magicalobizuth

God, we are such dorks.

(We went to my coworker's son's first birthday party. It was robot themed and BG (dad) made these awesome robot heads for "pin the head on the robot". There were some leftover and we decided that it would make a great photo op. So pictured above are my coworkers, myself, and our surprisingly willing spouses.)

Hi guys! I feel like such a loser for not updating in forever. I have the typical half entries written in my head dating back to my birthday (9/27, if you were wondering how long) and it just kept getting more and more daunting. I am on the computer literally all day. I have an iPhone and that has spoiled me in the sense that when I get home, I don't need to pop open the laptop to check email and other things. So I don't. And composing entire entries on LJ from my phone is not the greatest thing, so I keep putting it off until I can't remember what I wanted to talk about anymore.

So I will try to be succinct and use pictures whenever I can, starting with my birfday!


I am now 31. Feels weird, like I am a full-fledged adult and should have some serious accomplishments. I guess having a steady job and still being happily married can be construed as big accomplishments, but I mean more. Like a house. If we lived anywhere else, I think this would have happened already. Damn mortgage prices around here are still ridiculous. But anyway, I had a lovely beach day and bonfire which was poorly attended (and that includes our dear sun which made a late and momentary appearance sometime around 3 pm). I have to be honest and say that I was really bummed out about it that day but as the few people that did show up, well, showed up, it made me feel much better (thanks @emilyyam, ressacjane/Jane, and ozo_head for not making me feel like a total loser).

It also helped that my whole family was there, including my in-laws and that kaptainsnot made me some really pretty and delicious cupcakes. And then we had delicious fire roasted sausages that night and some smores (with Reese's Peanut Butter cups instead of regular Hershey's!).

Interestingly enough, the fog rolled in around 4:00 p.m. and stayed for good (even posted a video while I was there to my FB, which is embedded below, behind the cut). Made great bonfire weather. [Pics on flickr]

( Foggy vid )

I briefly entertained the idea of going to Disneyland on my actual birthday because it landed on a Sunday and it was free (for me at least) but the fact that it was the day after the bonfire nixed that real quick. Juan took me out to dinner with my family instead because he wanted to celebrate on my actual birthday. We went to Shakey's and had the yummy pizza and mojo potatoes. It had been a while! And my sister Sabi gave me an awesome present! ( Does she know what to get me or what? )

Soon after that, we went to the Star Wars in Concert show and were blown away, as you might remember.

( Other significantly memorable events in the past month and a half, behind a cut because it was about time... )

The last time I started an entry was when we went to see District 9 a few weeks ago. This is what I had to say:
Still feel the same way. :)

In other news, summer is now officially over and this year is flying by! I had a Beatles Rock Band party during launch weekend that almost nobody came to (last minute crap popped up for everyone, 'twas a bummer). But it was The Beatles and we managed to have a ton of fun playing anyway. Have another one scheduled for October, this time with some of my Aquarium wet-siders. The game is beautiful and so much fun to play.

In my department at work, it is a tradition to take the birthday people out on lunch every month and today was my turn. We went to George's Greek on Pine Avenue (with a stop at Pinkberry afterwards!). It was delicious and nice to get to hang out with my buddies downtown. Even had them take the shuttle with me instead of piling in cars, made me feel very green. It was funny though because AR sent out an email stating "ANITZA's BIRTHDAY Shuttle from 320 building leaves at 12:02. Downstairs near 340 building!!!" People were a bit confused by that, they ended up in weird places expecting a van to pick them up carpool style. It hadn't occurred to them to take public transport! They found us in time though, so all was well!

I had lamb slouvaki and it was cooked just right, so tender. I mean, just look at it (unless you are vegetarian, then I won't force you to look). I am stoked because they are opening a new branch right up closer to where we live. Juan has never dined there, so it will be great to introduce him to one of my favorite places to eat.

After what was quite possibly the slowest service ever (good thing we weren't in a serious rush!) we visited the Pinkberry up the street for dessert. I didn't know they had new flavors for summer (passionfruit and coconut)! After trying them out, I still opted for my pomegranate with fruity pebbles, strawberries, and blue berries. Yum. It was a perfect day for it too, it was so hot walking around outside! We burned off those calories walking back too! The shuttle was delayed (thank goodness for the scrolling information bars at the bus stops) so we figured it would be better to walk back (it was).

