Wackyfish

The space age tooth brush

My mother is very enthusiastic about dental hygiene.
She is a health educator by trade so it makes good sense that she would find the latest dental technology exciting. So (while it was a bit odd) it was not surprising that she presented me with a brand new tooth brush, not 30 minutes after I arrived home from Samoa. Her excitement was palpable as explained the new feature of separated brush head that could flex around our teeth and some thing else I really don’t remember. I admit… I sort of tuned it out I am not nearly as enthusiastic about dental technology. I figured she was just being quirky and decided to smile and nod and find the whole experience endearing. She is after all my mother and I love her dearly.

The next morning as went to use said new tooth brush I noticed two small buttons on the handle. One had a plus and the other a minus. I touched the button with the plus and my tooth brush began to vibrate. To which I immediately thought to myself “ROCK! This is a cool toothbrush! No wonder mom was so excited.” At the time I took it as a nice reminder that my mother is often smarter than I give her credit for.

Several weeks of happy tooth brushing went by for me (and continue to this day, I might add.) Then one day several weeks ago as I was preparing to leave the house, I walked into my mothers room while brushing my teeth with my neato vibrating toothbrush. After a few minutes, she looked at me and said “what have you got in your mouth that is making that noise?” To which I pulled my neato tooth brush out of my mouth and said, “The fancy tooth brush you gave me. Remember?”
I think her draw dropped to the floor and she said in a shocked voice “It Vibrates?”
Which lead us to the hilarious discovery that she didn’t actually know the space age toothbrushes vibrated. Even funnier is that later that night she asked my father if he knew (as he has one as well.) He was also clueless.
But the funniest moment of all was when I pointed out the buttons and gave them a demonstration of how it worked.

I am so glad they are so exited about new dental technology. And I am also thrilled I can assit them into this new age of vibrating tooth brushes.

Oh Beautiful Chaos

It seems like everyone showed up all at once. The program for the day called for all the Tamale makers to show up at 10:30 am for the assembly and steaming of tamales for this evening’s festivities. My family has never been very good about time and it was nearly noon before the assembly line got underway. An hour and half and 50 pounds of Maza later we have over 300 tamales ready for steaming.
All of my Aunts are here. Not to mention most of my cousins and many of my uncles. There are three dogs and many many friends.
Kids are running around screaming, a dog is barking, the din of laughter and “catching up” noises is nearly deafening. Everyone is eating, drinking and having a wonderful time.
I love these family gatherings…
They are not so different really from Samoan family gatherings.
I am feeling very “At Home”.
I hope you are as well.

Who needs words....

I know I haven’t written anything in a few days…
So how about a few pictures instead.

Remember that 49ers game my family went to a few weeks ago. Well my dad got out the camera before we left and here are a few shots of us in our Fan gear.

Debbie and Dorie

Mommy, Daddy, and Dog

Then…
On Tuesday I went with Nonnie and Azzie to the SJ Children’s Discovery museum.
Here are a few more goddess baby pictures.

Azzie and I at Story time

What is it with me and the funny faces?

Azzie and her Mommy (Nonnie)

Azzie in a Fire hat. (And quite possibly my favorite picture of her yet.)

