bit. The photo was taken at Stumptown Coffee. There was a guy at the counter who looked like Tim Blake Nelson. It wasn't him though.


My aunt Janet is not the kind of woman to wear make up or dresses. She actually got her first pedicure just a few months ago. And a few weeks ago she bought her first purse. (Later on, I begged for the purse and she gave it to me! Woot!)



This one was taken at The Lamp, the bar next to the Aladdin (geddit? geddit?). We hung out a bit here before the Jason Collett/Josh Rouse show.

Thursday DJ and I went to Doug Fir, a nice neigborhood bar/restaurant and popular music venue. It's theme is space age log cabin. It's better than it sounds.



We went to go see Earlimart, who were one of the few bands I've actually heard of and were playing the time I was here. I have a couple of their songs and they've been compared to Elliott Smith. I'm not inclined to challenge that comparison.



Southerly and Office were the opening acts. Office were impressive. They sound like a mix of The Rentals and "Bank Holiday" by Blur. Very energetic. And with cowbell!

I just saw Office on E! I can say I saw them before they got famous. Hehe.

Earlimart were alright. I knew a couple of songs they played, thankfully. Their female singer is great. She has a very Suzanne Vega kind of vibe.

House of Rouse

Josh Rouse should be more famous than he is. He should be selling out arenas, winning Grammys, and doing coke with Lindsey Lohan.

He just makes pure pop music that's fun and accessible, and that appeals to young and old. I can't understand why the masses haven't taken him to their collective bossom already.

Usually I don't like my musical finds to get really big and I'd hear some Rihanna-loving teenager say they love them because of that one song. But I'm willing to sacrifice that for Josh.

Last night's opening act was Jason Collett. Last year, Luis asked the Burn and Pulse contributors to give their list of top ten albums of 2006. I put Jason Collett's Idols of Exile on mine. Needless to say, no one else concurred but that's alright.

Jason is probably better known as 1/16 of Canadian powerhouse Broken Social Scene. But I guess more recently he's been relegated to "Feist's sometimes bandmate", which is unfortunate because he is so talented and a great songwriter.

He played about an hour's worth. It was just him and his guitar and his lovely music. Thankfully I knew most of the songs he played, with "We All Lose One Another" being the best in my opinion. I wish he sang "These Are the Days" but I suppose he would've needed a brass section for that one.

When told the Aladdin Theater used to be a porn house in the 70's, he went into one of his older songs "Diggin' in the Carpet" which starts with the lyrics: Fat nipple, pussy fingers/ joy dribble, digging in the carpet/ Up against the sofa, then television/ up end the coffee table, with the candle wax dripping.

It was terribly appropriate.



Jason told a wonderfully funny story about a high school experience with his crush, her mother's car, smoking pot and his polyester shirt bursting into flames. Then he launched into "Almost Summer", a song about high school love, smoking pot and making a fool of yourself.

He also told the audience about his girlfriend's house up in the woods of Canada and his reluctance to go skinny dipping at night despite the beauty of the area. He starts singing "Parry Sound" and all the lyrics make sense after he told that story. It's moments like that when the artist lets you in about where they get their inspiration and hearing a little of it in the songs that makes the live experience so good.

After his set, I saw people going up to him near the stage. So I was like, hell, I'll just make a fool of myself again. So I did. He was very nice, but my mind blinked and I didn't get a picture. Sorry folks. He was very cute though. Heh.

Then about 30 minutes later Josh Rouse and his band take the stage! Eeee!



The not-quite full theater goes nuts and the band starts to play. There was a lot of things going on so I'm just going to bulletpoint my thoughts:

- Josh and the band played almost all my favorite songs. "Come Back", "Love Vibration", "My Love Has Gone", It's the Nighttime", "It Looks Like Love" and "Sad Eyes". He played others but those are my absolute favorite Rouse songs.

- He played some from his new album Country Mouse, City House: "Hollywood Bassplayer", "Sweetie" (which he says "is the most romatic song written since...forever"), "God Please Let Me Go Back", "London Bridges" and "Snowy" (I think).

- At first people were shy to go up front (there was a large space in front of the stage and the seats), until some nerdy white dude came up with his girlfriend. They started doing this lambada thing and it was awful. I wanted to bash his head in because he was totally distracting me from the show. The violent thoughts were not because the guy was dancing but because he was dancing badly. Really badly. But eventually, Josh encouraged everyone to get up and dance. So people did and it looked like a high school dance or rather a high school reunion because the audience were way old.



