Photo of the Week (January 25, 2009)

Greetings from Newport Beach, California, USA!
Photo taken on Sunday, January 25, 2009.

This week my brother went snowboarding in Utah. He left on Tuesday and was to return on Saturday but missed his plane back. Because the popular and well-known Sundance Film Festival was wrapping up that weekend, the next available flight was not until Monday. My parents missed my brother’s return as they left on Sunday for a one-month trip to the Philippines. While my family racks up frequent flier miles, I needed several minutes just to remember the last time I was on an airplane.

I think my most recent flight was in August 2003 for a cousin’s wedding in Northern California. My last true vacation was in 2001 when I flew to Florida and took a Caribbean cruise on the week immediately following the 9/11 attacks. Since then most of my traveling beyond Los Angeles & Orange Counties has been for out-of-town weddings. This is any observation, not a complaint. I will take what I can get right now.

Much to my frustration, my employment history has been heavily sporadic in the past decade. In fact I recently endured 14 months between fulltime jobs and my savings were completely drained. Consequently I live the paradox of “having the time but not the money or having the money but not the time”. In the foreseeable future my travels will be limited to road trips. Thankfully gasoline prices have nose-dived. Otherwise a daytrip would be going to the community pool and a wild weekend would involve walking down to the beach.

I will be surprised if I fly anywhere this year and stunned if I travel outside the United States via any means – plane, train, car or foot. In fact if I attempt a national border crossing, I would be detained as my passport expired several years ago. Nevertheless I will set foot on all seven continents one day with three down already (Asia, Australia & North America) and four more to go. For now I can focus on setting foot on all 50 states of the USA. I have been to 17 or so thus far but will spare you a list of those.

Meanwhile home offers inspiration. Christmas was over a month ago and the fake tree is boxed but yet to be stored in the garage. Most of the ornaments have been put away too. But some are in the living room’s built-in bookcase as shown in this week’s photo. They are mixed with glasses, each from a different location of the Hard Rock Café (HRC) restaurant chain. The shorter 30th anniversary pint glasses are from my near-complete set (I have 36 of 39). The taller pilsners represent the restaurant & city that I have actually visited (a modest 14 of 80+ worldwide). The ornaments, wire sculptures and HRC barware have a unifying theme “Travel”, a sure sign that I continue to dream.

Angelo

Photo of the Week (January 18, 2009)

Greetings from Pasadena, California, USA!
Photo taken on Sunday, January 18, 2009.

In November I attended the christening-type celebration for a cousin’s newborn triplets. In December I was at a party where three women were noticeably pregnant. Now I know three other women expecting babies in January. In fact the trio of infants, all boys, were born within three days of each other with the first two sharing the same birth date while the third arrived two days later.

I once read that big events such as natural disasters can spike pregnancies rates. For example if New York City had a power outage lasting several days, then hospitals can expect a minor baby boom nine months later. With no electricity for many of life’s basics like television and light, people have more idle time for sex.

So what was happening when these mothers became pregnant around the same time? Nine months back would be mid-April 2008 and no significant events come to mind. The 15th of that month is the deadline to file income tax statements but I doubt that these couples were celebrating the completion of their tax forms and possible refunds. I also stopped short of actually asking these women and their husbands any intrusive questions.

From the little information that I do know, I surmise that it was completely coincidental. One couple decided to adopt after news that having a baby naturally was highly unlikely. Ironically the wife got pregnant just as they adopted a newborn son. Now they have two boys, both under a year old, and the couple’s stamina and sanity are likely tested every day. The second couple used in vitro fertilization and, as far as I know, the third couple simply did what newlyweds normally do.

Should I expect more monthly experiences of babies-times-three? Or has it run its course after three months? And was it all a coincidence? Yikes, I just asked three questions. Maybe in three months I will attend three weddings and in three more months I will attend three funerals. As a finale three months after that I will attend a birth, a wedding and a funeral. Possible? Yes. Likely? No. But life is unpredictable and, come what may, I will take it in stride.

Angelo

PS: By default the photo of the week is my only photo taken this week. Additionally it did not fit with my topic above so it is addressed here instead. Deriving its name from the two intersecting streets next to it – Colorado & Fair Oaks, the Colfair building is part of the revitalization of Downtown Pasadena. Originally an office building, the first floor is now retail space while the other floors are a blend of business and residential. I have a business friend who once rented a third-story loft there. He told people that he lived above a barn as the Pottery Barn store was on the ground floor.

Photo of the Week (January 11, 2009)

Greetings from Orange, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, January 10, 2009.