Tomorrow I will be on a panel at a local conference for volunteer managers. I was approached by a friend and coworker who wants me to talk about (and answer questions about) how to use the web for your non-profit organization, in particular, how to use social networking tools (and how the world is not going to fall apart if your organization gets a Twitter account). This is the first time I have been asked to speak on something about my current profession, but since it is a panel and kinda informal, I am not sweating it too much.

Incidentally, I was also asked to be on another panel in October. This one is as a young female professional in the green industry that doesn't necessarily involve a job in recycling or something. Basically, it is a conference for girls and the panel is about green jobs and the person in charge of putting it together wanted more than the typical green jobs that people think about. So she picked me. We'll see how that one goes.

I'm looking forward to Saturday because we are spending the entire day at the beach and ending it with a bonfire. I still have to buy everything, but that's what tomorrow is for. :)

  [rest on Flickr]

So, this has been a fun and busy summer. I keep thinking to myself that I really need to write it all down in my LJ but it seems I can only think in 140 characters at a time lately. As many of you have seen, I am constantly on Facebook and Twitter, well, FB more because that is more active. My job has me sitting at the computer and part of it is to check on our official page too, so it's not all goofing off ;) Even started a fan page for Immeritus even though I am not quite sure what to use it for just yet. Probably just another way to keep in touch. It's funny to see OL and RL intersect like that. No LJ/forum avatars, just head shots of people I had never seen before!

Last we left off about 3 weeks ago on our anniversary. Before we get to that, it just so happened that on that same day, I went on a tour to the local oil islands off the coast with a group of people from the Aquarium. You can see these islands off of the beach here and everyone wonders what is on them (is it some exclusive resort?). Well, they look pretty because they have to. They're really just there to dig for oil. It was an interesting tour and I just remembered that I have video to edit from that-crap! Well, here are the photos.


Past events also include a day at the beach capped off with a bonfire, and 4th of July BBQ and fireworks. Speaking about that bonfire, we came out on channel 7 that night because of it. Got interviewed, but they didn't show that part, just us having a good time around the fire. They just wanted a story on what people were up to on the holiday weekend. penster even saw it and texted me ("OMG were you @ the beach today & did channel 7 crewfilm you?! I swear I just saw you on the news!") Hahaha!

Back to the anniversary part... you were all so lovely. I meant to reply with a follow-up post but that never happened, so sorry. We went out for sushi that night and talked about the past, present, and future. Where we're gonna be in five years, how much has changed these past five. It is enough to give me goosebumps, thinking about it all, but also anxiety. So let's just stop talking about it.

We thought about going all out at first, but when we realized we had already committed to going out with friends to Disneyland that weekend, well, there's only so much money to go around. Dinner out ended up being really nice, especially since we tend to visit my parents on Fridays.


So like I said, we went to Disneyland with some of the Chusma that same weekend. It was a lot of fun even though it was so hot and tiring (it made me feel so OLD!). It actually was not as bad as I thought it would be for a Saturday in summer. We got on all the rides we wanted to without waiting too long (nice combination of luck and planning with Fastpasses). I am always amazed at how awesome the Indiana Jones ride is. We all wore buttons for various celebratory things, like our anniversary, Juan's birthday, graduation, etc. I had no idea they had so many of these buttons, but thanks to Heyzen and Lynette, we all got at least one. We of course capped off the night with a Denny's run. [Photos on Flickr]

Juan's birthday was last week, and we celebrated his birthday the weekend before. It was a simple affair at his parent's. Invited chusma and immediate family only. My mom made her famous cheesecake, we ate carne asada, played games, and just had a good time overall. 'Twas nice.

This past weekend we celebrated my dad's birthday by going out to breakfast and then going to their house to watch movies. Once again, a simple affair. But the going theme is that we are all together having a good time. I haven't given him his present yet, though. I have it in my purse. It is as much a present for him as it is for me: tickets to go see Star Wars in Concert. He loves music. He loves Star Wars. We all win.

So as far as making a post about everything so that I can start posting like a normal person, I think I am done. Sure, I missed some stuff, like getting a shout out from the news anchor, or the fact that we are looking to purchase a couple of bikes, but this is long enough.

Oh wait, just one more thing... tomorrow we (that is me + 15 friends/family members) are going to see Harry Potter in IMAX 3D. I can't believe I actually managed to wait it out!

So it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks. Two weekends ago was my mom's birthday and we decided we would take my mom to Descanso Gardens and then out to dinner to a place she had been wanting to go to forever.

