Photo of the Week (March 30, 2008)

Greetings from Mission Viejo, California, USA!
Photo taken on Sunday, March 30, 2008.

First I need to mention a few things from the previous week. I sent a bonus email about the last-minute party of six for one roommate’s 40th birthday on St. Patrick’s Day. On the following Friday, the spring equinox no less, I attended a friend’s wine tasting party. Then my other roommate had a gathering of eight for Easter. That occasion coincided with some Asian holiday, which we acknowledged by flicking water at one another as a blessing but it became a water fight. We dried off, had a meal of ham and turkey, and then walked to, along and from the beach. The evening ended with a round of the board game Scene It. My team eked out a win against the other two.

Post-Easter it was back to work at the Villa Park house. We finished the storage closet job on Thursday. Friday morning I woke up, realized that I didn’t need to be anywhere and went back to bed. I slept and slept and slept. I vaguely remember someone knocking on my bedroom door and saying something about a party here in the evening. When I finally got out of bed and out of my room, no one else was home.

I was about to call a roommate to confirm if there really was a party but was stopped by more knocking, this time from the front door. John, the first party guest and birthday boy, was here. He was also instrumental in putting together the last-minute party on St. Patrick’s Day. Eventually both roommates returned and more guests arrived. We had nine people for a dinner of grilled salmon and chicken followed by pie and ice cream cake. On a side note the refrigerator is packed with leftovers from the three parties we had in less than two weeks.

I visited my parents on Saturday. Then on Sunday I volunteered at a Carnival for Children with Cancer organized by the Elks Club of Mission Viejo. The weekly photo shows the clowns making balloon animals, flowers and hats. We had an assortment of games and one rule: Everyone was a winner. For a few hours kids forgot their cancer and just had fun. As the crowd thinned out, some of the volunteers - including me - started to play the games ourselves. Then we played with the leftover toys in the prize boxes. I even played in the bounce house.

Afterward I stopped to see some friends. Their son was playing in the pool with the two family dogs and two neighbor kids. I was invited to jump in and even stay for dinner. I did both. Despite working practically non-stop for nearly a month, I managed to be at six social occasions and visit my parents in the last two weeks. Don’t ask me how I did it. I’m still figuring that out myself.

Angelo

Photo of the Week (March 23, 2008)

Greetings from Villa Park, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, March 22, 2008.

The photo of the week shows the house that has consumed a majority of my time lately. The neighborhood has an established look - the trees are mature and the houses have distinctly individual looks. Given the affluence in the area, you could easily think that each house was custom built in a by-gone era. But all the houses share a common design element – a 3-car garage – a clear indication that these houses were constructed in the recent past of 25-35 years ago as part of a tract housing development. In fact I spent time in this and another house in the neighborhood and they had near-identical floor plans.

These homes with ample lot size and individual personalities are a long-lost breed in crowded Los Angeles & Orange Counties. The photo shows the expanse of lawn in the front yard. The back yard is equally spacious. Some homeowners have tennis courts or swimming pools. This house has a basketball half-court, a gazebo and a covered patio stretching the entire length of the house. Nowadays each new generation of houses have smaller lot sizes, relative to home square-footage, and look cookie-cutter in conformity with the rules and regulations of homeowner associations.

This house had several overlapping home improvement projects. My roommate’s primary job was fixing the patio and gazebo from a one-two-three punch of general wear & tear, dry rot and termites. Other projects were adding a playroom and a cedar-lined storage closet. The owners also had the roof retiled, the ventilation rerouted and the exterior repainted but other contractors did all these. Nevertheless my roommate also took on two other projects - painting the interiors of houses about to go on sale. Several days included driving back and forth between homes. UGH!

In related news my parents are expanding their house’s guest bedroom into a second master bedroom on the first floor, in anticipation of the day when they are too old to walk up the stairs to the original master bedroom on the second floor. The project exceeds my roommate’s skills and knowledge as it involves knocking down an exterior wall. In fact this detail is slowing down obtaining the necessary building permit as the blueprints are carefully reviewed by the city planning department.

My parents’ contractor recently built a guesthouse for one of my cousins. He did a great job but I found a few flaws that everyone missed when we toured the nearly completed domicile. I noticed plenty of outlets for electricity but none for telephone or television. Everyone had a perplexed expression as I pointed that out. Despite my recent work experience, I am still like accident-prone Tim “the Toolman” Taylor on TV’s Home Improvement. By the way typing is much harder with bandage-wrapped fingers.