Again with me and the funny faces

Walk, girl and dog, home city

It is a beautiful San Francisco morning. The Mission is alive and awake and brilliant in the sun. The sun which I am coming to perceive as the burning ball of heat (as opposed to hate). My thin pacific blood is still not adjusted to the cold northern California weather, and the warmth from the sun feels amazing on my face.
It was late morning by the time I got out of bed and ventured forth with Cobain for a morning walk and hunt for coffee. On the way out Max asked me to pick up some fruit since there was none in the house (and I wouldn't want to risk getting scurvy now, would I.) So Dorie and Dog headed first to Valencia Joe's. Cobain and I are getting used to walking each other. I never had to walk Mia so remembering all the training and non verbal communication that goes on between dog and guardian is always... challenging for me. I just let my girl (Mia) run wild, with this boy dog (Cobin) I have to be much more on top of what is going on. At Valencia Joe's I fasten up Cobain outside and with a kiss I tell him to be a good boy, while I go in and get a cup of coffee. He is perfect and obeys. After I procure cup of coffee number one, we head back towards mission to the little corner store that carries fun produce. All the way there Cobain acts like the super star he is. It is his neighborhood and he seems to have an appropriate following. The little Indian man at the corner says hello, mostly to Cobain I think. I give him a warm smile and hello as well. Cobain sniffs his crotch in greeting. The old man giggles. Two homeless gentlemen sitting on the sidewalk greet Cobain and pet him adoringly. I wish them a good morning. Cobain again goes right for the crotch sniff. We walk on down 19th street together proudly, girl and dog. Any good dog person can see we are quite obviously falling in love with each other.
Several Mexican men are standing outside our corner market when we arrive. I fasten up Cobain in the middle of their gathering. They don't seem to mind at all. They offer me warm smiles and Cobain angles himself to be pet and adored (and get in a few good crotch sniffs of course). I once again tell him to be good. I take the last of my coffee and go into the store to see what exotic fruit I can find. I find a mango, some bananas, two small ripe tomatoes and an avocado. I let the elderly woman buying just milk go ahead of me since I am in no hurry and she seems to be. Cobain is still holding court when I return to him on the sidewalk. He is happy to see me none the less and as I was just finished with my cup of coffee I toss the cup in the trash can and we head off for the Dance Cafe so I can get Cup #2. It's just up the street and the lady behind the counter is a georgous Indian woman who lets me bring Cobain in with me. She pours me more coffee and compliments my handsome and well behaved dog. We stand and preen together for a moment in her adoration. I compliment the Indian music she has playing, and she tells me about the musician. I remember how much I enjoy the cultural diversity of San Francisco. Cobain and I are done with our errands so we head home. As we stand at the light waiting to cross Mission street a garbage truck pulls up and the man in side gives us a "Have a happy Sunday" nod and motions for us to cross. Cobain does his adorable puppy prance across the street, and once we reach the other side he come back to my side to heel perfectly. He matches my stride. He is good dog.
It is true I am having trouble adjusting. I am scared about going back to school, and I am disappointed that now that I am home my best friend is going to run off on his great adventure (in about a month). But I DO love it here. Despite the cold, and the consumerism, and the hurry hurry way of life, this is indeed my home. And this is where I need to be.

Readjustment blues

I finally got around to fixing wackyfish. I was getting errors when I attempted to delete comments. Wackyfish had another bombardment of spam, and needed to be cleaned up. I still have not gotten around to installing anti-spam software… I just don’t want to spend the time. I am out of technology remember!
I am also thinking of moving this journal someplace and starting a new one… sort of as a way to designate the new phase in my life.
I also need to go back and re-size some of the photos I just posted… GAH I simply can’t be bothered. I have to much to do already. Too many people to see (Don’t get me wrong, I want to see people, I just don’t want to spend the time to do it.) I need to fill out paperwork for post PC stuff, and to get into the Maitri volunteer program, and I need to find a job, and spend as much time with Max as possible before he goes away. How did I get this busy and overwhelmed so quickly? I was going to take it slow… remember. Maybe it is time to start saying no….
GAH

I saw Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe last night with Kearla and Co… It was great to see everyone. That movie was an acceptable adaptation of a well loved book. And the public transit adventure was a lot of fun for me. I’m glad I went… and now that I just posted about having to many people to see… I am feeling a bit like an ass. Oh well… I’m sure I will get this all sorted out soon enough.

I slack... and then some

I have been meaning to write for a while but simply haven’t had the chance. Or maybe I have had, and simply lacked the motivation. But here are a few highlights from the last week, so that I don’t forget.
Sunday Mom, Dad, Deb and I went to a 49ers game. I have a cute story to write about mom literally stealing a baby from the couple next to us at breakfast before the game. Hopefully I’ll get around to writing it.
Sunday evening I headed to San Jose and Saw Darc, Karen and Mike. Which was neat. Monday Darc and I hung out and made a trip to Mountain View to see our favorite barista. Oh and I managed to register for classes Monday morning. I didn’t get a single class I needed in order to full fill pre-reqs, which blows. But I managed to get a yoga class, a Psychology class, a Sociology class, and a Communications class. All of which I would have needed to take eventually anyway. It’s 10 units and probably a better way to ease myself back into the school thing.
Tuesday I headed over to Stockton to see Nonnie, Mike and Anisley my goddess kid. She is neat, and a total pagan baby! YAY!
Wednesday I came home and Max and I went for sushi with a bunch of neat people I love, to celebrate Jasons birthday.
And now I am home and I have a ton of things to do. None of which I have any desire to do. And one of which is writing. Tonight I am going to a Christmas party with mom for her work. Tomorrow is LWW with Kearla and friends and Saturday is a Sharks game with Steven. So I have fun things in the works. Which of course help me put off all of those…. Adult things I should be doing.

Goddess Child

A few tips on staying warm.

If you are wearing socks and a hat you stand a much better chance of staying warm. My Aunt Barbara told me that and I have figured out that she is right. Also… if you turn the heater WAY up… people get mad, and your nasal cavity dries out even more. So avoid that if possible.

In other news, it looks like I get a Pell Grant for the spring semester. It isn’t much but it will cover the pre req classes and books at Silly College. So that is nice. I can register for classes as soon as December 5th. Hopefully there are still some spaces left in the classes I want. I have also been looking slowly for a job…. I don’t really want a job… but I figure it could be time to be an adult again soon and I should probably get on that.