The day had the potential of getting rained on but fortunately, it never happened (as is usually the case around here). It was overcast but very pleasant for walking. The gardens were beautiful, the roses and camellias are in full bloom at this time of year, and the place was not really crowded. We casually strolled along in no rush with no real itinerary - whatever mom wanted to do is what we did. She decided to start out by spending about 45 minutes in the teensy little gift shop. I normally would have wanted to move things along, but I resigned myself to go with the flow and it felt good.




That last photo, I printed up and gave to my mom for Mother's Day, more on that later. The first photo she would kill me for posting, but this is my blog, dammit. :D

After spending the day walking, we made our way to East LA, to a place called Moles La Tia. My mom saw a report about their moles on Despierta America (which is kinda the Good Morning America for Spanish speakers in the US) and had wanted to go ever since. It is a tiny unassuming little place on Cesar Chavez. Everything that we ordered off their menu, and I do mean everything was absolutely delicious. From the agua fresca and horchata (made from pepitas instead of rice for a smoky rendition of this classic drink) to their Botana mestiza and over two dozen moles. I ordered fresh scallops toped with a fruity mole. It was something new and I really liked it. But I also liked my dad's "Enmoladas Tricolor" which are similar to enchiladas, but instead of chile they are covered in mole, three kinds, in this case: pipian rojo, verde, y blanco. Guh, so much food, so little room. Our eyes were certainly bigger than our stomachs, if you can believe that, and we practically rolled outta there, not able to finish all the food. If you like moles at all, you have to give this place a try, you will not regret it. And if you like moles and ever visit me from out of town, let me know and we will make this a stop! [Bday set on Flickr]

Thus ended the birthday part of Saturday, May the 2nd. This day also happened to be the day that Yair, my long-time friend was visiting from Chicago, and he wanted to meet up at Alegria in Long Beach. We've been friends since junior high and I miss the punk, so even though I was exhausted, we met up in Long Beach around 10:00 p.m. Carlos also came down. We hadn't seen him in a while either because he was in Iraq. Thankfully, he came back to us in one piece, although to be honest, I'm a bit worried about him for other reasons I won't go into here (nothing too terrible, but I can't help and be a mother hen).


Anyway, we had a good time out, polished off the night around 4:00 a.m. after an obligatory Denny's run. It felt really good to spend time with my friends that I hadn't seen in such a long time (including ozo_head ). But boy did I pay for it the next week!

Remember how I posted that I was sick and coughing and wanting to die? Well, I haven't shaken that bug. Spending that much time out, and having to shout to keep conversations going at a happenin' bar irritated my throat. Couple that with the freezer box that the management converts this building to over the summer, and I had a good relapse last week. I am better, still coughing, but much much better.

Anyway, that weekend was polished off with a visit to the extended in-laws for a memorial service for Manny, Juan's cousin that passed away last year on my mom's birthday. We went to a mass and then to a lunch with a ton of familia and it was really nice. There weren't speeches or anything, it was just a nice time to get everyone together and enjoy each other's company. It's really the best we can do with the little time we're given, right?

Anyway, I thought I was going to catch up with this post, but I will leave the rest for another. Stay tuned (or you're warned-either way).

majorxero asked me to describe our trip in one word. I answered with awesome.

 
But first, let me back up a bit to the Friday before. We went to my parent's after work, like we usually do on Fridays. After a typically delicious dinner,kaptainsnot surprised me with a cake. Not just any cake, an octopus cake. But not just any octopus cake, one that looks kinda like a scary clown. Oh, and it was chocolate. lol! You just kinda have to see it to believe it, so there it is. It was great!

So then on Tuesday, Juan and I left for Vegas. Because it was an uneventful Tuesday, the drive was without incident and totally smooth. We decided that we would take it easy after getting there pretty late (around 5:30 p.m.) and opted for settling in, unpacking, and finding dinner. We moved into our suite at the Grandview on the 8th floor. This year, we got a pool view (which we got after calling them and saying "Excuse me, we're owners and we've stayed here before and never gotten a pool view and it would be great if you switched our view of the construction and freeway to that of the water." They had another room for us within five minutes.

So anyway, we unpacked and everything and went to Chili's, of all places, for dinner. Just Juan and me having a nice time (and a couple of margaritas!).