Angelo

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Greetings from Newport Beach, California, USA!
Photo was taken on Monday, March 17, 2008.

Once again I am trying to beat the clock. I have less than 45 minutes before St. Patrick’s Day is over in my time zone – déjà vu of my Valentine’s Day email. I must have a thing for recurring themes. I must also mention that the Photo of the Week emails have not ended. I’ve been busy and just haven’t had the time to write. But I have continued to take photos and the emails will too.

At first glance the weekly photo is probably not what you expect for the occasion but it is actually appropriate. One of my two roommates Wayne was born on March 17 making him a St. Patrick’s Day baby. I remembered it on Sunday night when I was at the grocery store and saw green bagels – from dye, not mold – but completely forgot about it the very next day. A phone call with a friend reminded me. I was with my roommate this morning, wished him happy birthday and learned that it was his 40th but he had no plans to celebrate.

Back home in the afternoon I told my other roommate James about Wayne’s birthday and we decided to pull something together on the fly. The results? We had a dinner party for six. We bought some steaks and corn on the cob and Wayne, who loves to barbecue, fired up his charcoal grill.

Wayne is a big motorcycle enthusiast with a Harley in our garage. One guest brought the cake decorated with an outline of the Harley-Davidson logo. We wrapped the evening by watching the first episode of a documentary miniseries called “The Long Way Down”, the sequel to “The Long Way Around”. Actor Ewan McGregor and his friend Charley Boorman took two motorcycle road trips - the first west/east from London to New York City via Europe, Asia and North America; the second north/south from London to Cape Town via Europe and Africa.

The clock is ticking away the final minutes of St. Patrick’s Day. Please forgive the typos. I’ll catch up on the weekly emails soon.

Angelo

Photo of the Week (March 16, 2008)

Greetings from Tustin, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, March 15, 2008.

I have spent most of March helping a roommate in his home improvement business. A consequence was coming home too exhausted to spend much time on the computer to job search or write. Nonetheless the cash infusion is much appreciated. Another perk came from a paint sales representative – a booklet of color samples with interesting names. There is “Kermit”, obviously a shade of green, but no “Miss Piggy”. There is however “Miss Hussy”, a shade of gray. The names inspired this bit of fun. Guess which colors the following ALL-CAP WORDS are? Each paragraph corresponds to one color only.

Group #1: For lunch I was meeting my cousin who was already seated at our table, writing in her SPIRAL notebook, working on a COLOSSAL college class report on YATES. She stood up to greet me and I saw that her outfit was a PERFECT FIT, a FRINGE BENEFIT of her part-time job at a dress shop.

Group #2: I was at a blackjack table in the MIRAGE Hotel and the man next to me, from the HAGUE in the Netherlands, would not stop talking. He told me about a cheesy Vegas show that he had just seen where Marvin the Magic MARVEL had SUSPENDED a RAFT in midair.

Group #3: An INVITATION arrived from URSULA, a true PEACEMAKER. The ultimate AUTHORITY on mediation, she could put an end to any argument. Also IMPRESSIVE was her devotion to her faith. She was always ready to light a VOTIVE candle and say a PRAYER.

Group #4: We felt a TINGLE of excitement as the game show host asked, “Do you WANT IT?” My wife possessed an ATTITUDE of determination to win the prize package called SECOND HONEYMOON – a ROMANTIC winter getaway for two to WHISTLER, Canada.

Last call for guesses. Group #1 has shades of yellow, group #2 has shades of blue, group #3 has shades of red/pink and group #4 has shades of purple. Can you believe that someone is paid to name these colors? For one last splash of color, check out the photo of the week – dad and son counting the spoils from an Easter egg hunt. We were supposed to have a game of egg tossing too but we never got around to it. Meanwhile my handy color sample booklet shows that like PHILOSOPHIC, SQUINT and SHINE, EGG YOLK is a shade of yellow-orange. The color may complement my skin tone but I am happy not to have egg on my face.

Angelo

Photo of the Week (March 9, 2008)

Greetings from Costa Mesa, California, USA!
Photo taken on Monday, March 3, 2008.