- I stayed in my seat but I really enjoyed people watching and listening to Josh and his band go through the songs like I've never heard them before. Even the sad songs got happy and you could dance to every one of them.

- I love it when the live show sounds nothing like the album version. Ryan Adams is the best at that, but I digress.

- All in all, it was great. Josh was fantastic. His band was fantastic. I had a great seat. I bought a shirt. I wanna see him again, but next time I'll get on the dancefloor too.


Links!
Jason Collett - if you go to the music section you can hear all the songs.
Highly recommended: We All Lose One Another, Almost Summer, These Are the Days - from Idols of Exile; Tiny Ocean of Tears, Lucky Star - from Motor Motel Love Songs; and Diggin' in the Carpet - from Prodigals.

"I'll Bring the Sun"


Josh Rouse
Highly recommended: the entire 1972 and Nashville albums. Those are classics.

You can download a podcast of his set with AOL here.

Due to a snafu, we didn't climb Mt. St. Helens. (God really answers prayers.) But since we were in the area and we had all our gear, we decided to hike the Siouxon area instead. I went with Janet, her friend Kristina, and Kristina's friend Jeannie.


I'm looking remarkably chipper when I learn I don't have to climb an active volcano!

The Siouxon (pronounced "soo-sohn") wasn't far away and we began about 10am. It was a well-established trail and much easier than climbing the mountain. I didn't have to worry about snorting volcanic ash or having little rocks go into my shoes.


Look at me go! It looks like I've been doing this all my life! I'm wearing a funny hat!

My Aunt Janet is slighty insane and when seeing a scenic part of the creek, she slid down the edge of the trail and took her pants off and swam in freezing water. I stayed dry and took pictures. I also took the time to eat my organic beef jerky.



I think we hiked about three miles before we decided to turn back. I was the youngest of the group, but by far the least fit. Although, I do have to say, I kept up with everyone and right now I'm feeling no pain at all.



We ran into this guy carrying a trumpet and a handful of mushrooms in the woods:


Just kidding. It was a book about a crazy guy who played the trumpet and hunted mushrooms in the woods.


We finished up around 3pm and decided it was a good time for milkshakes and ice cream and coffee. Thankfully, the small-ish town of Amboy had a mom-and-pop ice cream shack.


This guy makes awesome milkshakes. Best I've had so far. My plan for gaining weight in America is to drink milkshakes every chance I get. I prefer vanilla.


I am enjoying my milkshake enormously. I can feel the pounds coming on.

***
When we got back to the city, we ate at a little crepe stand in the very trendy Nob Hill area. The streets are lined with stores that were old converted houses. I saw a lot of cutie Japanese kids walking around so that's when I knew this place was too rich for me.

But the crepes were delicious. I think I had the peppered ham with spinach, cheese, spring onions and tomatoes. Mmmm....


Things get better when my aunt spots Elvis walking down the street. She waved at him and yelled "How's it going, Elvis!?"

Faith and trust, the strongest parts of us

I need a little pause in my Portland entries for a bit.

It's my rest day (after the hike) and I'm catching up on some music downloading. I just want to share some stuff I've been enjoying recently. It isn't new but I like it anyway.

Beck - Missing (from Guero)
I only genuinely like two songs by Beck. The first is "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime" from the glorious "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and the other is this. It makes me feel like I'm floating in a river full of flotsam and jetsam. Not too appetizing but it feels good anyway.

Wilco - Is That The Thanks I Get (outtake from Sky Blue Sky)

Of course Wilco is on the list. It's too bad this wasn't on the album. But I guess the jaunty nature of the song didn't play well with the others on the album. I like the Jeff's easy-going delivery. I love the sing-a-long at the end, they sound like a bar band. We all should be getting drunk while listening to this.

Sam Cooke - You Send Me

Sam Cooke is good for any occasion. For lovin', for dancin', for feelin' awesome. I'll try to find his live album while I'm here. Maybe I'll get lucky.

To end the post, I'm going to totally jinx myself and jump the gun by bragging about seeing them when I get back to LA:


When I get back home, it'll be hard to complain about anything ever again. I'll be a better person. I'll clean up after myself. I'll cut down on my swearing. I'll eat healthier.

Across the ocean, my mother is at her desk painting a birdhouse, and not knowing why exactly, breathes a sigh of relief.