Wednesday we woke up early-ish because we needed to go to an "owners update" which is just commission talk for "we are going to try to sell you more timeshares". The marketing company will say anything to get you to go which we expected (it is part of the check-in process. they are the ones who give you your parking pass). We got two tickets for Cirque Du Soleil's Mystere for $40 which was a steal for the trouble of talking to a friendly guy who knew we weren't buying from the get-go (those tickets were normally about $80 a piece).



So we got back to our place and distractedly got ready to go to ti to watch Mystere. We both moved like sloths and getting anything done was difficult because we were in full vacation/relax mode. lol We finally made it and grabbed some dinner before the show at The Coffee Shop. It was not very good food, just your typical diner stuff and overpriced. But it was ok and we were good to go.

The show was nice and was on my list of shows to see in Vegas, but I was never in any rush to see it because it is the first Cirque show in Vegas and we started out at the top. Well, I guess because it is so old, the show doesn't hold a candle to the other Cirque shows. I found it had a lot of places where it seemed like they added a lot of filler (dancers waving their arms around in animalistic poses and set changes that were not really necessary) in between the acts. There were two performances that had me seriously clapping though: hand to hand and the aerial cube. Very very good pieces.




So Thursday was our last day to ourselves before our friends made it over and we kept tossing around ideas as to what to do. We eventually settled on going to Fremont Street. We started out with the buffet at the Fremont (we had a 2 for 1 coupon that brought our dinner to less than $11 for the two of us). Then we walked around Fremont and watched three different light shows. You know, for something that is so lauded, you'd think they would come up with good content. The best one by miles was the Queen show which featured "We will rock you" and "We are the Champions".


Friday is when everyone showed up. purple_equator was first, but after a quick stop to freshen up and drop off her stuff, she went hiking in Redrock. You should all poke her to post those photos and her story of boulder climbing in the ravine :D. Slowly, everyone else made it and we all got dressed up and went to the MGM. We made it just in time to see Ka and I am so happy to say that everyone loved it. I loved seeing it again and now I can't wait to see O again. The photo above was taken by the people there and we all pitched in to buy it (I got to keep it because it was my birthday but I have to get everyone a copy). We were starving after the show and since it was pretty late, all the places to eat at the MGM seemed to be closed (aside from the McDonald's and stuff). We went to the South Point casino which is next to our timeshare and discovered the graveyard specials! I had steak and eggs (with hashbrown and potatoes) for $5.95. It was awesome. What was not so awesome was getting peer pressured into trying out the disgusting hot mustard. That is when I took one of my favorites: ozo_head triptych.



Next day consisted of getting up late, having brunch at IHOP (where we were referred to as a "big six" for seating purposes. It was meant to be subtle and not heard by us but SO was. I thought it was hilarious, Heyzen was insulted. lmao), hitting up the pool, dinner at Chili's, and then getting ready to go out and party on the strip. Except we were so late on getting on that that it wasn't even officially my bday by the time we left for the strip. We did, however, have a good time at the pool and an even better time at Chili's. I swear, everyone thought we were drunk already and we hadn't even started drinking, that is how much laughing there was going on.



The highlight of the night happened around 4 am at Bill's Gambling Saloon. purple_equator's bday was on the 28th, so the day after mine. When she saw a machine where she wanted to gamble, I took out $20 and told her to gamble away since it was for her bday. She insisted that we both play at the same time on the machine (it had to have an arm to pull, that is what pulled her to that machine). We alternated duties and had a good run for the $20 and eventually we got to the last 40 cents. We bet 2 credits (pennies) on 20 lines for the last bet AND WON $490!!! We were ECSTATIC and promptly cashed out. We split it evenly (although she made me keep the 40 cents since they are now lucky and should not be split (lol). We were on cloud nine even as we waited for Juan to go get the car from the opposite end of the strip. It was about 5:30 in the morning when we went back. We were so tired but even more hungry. Thank goodness we had awesome Chili's leftovers! We heated those up, ate up and sat in the afterglow of a fun night. Then we got into a panic because OMG THE SUN WAS COMING UP! We all ran to our beds and went to sleep.



Last day was pretty straightforward. We ate brunch at the casino next door and Heyzen, Lynette and ozo_head packed and got ready to go home that day. purple_equator and I headed down to the pool for a while and slowly, everyone started to make their way to go home. purple_equator had a flight to catch at around 9pm so we had our last dinner at IHOP and took her to the airport.