Last time I counted every place that I have called home in 36 years. The total was a whopping 18 locations – 7 houses, 8 condos and 3 apartments. In the USA, I have lived in 5 cities in 2 counties (Alhambra & West Covina in Los Angeles county and Irvine, Newport Beach & Costa Mesa in Orange county) all in California, just 1 of the 50 states. Yet I have lived in 3 countries on 3 continents (the Philippines in Asia, USA in North America and country/continent Australia). Next: With how many people have I lived?

I must skip my two homes in the Philippines. Between my parents’ two American houses, I lived with my family of 3 (dad, mom and brother). Also 4 of my mom’s relatives have stayed long-term – her sister, a cousin and his wife and the wife of another cousin. In Australia my first family had 6 - dad, mom, two sons, two daughters - and my second family had 7 - dad, mom, one son, two daughters and two foster baby boys. Family subtotal: 20.

I lived in six different places in college. First home had 3 roommates and 1 replacement (a roommate left and was replaced by another). Second home had 2 roommates and third home had 4. Fourth home had 3 roommates and 1 replacement. Fifth and sixth homes had 2 roommates each. College subtotal: 18.

After college I lived in six more places. First home had 2 roommates and 1 replacement. Second home had just 1. Third & fourth homes are combined as my roommates and I moved together. Between the two I had 2 roommates and 1 replacement. Fifth home had just 1 again. Sixth & current home has had 2 roommates and 1 replacement. Post college subtotal: 11.

Grand total: 49 people. Excluding family, the tally is 29 roommates. Twice I lived with a woman, on both occasions they were friends and my stays were temporary – three months apiece - while I transitioned between homes. I wrote a list of all my roommates. Nine names started with “J” surprisingly but the most common name was no surprise. I have lived with 4 Jons/Johns, 2 Jasons, 1 Jeremy, 1 Jose and 1 James. There are also Jennine and Janine, daughters from my two Australian host families. I’ll spare you the rest of the names. So I have counted where and with whom I have lived. What next – who I have dated? Uh, let’s not.

Angelo

PS: The weekly photo couldn’t fit into the context of my topic so it’s included here. South Coast Plaza has a covered footbridge connecting the main mall to the neighboring Crystal Court shopping center. I arrived at closing time. The lighting and lack of people give the photo a look that is interesting but hard to describe. Can you?

Photo of the Week (March 2, 2008)

Greetings from Irvine, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, March 1, 2008.

This month I stopped my post office box service after nearly 17 years. In my present financially lean times, I’m forgoing this simple luxury. I have moved several times and the p. o. box was a stable mailing address. With the safety net gone, I wondered how many places have I called home?

First I was born in the Philippines and lived with my parents until they migrated to America. I stayed behind with family friends and reunited with mom and dad several months later. In the USA our first house was in Alhambra before moving to West Covina. In high school I was an exchange student and lived in the Melbourne area of Australia. I had two host families, one in Wandin and the other in Glen Waverly. Subtotal: 6 homes in my first 18 years.

I was extremely mobile in my college years. I lived in an apartment for 21 months until my roommates graduated, then a condo for 3 months (summer only), both in Irvine. Next was a house on Newport Beach’s Balboa Island for 9 months (school year only), then an Irvine condo for 1 year. Finished with college and now on my own, I moved into an Irvine apartment, didn’t like it and moved out 3 months later. I lived in another Irvine condo for 3 more months, then back to West Covina when my job ended as my boss retired, closing our two-man department. Subtotal: 6 homes in just over 5 years.

Later a job lead to moving to a Costa Mesa condo for nearly 2 years until I was ready for a change. My next three places were all in Newport Beach. I temporarily lived with a friend in her apartment for 3 months, followed by a condo for 18 months, then another condo for 1 year. My roommates and I moved to the second condo, just two doors from the first because it had a jacuzzi and the other didn’t but I disliked the new landlord. Next I stayed at the Costa Mesa condo of another friend for 3 months. Back in school for an MBA and laid off from work, I once again moved back to my parents’ until another job brought me to Orange County again and my current home, a Newport Beach condo. Subtotal: Not counting the moves back to West Covina, 6 homes in 13 years.

Grand Total: 18 homes in 36 years!!! I’ll miss the p. o. box but it was never a home with a dog waiting to greet you. Nor, as my weekly photo shows, is it an anteater blasting rolled shirts with a handheld air cannon into the audience with UCI alumni attending a homecoming basketball game (not volleyball this time) where the home team defeated Cal State Northridge 82-66. There is no place like home.

Angelo