I don't care about the young folks

Big news first. I chased a rock star down the street today. I was about to meet DJ at Powell's again and I walk pass this guy carrying a suit case. He looks oddly familiar. Very Swedish, I thought. I look down at his bag and I catch a glimpse of "Peter Bjorn..." He's walking by pretty fast so I take this picture.

I promise you that is indeed him (in the center with the luggage). Because after I take the picture, I begin to debate with myself whether I should chase after him. I can hear your voices (yes, you) telling me to go and I start walking towards him. Finally I tap his shoulder and ask if he is from PB&J. He says yes. I feel like an idiot and he walks away. I continue to feel like an idiot but then I hear your voices again (yes, you) telling me I did a good job.



So that's my rock star story. I wish I could have another one tonight. Handsome Furs is playing at the Crystal Ballroom (in a separate room from PB&J, who are also playing this evening, hence the sighting).


Since I missed Wolf Parade (I'm not over it yet, obvs) I want to see Handsome Furs but I've got that big climb tomorrow so it doesn't seem like it's possible. Sigh.

But there is a dance off next week! Woot!


***

poem from Daniel Pinkwater's "The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror"

I spent a lot of time in Powell's again today. I walked around the Pearl District and of course I gravitated towards music stores and clothing thrift stores. I think I spent too much today, lured by the no-tax thing.

Wanna see what I bought?

An LM Montgomery book of short stories, the new Autumn Defense CD (which I want to own ferreals), a DVD of "Funny Farm" (for my mother) and a very entertaining and educational book about left-handedness. It's pretty awesome so far.


I bought these in an outlet mall in California. They're still a bit uncomfortable but they're so damn cute (or sodumcyut as Claude would say). They have sheep on them!

Best find of the trip so far...

How freaking awesome is that? Tell me! It's freaking awesome!

***


There is a big dog under my chair as I blog. His name is Bala.

Hi Bala!

Yesterday I was dropped off at Portland's Pearl District, a nice neighborhood of neato shops and restaurants. The highlight of the area is no doubt Powell's Bookstore. It's three storeys of books. Any kind of book you will ever need or want in life is there.



The thing I like best about Powell's is that they sell used books too and they put the old and new right next to each other. On a philosophical/theoretical level this blew my mind. A book is a book regardless of how often different people have used it. It doesn't matter if it's been passed around a million times (as long as all the pages are still intact of course). So the choice between buying a new copy or an old copy lies in a purely superficial decision.



Anyway, I spent my hour there in the children's section. As always I was looking for some L.M. Montgomery book I don't have yet. Happily, I found one (yay!). I'm also looking for Daniel Pinkwater's "The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror" which I think is out of print but is included in a compilation. I did find the compilation and took my time reading it amongst a couple of toddlers who ran into shelves constantly.



After a hearty lunch of tomato basil soup at a restaurant at the corner, I walked around the very tiny city blocks of the Pearl District and decided that I want to move here and live here forever.



I browsed around a few thrift stores (where I tried on a 60's onesie which I thought was a dress) and record shops (where I found My Morning Jacket's Okonos DVD which I did not purchase). Two hours of walking around later, I'm lost but I find my way back to Powell's where DJ picked me up.

Awesome thing about Portland? No tax!

Another awesome thing about Portland? Rockstars! (I haven't seen one yet but I'm keeping my eyes peeled.)

I arrived in Portland Sunday and the weather is a stark change from California. It's practically fall here but it's still sort of warm and not too chilly.

A week ago my Aunt Janet emailed me, informing me that she signed me up for a hike on Mt. St. Helens.

I am not an outdoorsy person. I actually like sitting in front of the computer or laying about on the couch/bed/floor watching TV. I could do that for hours at a time. Days even. So I had a minor freak out when I read the email. I am definitely not in the best of shapes.

Before I go any further, I have to introduce my Aunt Janet (cousin of my mother). She is the coolest relative I have. Two things that make Janet cool? One, she was in the Peace Corps (where she met her husband DJ) and two, she wore sneakers under her wedding dress.

There are a million more things that make Janet and DJ awesome (like letting me stay in their home for two weeks) but those two stick out in my mind the most.

So I guess taking a walk up an active volcano is the least I could do.

Holy mother of god:

Most climbers use the Monitor Ridge Route from Climbers Bivouac. This route gains 4,500 feet in five miles to the crater rim at 8,365 feet elevation. Although strenuous, this non-technical climb is suitable for people in good physical condition who are comfortable scrambling on steep, rugged terrain. Most climbers complete the round trip in seven to twelve hours.