Juan and I finished off the last day that we were there by relaxing, doing easy laundry in our room (there is a washer and dryer and free soap and no quarters needed, hell yeah I was gonna do laundry while I was there!). I wanted to take something with me from Vegas with my winnings and I decided I would replace my camera. It is on its way out already and with the winnings, I bought the new version of my Canon Elph. I LOVE IT. We bought it at Best Buy. After that, we headed to the casino next door once again to gamble for a bit and have our last dinner there. We did the graveyard special again and I had steak and eggs for six bucks.

It was totally awesome.

Whole set here.

Just a quick post to wish majorxero a happy birthday. Happy birthday! Miss you!

 

( for that meme going around )

 

• Sisters slept over at our place one night because their house had no more room. Next night only one of them slept over because one room had freed up. It was still a packed house.
• Saturday night went to Universal City Walk on a whim, one of those "let's go out and do something!" for the whole family(ies). So we went and had a good time.
  
  • Highlight of the night was when we were waiting for people to go into the wind tunnel at iFly to watch them, one of the workers there said "The first person to come up and sing any song about flying gets a 25% discount." Before I knew what was happening, Juan jumped up and went forward, grabbed the mic, and starting singing, "I believe I can fly! I believe I can touch the sky!" as the crowd waved their arms. Face, meet palm. LOL He didn't quite get that they meant for him to use the discount right then and there and now our relatives watched expectantly. Juan flew. lol He did much better this time too, although he didn't get to go high in the tunnel. They focused on stability and being able to fly on his own.
• Sunday night, Sabi (first one down from me) cooked a delicious BBQ consisting of carne asada, charbroiled chicken, grilled sausages, and green onions. My dad also made some killer refried beans and rice (but I didn't get to try the rice). Tortillas were the bomb because my aunt brought them from Mexico.

Right now we are just finishing up the plans for next week's Vegas trip. I am pretty stoked about it. I love going to Vegas. We have tickets to see Ka again. More than anything though, I am excited about relaxing for the first part of the week and then getting to hang out with my chusma buddies. Too bad not everyone can make it, but I am grateful to those who can. Just one more week and I will be the big three-oh. Dun dun dun!

Hahaha, I really don't care, it's just another number, and like my mom always said, I earned every single one.

Oh boy, so many things to at least mention. So, I shall go with the trusty bullet method:

• A couple Wednesdays ago, we went on our Marketing field trip. We took a trip down the coast to La Jolla to visit our colleagues at the Birch Aquarium. I had never been, so it was interesting. Due to the fact that it was supposed to be a field trip for us to spend some quality time together and build camaraderie in the department, I don't think it was the best trip we've taken. It felt a little more like a research mission. :D The beach taunted us while snorklers dove around the kelp paddies and kayakers paddled in the alcove. We wanted to be on the water! That said, however, it was a nice trip, the little aquarium is very nice, especially their rotating exhibits gallery which is featuring both animals that use camoflauge and global warming (two galleries, not one). (set)
  
  
  
  
• Then, I went on a whale watching trip again a couple Fridays ago (7/25). I was asked to go so that I could make another TV appearance for a Spanish language show (Los Angeles en Vivo, 62). Then, to take advantage of the fact that I was already making the trip and doing this media stuff, they added a crew from LAUSD (the school district has their own public access sorta shows). It was a wonderful trip. We saw about four blue whales multiple times. We even got to see one fluke! That is a really good whale watching day (blue whales are not dependable flukers)! Below are a couple shots and a blurry video that I took with my little cam (set). Bad thing is that I got sunburnt after the whale watch while waiting out on the front plaza for someone. It was bad. My whole face pretty much peeled off about four days later.
  
  
  
  
• The day after the whale watching, we went to El Dorado Park for a birthday picnic in honor of my dad. It was a nice relaxing time with the family. We set up camp (no overnight, just a nice place to nap), cooked burgers and corn, lounged about, and fed the ducks. That was nice. The only thing that would have made it better would have been my face not radiating heat like an oven. (set)
  
  
  
  
• Breaking Dawn Party. I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but my friend Jane got me into Twilight earlier this year and this girl is serious about her mission to spread the Twilight. As of right now, she has 31 fans to her name. 31 fans. That is mind boggling. Like I said before, it's a good thing she deals in books and not in drugs or else we'd all be screwed. So anyway, she threw a shindig on Friday after work but before the release at the book store. She went above and beyond. She put up Breaking Dawn quotes on the wall of the staircase that led to her apartment. She ran a raffle for cash to buy the book that night (which we rigged in her favor as thank-you-twist). She made themed cupcakes (red velvet anyone?), a trivia game, a "guess how many kisses are in the jar" game, and more. She had prizes and everything. Best thing? She made us all party favors that consisted of handmade bookmarks wrapped with an I <3 twilight magnet and chocolate covered coffee beans. It was a LOT of fun. Especially when Kellyn got there with her own made up Twilight board game (which Raelene made adorable pawns for!). When we got to the bookstore, there was another trivia game and out of the four prizes, our group won THREE of them! I got the movie poster! :D (set)
  