Into the first full week of 2009, the year is off to a slow but rough start. On Saturday evening a friend had her birthday celebration but I stopped by a store first. I have had my current cel phone for two years and was ready for a new one. Target had an incredibly low price on the latest version of my model. The offer had two caveats: 1) Today was the last day of the sale and 2) I needed to commit on another two-year contract with my service provider Verizon.

A new contract is a common requirement but became the unintentional deal breaker. As an existing customer, I just needed to update my Verizon account but the store’s cash register computer system was blocked from accessing it. I called the cel phone’s customer service and the representative went above and beyond in helping but ultimately was unable to resolve the problem. In contrast when I subsequently talked with the store manager, he was completely unhelpful and even said that Verizon was at fault for the problem. Over an hour later, I left empty-handed and very annoyed at Target.

I was now late to the birthday party and already missed the first part of the celebration, which was skating at a roller rink. I caught up with the party at Moreno’s, a Mexican restaurant, and arrived just as dinner was served. The food was great but I was still steaming from the cel phone debacle and told the story to anyone within earshot. This week’s photo shows the birthday girl (far right) with guests at the restaurant. I liked that their clothing, courtesy of the party’s 1970s theme, and the overhead sign “Bienvenidos Amigos” (Spanish for “Welcome Friends”) created a serendipitous crossover between American nostalgia and Mexican culture.

The birthday girl was celebrating #40, something that I have seen many men but few women do. I give her kudos for embracing her age. Meanwhile my own 40th will approach soon enough and the frequency of white hair sightings is starting to disturb me. I hope to have my father’s hair gene. My dad is nearing 70 and his black hair still outnumber the white. Contrastingly on my mother’s side, my uncles and several cousins are bald or balding. But I have digressed. Back to birthdays.

Coincidentally I was with birthday girl at her 30th too a decade ago (obviously). A group of us celebrated it with a weekend at Las Vegas. I could recap that but as the saying goes, “What happened in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Though now divorced, she also got married and I attended that wedding. Something tells me that my chances are good, perhaps even great, in being at her next wedding as well as her 50th birthday. Just check back with me in ten years.

Angelo

Photo of the Week (January 4, 2009)

Greetings from Lake Forest, California, USA!
Photo taken on Thursday, January 1, 2009.

THREE! TWO! ONE… To my dismay I did not have New Year’s Eve plans until the actual day when an acquaintance forwarded an invitation. I welcomed 2009 at a house in the city of Lake Forest, continuing my quest never to celebrate New Year’s in the same place twice. An extremely thick fog came in the evening and I drove at a snail’s pace, going less than half the normal speed on the freeway. At the house I knew no one except for my acquaintance. Nevertheless I enjoyed the party as the hosting couple had plenty of liquor, food and entertainment, making the time leading to the countdown go quickly.

At midnight the adults toasted with glasses of champagne while the kids ran around, spraying silly string on anyone and everyone. My favorite moment was the guy in the wet suit who took a plunge into the pool. I hoped for a mid-air shot but timing is everything and a lot happens in a split-second. Instead of a photo of the jumper pre-entry, I had one of him post-splash as this week’s photo shows. An hour later I drove home through the still-thick fog with another New Year’s Eve celebration to remember.

An older New Year’s Eve memory involves Calvin & Hobbes (C&H). The comic strip chronicled the (mis-)adventures of Calvin, whose imagination only a six-year-old boy could have. His stuffed toy tiger Hobbes came to life whenever they were alone. I remember when I first read it. As a high school freshman without a first period class, I went to the campus library to thaw from my bike ride in the cold autumn morning. There I browse the Los Angeles Times newspaper and read the very first strip of C&H when it appeared on Monday, November 18, 1985. I loved it immediately.

Despite huge popularity, creator Bill Watterson decided to retire Calvin & Hobbes after 10 years. In contrast Charles Schulz drew Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang for a half-century - 50 years. The end of C&H would coincide with the end of the year. Appearing on New Year’s Eve 1995, a Sunday, strip # 3160 was mostly one large panel. In it the boy and tiger are outside with Calvin saying, “It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy… Let’s go exploring!” as they sled away in the freshly fallen snow.

Here is one final pop culture reference. An ad for the television series Six Feet Under showed a body in a coffin with the line “Your entire life leads to this”. We all die. That is inevitable. We all want to increase our quantity of years but spend time on their quality too. A new year, a new month, a new day. Follow Calvin’s lead. If you live the moment, then you find the magic. And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Angelo