I'm so dead.

Yesterday DJ took me to buy hiking shoes. He works at REI and gets a sweet employee discount. A clerk named River helped me choose the right shoes. I only mention him because I think it's cool his name is River. Hee.

When I asked him why the shoes don't come in pink he said he didn't know but then he did give me a pair of pink-lined wool socks. Awww...

Anyway, this is what I got. Notice the price? I balked a little bit until Janet refused to take my money. After all, they're making me climb the blasted mountain (pun intended).



I took a 30-minute walk this morning to test out the shoes. My biggest concern is my bad right knee. I can't fully extend it without a little pain. I don't know how I got it but I assume it's from fencing.

Did I mention Mt. St. Helens is an active volcano? Yes? And that it's at least a seven hour hike? God, I hope there aren't any bears.

Heavens to Betsey, I'll be lucky if I make it out alive.

After Monterey, Ryan drove us to nearby Pebble Beach where really, really rich people live. He called his grandparents (who are really, really rich and who live inside the Pebble Beach country club estate) to let us in for free. If you want to visit, you have to pay $9 to get into the area.

It was a lot like the Forbes area, but much nicer. The houses are built amidst a forest with horse trails but the really rich ones have their houses built right on the golf course.

Apparently, Clint Eastwood and Tiger Woods have houses here and of course are members of the club.

The beach itself is very secluded and so very pretty.


On the left is a 250 year old cypress tree. The photos are rather dark. I put the exposure a little too low because it was so bright out there.

Ryan took us to a more secluded beach where we tried to skip stones and stole people's golf balls.





Below are some rich people having a clambake. They looked super WASP-y. I bet it's nice to be wealthy.

Fishy fishy

I wish I could say I went scuba diving but I didn't.

(Man, I'm going picture crazy with the posts. I apologize to the LJ readers for not doing the cut. I'm too lazy to re-edit it for LJ, I love blogger more.)

Yesterday we went to Monterey with my cousin's boyfriend Ryan. Ryan was from the area and gladly toured us a bit. We went to the Aquarium, saw some fish and otters. Unfortunately the penguin exhibit was closed! Big disappointment.


People go crazy for the shark. Personally, I'd rather watch the people watch the shark.


Candy! I love when they put fresh candy in the barrels. So picturesqe.

After City Lights we travelled to the Golden Gate to do the tourist thing. There was heavy traffic on the bridge and while I'm not completely afraid of heights, it was best to keep moving. If you stopped to take a picture you can feel the bridge shake from side to side. Not a good feeling at all. There was also concern that I might be swept up by the wind.



When we had enough of the bridge we drove to nearby Sausalito. It's a beautiful little rich town with great views of the bay and city. My cousin fantasized about having a house on the bayfront. And if he had one, he would walk around the house naked so the tourists can see him in all his glory (because the houses there all have enormous windows).


Two men and a bird on the bay.


We didn't partake of the party around the corner but it was mighty tempting though...

The City Lights tonight are beautiful

So I was super depressed that I couldn't get tickets to Wolf Parade (because I found out too late that they were playing in SF). But my moping around was cut short when my cousin won some radio show raffle to see The Bravery play at the station.

I've heard of the Bravery but never got into them, maybe because of the slightly bad rap they get in blogs. But my cousin and I listened to their new release to get some idea of what kind of band they were, and they we're all right.

So we go into the city to the KFOG station and they've laid out a little table of mexican food for the lucky listeners before the show. There's a crowd of about twenty and they don't look much like Bravery fans to me.

Anyway, we get seats in the second row and the band is about five feet away. I don't take any photos as courtesy to the band. But I do notice that their bassist is the best looking bassist. Like ever. He also looks like he doesn't want to be there.

He is also wearing grey argyle socks.

After their short 3-song acoustic set (along with personal behind-the-songs stories), they sign posters and CDs for the lucky non-fans.



Later that day I meet up with college kabarkada Carmen, who I haven't seen in years! She goes by Mrs. Camua now and is settling in beautifully as a new wife. Of course there's kwento, kwento, kwento.

I'm so happy for her and I'm glad she found someone really kind even though they've only known each other for a year and a half!


We closed down the street to take this photo.



The next day my cousins and I went to visit another relative before going back to SF. I had almost forgotten that I had to make a pilgrimage to the Beat mecca that is City Lights Bookstore.