  
  
  
• As for the book itself? Well, I won't give any spoilers, although anyone that I know that wanted to read it pretty much has. I didn't like is as much as the others. I don't hate it, I just didn't like it as much. But it wrapped up nicely in my opinion. In such a way, anyway, that it left me not wanting any more. That is the best that I could hope for because really, I don't need an addiction that is a guilty pleasure. lol I will still go out and watch the movies and all that, but it isn't haunting my mind like the other ones did when I first read them a few months back.
• Thanks for reading! :D

It was Juan's birthday yesterday and we celebrated a number of ways. I arranged a carne asada for him at his parent's house on Saturday and invited our friends (always referred to as "La Chusma") and our immediate families. My mom bought the meat (ranchera/beef skirt) and prepared it (I didn't have the time nor the room to go buy it as it was on sale on Thursday only), I bought the boneless chicken breasts and prepped those, mother in law made the rice and beans, I made a green chile and avocado salsa, potato salad, and kaptainsnot  made a super delicious carrot cake from scratch. Juan rented a karaoke machine again, but this time it was harder to get people to sing.Unfortunately, as the night went on, the people that did want to sing sang rather loudly, drunkenly, and crazily. They kept singing rancheras and doing the "ah ah ah ha ha ha" stuff on the mic when they certainly didn't need it. And no, this wasn't the immediate families or the Chusma. But we'll just leave it at that.

We had a good time and by the time we got home and into bed it was almost three in the morning. I was so tired that I wanted to sleep the entire day but we had an appointment at 5:00 p.m. in Universal City that we couldn't miss, so get up around noon we did. :D

We picked up kaptainsnot from my parent's house and drove to Universal Citywalk because I gave Juan a double flight at iFlyHollywood on Valentine's Day that he hadn't cashed in yet. I finally booked it for him and decided we needed to go because left up to him, he would never actually do it. It's a laziness thing of getting something done, I dunno. So anyway, we get there and just make it (ok, we were late but I called ahead). We get there as another group of flyers is in the tube with spectators surrounding from all sides. This only got Juan more anxious and excited. We walked up, signed in, signed his life away and bought the DVD (big mistake).

Juan then went to get changed and "trained" while we waited outside. About 15 minutes later, he was the first one to get in the tube. He was suited up in a black and purple jumpsuit, extra large goggles (to cover his glasses), and a black helmet. He had his arms tucked in with his fists under his chin as we walked to the doorway and gently fell forward in the wind tunnel. There was a coach in there the entire time, moving Juan around trying to get him to balance. After watching the video, Juan can't believe that he was so off, he needed to bring his knees down and be straight instead of U-shaped like he was. He just didn't know that is what he looked like while he was in there.

You get to fly for one minute at a time which sounds really short but is ample time to have fun in there. He flew twice and is ready for his next flight. And no, he has no want of flying out a plane. This gives you all the fun and adrenaline (maybe not as much adrenaline) of sky diving with all the safety you could possibly have. The only thing safer is tying a cable and swinging you above a mattress. lol

kaptainsnot  took a little bit of video, but I forgot to tell her to keep the point and shoot camera horizontal. So, some of the video is sideways. Sorry! I also added some of the photos to the end.



We had a great time watching him and he loved the flights. We had dinner afterwards and watched Hancock which was much better than what most people and reviews led me to believe. I am glad we gave it a chance. The Dark Knight was sold out at the IMAX there and there is no way that I am not watching this movie on IMAX. Maybe next weekend, we'll see. Anyway, it was a great weekend!

ETA: And I forgot to mention the neatest place that we discovered while there, The Los Angeles Sock Market!!

This was a very strange weekend. My mom's birthday was on Saturday and Friday night we still had no solid plans other than going over to my parents at some point Saturday but going out for a nice dinner on Sunday (since Sabi worked pretty late on Saturday).

