The 8th Dwarf

Droopy.

Random Axel Photo

Taken at Monterey, CA

Monterey is more than a Meatshop

Okey, forgive me when the first things that pop in my head after hearing the word Monterey are shortribs, BBQ cut and ground beef. Apparently, Monterey is more than a meatshop. It's a beautiful coastal town, and it's just 90 miles away from where we live. How fast can you say, Road Trip??

Driving down Highway 1 brought us past some of the most beautiful landscape and coastal seascapes I've seen in my life. After following mapquest's directions and getting lost once - we finally made it to the oh-so-touristy Cannery row. Yummy taffy, small tourist traps and jazz players. John Steinbeck once wrote that fish were no longer caught here, nowadays it's tourists that get caught and drawn in. Despite the cheese and busloads of Japanese tourists, we really enjoyed it. Being close to the beach always made us happy. My son literally squealed when he saw the sand. In less a minute, his shoes were off and he was frolicking on the shore like the three year old he is.

Monterey Bay Aquarium was amazing. We had so much fun looking at the stinky penguins, the sea otters, and the jelly fish. My favorite moment was when Axel poked and proded a sea cucumber. The marine biologist on duty was especially alarmed when she saw him smooshing it around and patting it like a puppy dog.

In the afternoon, we went on our own way to look for some grub when we saw the sunset going down on the bay so we took a quick detour. The air was salty and fresh, the seascape was rough and wild. I wanted to capture photos of the beach, which was lined with huge rocks smattered with some patches of green and violet. Despite my many layers, I wasn't dressed warmly enough, my fingers were shaking as I clicked the shutter and the wind kept knocking me over. I didn't even attempt to set up my tripod.

When we arrived at the hotel again, there was a power outage. Yes, apparently these things happen in the United States too. The innkeeper tells us there was a tree that fell down on some power cords. So what were we to do? Good thing the innkeeper decided to throw some logs in the fireplace and build a fire. It was so rustic and old-fashioned. Some other guests came into the lobby and we enjoyed some chitchat. Axel warmed up to a golden retriever named Chance. After about 45 minutes, the electricity came on and we went to our rooms and promptly fell asleep with our dreams filled with happy thoughts. You know it's a perfect day when even the bad parts are good.

Easter Balut

We found balut at the nearby Farmer's Market! Coolness! So, we don't have Easter eggs adorning our house, but we do have yummy balut. Fear factor, eat your heart out.

Happy Easter everyone!

Crash

I've become really selective about the movies I watch. Not that it's by choice but with all the responsibilities tugging at my sleeve, I don't have a lot of time. Since Crash won this year's Best Movie Oscar, I figure it should be good. It wasn't just good. It blew me away.

If you haven't seen the film yet, I won't spoil the ending for you. But here's what I liked about it. The film doesn't tackle prejudice and racism as a national issue but as something deeply personal and encountered everyday by everyone. The story unfolds through life vignettes of the multi-racial characters in urban melting pot Los Angeles. The film acknowledges that racism and reverse racism exists in this day and age, even 51 years after Rosa Parks made a stand. Or rather, stayed in her seat. One difference lies between the racism of the past and the racism of today. Instead of being loud and violent -- it's repressed, polite and tight-lipped. This is the first film I've seen that depicts it faithfully as experienced in life. I felt oddly liberated after watching the film. My gut instincts and fears about living and surviving in America validated. It was the Significant Human Experience, shared.

Hedwig!

After ages of looking for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I finally got my grubby hands on a copy. I fell in love once again with this song.

Origin of Love (exerpt)

When the earth was still flat,
And the clouds made of fire,
And mountains stretched up to the sky,
Sometimes higher,
Folks roamed the earth
Like big rolling kegs.
They had two sets of arms.
They had two sets of legs.
They had two faces peering
Out of one giant head
So they could watch all around them
As they talked; while they read.
And they never knew nothing of love.
It was before the origin of love.

The origin of love

And there were three sexes then,
One that looked like two men
Glued up back to back,
Called the children of the sun.
And similar in shape and girth
Were the children of the earth.
They looked like two girls
Rolled up in one.
And the children of the moon
Looked like a fork shoved on a spoon.
They was part sun, part earth,
Part daughter, part son.

The origin of love.

Now the gods grew quite scared
Of our strength and defiance
And Thor said,
"I'm gonna kill them all
With my hammer,
Like I killed the giants."
But the Zeus said, "No,
You better let me
Use my lightning, like scissors,
Like I cut the legs off the whales
And dinosaurs into lizards."
Then he grabbed up some bolts
And he let out a laugh,
Said, "I'll split them right down the middle.
Gonna cut them right up in half."
And then storm clouds gathered above
Into great balls of fire

And then fire shot down
From the sky in bolts
Like shining blades
Of a knife.
And it ripped
Right through the flesh
Of the children of the sun
And the moon
And the earth.
And some Indian god
Sewed the wound up into a hole,
Pulled it round to our belly
To remind us of the price we pay.
And Osiris and the gods of the Nile
Gathered up a big storm
To blow a hurricane,
To scatter us away,
In a flood of wind and rain,
And a sea of tidal waves,
To wash us all away,
And if we don't behave
They'll cut us down again
And we'll be hopping around on one foot
And looking through one eye.

Last time I saw you
We had just split in two.
You was looking at me.
I was looking at you.
You had a way so familiar,
But I could not recognize,
Cause you had blood on your face;
I had blood in my eyes.
But I could swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul
Was the same as the one down in mine.
That's the pain,
Cuts a straight line
Down through the heart,
We called it love.
So we wrapped our arms around each other,
Trying to shove ourselves back together.
We was making love,
Making love.
It was a cold dark evening,
Such a long time ago,
When by the mighty hand of Jove,
It was the sad story
How we became
Lonely two-legged creatures,
It's the story of
The origin of love.
That's the origin of love.

Tuloy po kayo

After a month of living in our new cozy apartment, we played hosts to our first houseguests. Okey, dinner guests. It was strange having people over as we got so used to just the three of us in our space. I suddenly became very conscious of our bathroom grit and kitchen scum, although I know I was probably magnifying it in my mind. But it was great to have adult conversation, kick back with a beer and eat some good food.

Thanks Dyna and Jojo (+ family) for dropping by our humble abode.