Oh man, it really is wonderful. I didn't buy anything but I really loved the place. Three floors of great books including, of course, a whole floor for just Beat works and poetry.

No sighting of Lawrence Ferlinghetti but being in his store was enough for me.



Did you see how I changed tenses throughout this post? I hope I get that fixed before I go back to work.

Where's my MOMA?

Today was Museum Day or Get My Culture On Day.

We went to the Museum of Modern Art today and took in some very nice works of art. My favorite works were by Felix Schramm. They were wonderfully mind-bending. Look him up if you can.

Also on display were works by Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, who I coincidentally read about a few weeks ago in W magazine. So I actually knew things about him beforehand (like he is a former champion break dancer). His exhibit is called "Take Your Time" and it was a really eclectic mix of the idea of playing with light. Very interesting.



You can't tell by the photo but the walls were slowly closing in on us.



It's okay not to know.



I'm talking to good friend Carmen on the phone. We're meeting up on Friday (hopefully!). My cousin Butch wants all the ladies to know that he's single and ready for action.

A little thing about my cousin Butch. He spent one summer vacation with us when we were young and unfortunately for him, my mom forced all of us to go to DVBS (Daily Vacation Bible School). And he isn't even Baptist!

After weeks of wholesome torture, I was awarded "Most Behaved". I won the distinction because I didn't make any friends at all and would sit quietly, just doing my time.

I don't think Butch has ever forgiven my mom for that summer.

Hippie over here! Hippie over there!

After a shopper-ific weekend in San Francisco, my cousins from Chino Hills dropped me off at my cousins from Hayward.

Today we spent the afternoon at UC Berkeley where my cousin goes to school. It's a lovely neighborhood full of quaint shops, lots of Asian kids and a homeless person on every corner.

UC Berkeley reminded my a little bit of UP, with all the trees and the atmosphere of quality education. If only the weather at home was cooler.

Goshk! Pictures!



At Shirt Orgy, across the street from the school, they had a section of Threadless shirts. They were too pricey for my taste (I'm not paying 900 pesos for a shirt), but good thing they had a bargain bin of slightly dirty but still wearable shirts.

I am wearing my new pink Weezer shirt as I type.



Being the dorky tourist at the BART station. This picture is really for my mother. She needs evidence that I'm enjoying myself.



Taken at Rasputin. Their Indie section is like my ipod playlist. Unfortunately they didn't have the CDs I was looking for (The Bees U.S. and the Changes). They didn't have it in Amoeba either. I am that fuckin' indie. I should wear this shirt every day.




They have a replica of a t-rex at their paleontology (I'm sure I didn't spell that right, but I'm too lazy to look it up) building. I wish we had dinosaurs in our collage lobby.



A quiet moment at the library.

Last Minute Blogging

Since I'm going to be gone for awhile and I don't know if I'll get the chance to blog for the next couple of weeks I just wanted to mention that my Wilco concert review is up at pulse.ph. I wrote it yesterday and Luis emailed saying it was up already!

Holy cow, I'm reading Harp's review of Wilco's concert in New York and our specific observations are almost the same! I feel really good about that. I'm feeling some heavy affirmation. Hire me Harp, godammit.

***
Mine: ...despite a bout with adult chicken pox a week earlier, Nels Cline killed. He strangled that guitar and made it his bitch.

Harp's: Nels Cline doesn’t just play beautiful lead – he murders every last note...
***
Mine: (re: Via Chicago) The audience settles in thinking it's going to be a lighter-in-the-air time, but then Glenn Kotche starts wigging out on the drums and the lights go crazy and everyone goes nuts. Then in a split second, Glenn stops, the lights go back to just Jeff and the audience scratches its collective head wondering if we really saw that.

Harp's: On “Via Chicago,” all six members descend into carefully-orchestrated musical chaos, emerging into a melodious crescendo as if driving full speed in and out of a hurricane, in the blink of an eye...There were even a few cell-phones waving in the air.
***
Mine: Since the inclusion of guitar master Nels Cline and two keyboard players (Mikael Jorgensen and Pat Sansone) three years ago, all the older songs have received amazing boosts. In particular "Pot Kettle Black" and "Jesus Etc.", both already great songs, improved greatly from their recorded versions.