We were woken up Saturday morning by Juan's mom on the phone. Manny, Juan's cousin had passed away. He was 37. Obviously everyone's initial reaction is "how did it happen, was it an accident, etc?". But the thing is, we don't know why (at least not yet). He went to sleep on the couch, where he liked to sleep despite having a lovely wife and bed, and in the morning when his little girl went to wake him up, he didn't.


We went to their house around noon and it was the most devastating place I remember being in. I have been to funerals, but I hadn't been to the house of the deceased just hours after removing the body. I had never experienced the raw devastating emotion of people you love simply falling apart at the seams. I knew Manny, but I didn't know him. The closest family that I have had pass away, particularly the my young uncle happened when I was too young to be exposed to that. Seeing his family and the cousins and aunts that we hang out with suffering like that? Absolutely awful. His dad was in Mexico and caught the first flight back with his cousin. Juan offered to go pick him up at the airport so we went and he arrived around 4pm, not even 12 hours after he was found. I went hunting him down at the international terminal at LAX (thank goodness for his sombrero!). I hadn't anticipated how being the first person to see him here, a tangible person to bring a little bit of the unbelievable reality that his son was dead, was going to feel. He fought back the tears and the sobs as much as he could in the car. I made small talk with him about where he was coming from, where my dad is from, etc to calm them down a bit.

As soon as we got to the house, someone was in the parking lot (I dunno the relation) and he fell apart in their arms. After a couple of minutes, he walked into the house where all the tias and cousins were waiting, not to mention his daughter in law. The wailing sobs coming from the three of them, dad, mother, and daughter in law as they embraced was too much to bear.

We left soon after. It was after all, my mom's birthday.

I am thankful that we had that luxury. To be able to step away from it and see that life really does go on. It was an emotional relief even if it did make me feel a little guilty inside. The dinner for my mom was very impromptu and my dad's idea. We had already established that we wanted to take the family out for dinner on Sunday since Sabi didn't work that day. So we did that as well. It was nice.

My sister's 16th birthday was on Saturday and thanks to free tickets from two sources (sitting through a timeshare spiel for my sister and bird_mom   kindly offering the rest), most of the family was able to go to Disneyland. My dad was the only one that didn't make it because he had to work on Saturday, but Xaviera's friend came along as well.

My mom hadn't been in a loooooong time, so it was fun to see it through her eyes. We bolted to Indiana Jones to grab Fastpasses first and then headed to Tomorrowland and got in line for Space Mountain. God I love that ride. Those new lights they have at the beginning and the end are freakin fantastic! My mom loved it so much she said she wanted to see if we could get back on it later (we never made it back).

After that we headed back to Indiana Jones for our FastPass appointment, and the ride was temporarily shut down. We moaned and groaned and went to Pirates instead. The animatronic Capt. Jack still amazes me!

When we got out of there we headed to the Haunted Mansion and after a little ice cream snack, it started to rain. It was a steady drizzle on us while we queued up and the drops got bigger, but we never got soaked.

When we got out it was really wet outside but it wasn't really raining anymore. We were starving and started to look for food. Burgers, we wanted burgers, but of course we were in a section of Disneyland where bread bowls and gumbo ruled. Dang. Well, we ended up in a place called The Golden Horse Shoe and as we were in line to order food, a show came on - Billy and The Hillbillies. lol It was goofy and stuff but mighty entertaining while we ate our fish sticks and chicken strips.

Eventually we made it on Indiana Jones (my other Disneyland favorite), Star Tours, Buzz's Astroblasters, the really adorable Storybook Land boat ride, and even on Dumbo which I really cannot remember when the last time I rode it was. Oh, and I can't forget to mention one more: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. All I could remember from when I was a kid is that it was fast and that it turned a lot and you almost crashed into stuff. Well, it was pretty much exactly that. I can't believe we rode on it (the line was short since this was at night and it had been steadily drizzling), it was like what I imagine a bad acid trip to feel like. lol kaptainsnot   ended up riding it alone and she said it was pretty damn terrifying. lmao!

And a few more of my favorite shots:

I had a really great Christmas, mellow with my family. Not much to say, it really is all about just being there.

I had a going away potluck brunch at work from the Ed department last Friday, which was really nice. Jane made me a lovely framed photo of me kayaking with a big matte for everyone to sign (which they did with all sorts of wonderful messages). She also made a card with similar sentiments. They were really nice and made me feel really special. Right now, she is on her way to India for her friend's wedding. Over a day's worth of travel through some of the most exciting places in the world, too bad she's only going through!

I finished off my education days on a boat, and as lonely as that seemed (6 hours on a boat, two days in a row, no one there when you get back), it seemed really appropriate. As if they wanted to show me what I was going to be missing when I left. It was super freezing cold and I felt like I just wanted to fall asleep and let the cold take me on the first day, but the second day, I came uber prepared! I have photos, but I haven't gotten them all sorted out and stuff, so I will share later.

On our trips we saw 8 fin whales, a minke whale, two blues blow off on the horizon too far for us to get to, small pods of common dolphins, pacific whitesided, and then a super pod of about 500 bottlenose dolphins! That was really cool!

We are gonna have a quiet evening at home tonight, eventually, my fam and juan's fam will come over and hang out. It is also kaptainsnot's birthday (aka HRB, little sis) today and word is, there will be cake tonight. I feel so bad that she gets such a shafted bday. :/

Go to your Calendar and find the first entry for each month of 2006 (not including memes of course). Post the first line/sentence of it in your journal, and that's your

My friends at work took me and F on our birthday lunch and it was a lot of fun. We ate yummy mexican food and had a lot of really funny conversations.

Then when I got back, I had this beautiful edible arrangement waiting for me! It is so pretty and it smells wonderful! I have always wanted one of these and this year, Juan made it happen.

Those strawberries covered in chocolate are as good as they look!

Thank you for all your lovely bday wishes!

Dude, I dunno what I wanna do for my bday this year. I want to see Cirque du Soleil's Corteo which is touring here right around my birthday. But there is also this touring concert called Video Games Live. I heard about it way too late when it launched here at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005 (and it was on a Wednesday or something). I regretted not going to it ever since. Now it will be coming around again and is tied with the e For All Expo. Looking around at the Expo's website, I totally want to go to that. Juan and I are not hardcore gamers by any feat of the imagination, but we do love games. I think we would have a blast there. It is in late October, so it really wouldn't be what we do for my birthday. It would be more like a bday present. But I need to register before Sept 1 if I want to cash in on the VIP status (which I totally would).

To hell with Cirque. I love you guys, I've seen your Vegas shows, and I know that you will tour again. But I haven't seen Video Games Live and I really really want to!! Just, I mean, listen to this: 

Video Games Live™ is an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time.  Top orchestras & choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience! ... It's the power & emotion of a symphony orchestra mixed with the excitement and energy of a rock concert and the technology and interactivity of a video game all completely synchronized to amazing cutting edge video screen visuals, state-of-the-art lighting and special on-stage interactive segments with the audience.

*ded*

So, who's coming with?

ETA: I just downloaded and watched the five minute trailer for VGL and OMG. I can't stand the excitement, I am going to burst. I NEED to GO.

Prestige v. Illusionist - Prestige wins!
OK, so it wasn't a landslide, but out of the people that saw The Prestige, they either liked it, or liked it more than The Illusionist. If you haven't seen them, I really suggest watching The Prestige. I can't vouch for the other one. ;)

I am completely disgusted with the article that canutius  posted about Paris Hilton. "Celebrity heiress Paris Hilton is backing an online petition seeking a pardon of her 45-day prison sentence because she enlivens "mundane" lives." :O It just has no end, does it? I can't believe that there are people that are so disgustingly superficial and needy that they need to worship and create someone like her.

There is a fire, not sure how much you got to see on your news last night about it. Here, it was the only thing on the news last night. But anyway, yeah, huge brush fire in Griffith Park, and for a while there, it was really scary. Griffith Park is apparently the largest urban park in the nation and a ton of it has burned to the ground. Record heat. Single digit humidity. Just add "high winds" and that will be what we coming to us for most of the year now. Thankfully, winds weren't up an crazy last night or today, so the amazing fire fighters are doing a great job of getting it contained. They evacuated the LA Zoo yesterday, moved animals indoors, evacuated the Gene Autry Museum, and the residents in the area. And then there's the Observatory. So close, I was really fearing the worst there. I am so glad it hasn't gone down.

Griffith Park Fire Originally uploaded by xengineer.	Dante's View completely burned. Originally uploaded by Malingering.
Griffith Park Fire Originally uploaded by xengineer.	Griffith Park Fire Originally uploaded by Donna Grayson.
8:52pm Originally uploaded by Atwater Village Newbie.	Griffith Park Observatory - MUST SEE Originally uploaded by Eric Castro.

Sorry, but I really wanted to keep that in my lj. The fire season is getting longer, this is probably just the first in a long series of fires for the year.