Harp's: Wilco’s three newest members have adopted the band’s entire canon as their own, endowing each old song with the benefits of their superior musicianship and zealous showmanship.
***

I also have a couple of music reviews on Pulse as well (Cold War Kids & Pernilla Anderson).

wilco shirt

Woot! Happy happy, joy joy. I'll be the coolest kid in school!

Jason, yours is here too. Safe and sound. Parang I want to buy some more....

Super Random Picture Post

I have a backlog of photos. Here are some of them. Or rather, lots of them.

Here's one more fuzzy picture of the Greek Theater. This was right before Wilco took the stage. The opening act was Richard Swift, who was pretty good but he occasionally went into his freaky falsetto. So that was a bit annoying. But good anyway.


Patrick is too shy for cameras. Clarence is not.


We're at a restaurant in Downtown Disneyland. Here's my Aunt Ana perusing the menu.

Penny and Sonny-bear doing what they usually do. Say it with me: Awww...


At the Muppet Theater in Californa Adventure. There's Sam the Eagle (I think that's his name) on the screen there.


Philip is threatening himself with a pencil. Strange child. Very cute though.


Warren's birthday party! He turned five and is allergic to everything! Everything but Elmo!


Warren's younger brother Allen. Allen's my youngest nephew (on the Chinese side). He's turning four in October.


Bench seating at the Hollywood Bowl. Nicole and I took in some culture and saw the LA Philharmonic. Very classy. Because we're classy ladies.


Olivia and I in the bathroom of Lawry's. They have very, very thick tissue paper. Almost cloth-like!


Me enjoying the merchandise at Disneyland.


Nicole being classy at the Hollywood Bowl.


Cutie cake at a Korean bakery. By the way, the guy manning the store was so cute. He looked like a Korean pop star. Hmm...maybe he was a Korean pop star!


Geo-duck! Or to Koreans, King Clams!


Crazy-eyed fish!


Look at the cat! It's the saddest cat ever, stripped of its dignity and made to wear a stupid chicken hat.

I was flipping channels this morning and I immediately stop when I see the sexy, sexy Joel McHale on some show called KTLA Morning Show.

I wish we had The Soup in the Philippines. It's so freaking funny and Joel McHale is damn sexy.

Damn.

Anyway, one of KTLA's anchors is Cher Calvin. She was part of the show 'F' and they still have an old picture of the three hosts right infront of ANC's Studio 6. I pass by it every day so I feel like I know Cher Calvin. So I can kind of justify some sort of six degrees of separation with the super sexy Joel McHale.

Mmmm...soup.

Everyone's been asking me for Wilco pictures. You wanna see my view from my seat?



All my pictures turned out like that. But thankfully this guy was a tad bit closer to the stage than me and he/she took wonderful pictures. So just pretend I took those.

Jason, yes I got you the shirt. It should be coming in the mail soon (I hope!) and Brian, it would've definitely been more fun if I saw Wilco with you! I could've had someone to sing along with and dance crazy-like!

The whole time Wilco was playing I was thinking, this cannot be the first and last time I see them. So I can't tick them off my "things-to-do" list yet.

***

I spent the last week with my eldest cousin Sylvia and her kids Jon and Clarence (who I posted about earlier). Syliva is twenty years older than me and she's quite the perfect homemaker. She's kind of like Bree in Desperate Housewives (but not crazy).

There, I found myself smack dab in between the generation gap. Sylvia would talk to me about mortage rates and the dismal state of public education and the kids would roll their eyes at me behind her back.

I really enjoy spending time with my Chinese relatives because it gives me the sense that I'm actually Chinese, even though the closest I usually get to being Chinese is when I eat dimsum and drink tea.

Anyway, I did drink a lot of tea and ate some dimsum as well as visited Chinatown, Koreatown and Little Saigon. It was like being back in Asia again! Everywhere I looked I saw people who kinda looked like me, which was kind of a welcome relief.

I felt sad though that Filipinos have nothing like that. I suppose it's because when Filipinos step onto the land of milk and honey they don't want to be reminded they're from a third world country anymore.

Aside from showing me around, Sylvia's goal was to fatten me up. She made me breakfast (rice, crabmeat and shredded pork wrapped in seaweed. Yum) and watched me like a hawk while I ate it.

I just weighed myself and guess what?! I gained two pounds! Woot! It worked! Let's hope I can keep it on.

Well, that's it for now. I'll be going up to San Francisco this weekend (yay!) and on to Portland next (yay-er!). I don't know if I'll have time to blog but I'll be back in Chino by October first.