I seem to be in a ADD stream of consciousness today. Maybe it is because it is my last day at my old new job and I start on Monday at my new new job. It is kind of a strange intermingling of my old and new life as I have coordinating a talk story session for the volunteers at my old new job featuring the veterans from my new new job today.
I am very happy though about this change in employment as I feel like I am now at home and my heart is at peace. However, I am still really shaken up about Michael Jackson passing away, especially since the usual comment is that he is another Anna Nicole. Yes, he had a dependency on prescription drugs but how can you compare him to Anna Nicole in any other manner? Ugh.
I tried a bunch of new places this week trying to come up with a lunch that the kids could eat quickly and cleanly in the car - both didn't pan out very well. The first was Manabu's which is a musubi store on King Street, near Baskin and Robbins across from Washington Intermediate School. I was really looking forward to it as I've read great reviews and everything there is healthy. It was very clean and there was a great variety of musubis as well as very detailed labels setting out each ingredient and country of origin. I picked up a bunch of different musubis, three organic pepsis (very cool bottle), two strawberry musubis and three custards - grand total $45. The consensus from the kids was thumbs down except for the pepsi and the teriyaki spam musubi. Everything else smelled and tasted "fishy" to them even though nothing had fish or dashi in it. I liked the broiled miso musubi at first bite but it had a fishy aftertaste. I ate it anyway since I knew Oscar the Grouch would be P.O.'d if I tossed a $1.50 in the rubbish. I think I will stick to the 7-11 musubis for the family. The kids ate only 1/2 of the custard, they thought it was too thick. Definitely more of a place for jiichans and baachans.
The Professor has been nagging to try to new crepe take-out place at Shirokiya so I picked up three hot dog crepes last night. The guy there said it would take about 5-10 minutes so I went to the Childrens Place to buy the Mad Cow yet more swim suits. The total for 3 crepes was $17.50. It was also very disappointing and pretty much a rip off. It consisted of a hot dog cut into two pieces lengthwise, some old lettuce leaves and catsup. That was it. The Mad Cow wouldn't eat it since it had catsup and lettuce and the Diva just said it looked gross. The Professor ate it but said it wasn't something he would eat again (too humbug to dig out the lettuce and scrape off the strange tasting catsup). My Dad ate a whole one and he seemed to like it. I didn't see how they made it but I have a feeling it is premade and then just put on a griddle for a short time or in the microwave to heat it up. By the time I picked it up and took it to the car, it was already cold. It wasn't crispy or warm like the fresh ones at the regular crepe stores. Definitely steer clear from this place. I should have known it was going to be terrible as this was the only place in the Shirokiya food area that had no one around.
The dango with the shoyu sauce now on sale at Shirokiya was KILLER though. The Diva and I were fighting over it. The dango was super soft and the sauce was perfect, not too sweet. Don't try to eat it in the car while driving like I did. I looked like I was in a drive-by and bled teriyaki instead of blood.
There is a new buffet at Shirokiya too. Got my Dad some guisantes (identified as pork with peas on the buffet). You fill up a container and then put it on a scale to weigh - like at Whole Foods. The price is $6.99 a pound. My Dad said it was very good but then what does he not like? It was very fresh looking and hot which is a good thing. There were some kind of odd entrees there - eggplant with apple juice which looked good but just sounded too strange and zucchini jun.
The kids did not like the new custard manapua at 7-11 but they love the fried rice one. Just be prepared for the blast of salt and ajinomoto that hits your nose as soon as you open the package.
My current five favorite foods :
1) Any bread from the Himalaya Restaurant in Kaimuki - a whole page of Nepalese and Indian baked goods (make Homer Simpson drooling sound now)
2) Vegetarian dim sum and tofu dishes at the Kirin Chinese Restaurant on Beretania - so ono and so good karma
3) Whole Foods hot entree bar for the Indian dishes and the potatoes for breakfast. Even my MOM will let my Dad buy the breakfast potatoes and you know how she goes into cardiac arrest when she sees the prices there.
4) 7-11 deluxe spam musubi (without the spam)
5) Rum cake served at the quarterly Birthday parties at the Clubhouse
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Goodbye and Good Night, Michael
Yesterday, the kids and I were at the Clubhouse for lunch. I was cleaning up the tables when the Professor came up to me and said that Michael Jackson had died. I didn't believe him, thought he was playing yet another one of his kind of bizarre practical jokes but he kept saying, "Mom, it's true, go online and see." We went home to get everyone ready for swimming and the Professor turned on the TV. Sure enough, it was true. Michael Jackson had passed away.
Like many of you, I "grew up" with Michael Jackson. I remember watching the horribly drawn, even worse vocal acting by the Jackson brothers, Jackson 5 cartoon. The best part of that show was Michael and his pets, two mice and a snake if I remember correctly. Back then, that was the strangest thing about Michael - that he owned a pet snake in a cartoon. Who could imagine that later on he wold be best friends with Bubbles the Chimp or Macaulay the Caulkin? At that time, he was still the cute black normal Michael with his original nose.
Back then, girls of my age were divided into two camps. You either liked the Osmonds or you liked the Jacksons, you either had Tiger Beat photos of Donny on your wall or Michael. For some reason, you couldn't like both. (For those of you who are younger than me, it was like the New Edition vs. NKOTB rivalry). It never felt like a race-based choice, at least for me. I never thought that it was chosing the white kids over the black kids. It wasn't even an issue. It was strictly liking one lead singer with lots of brothers over the other.
For me, it was unquestionably Michael. He was so adorably cute back then. His bell bottoms, vest and tilted hat were so much more appealing to me than Donny in his white polyester jump suit and ever present purple socks. My cousin, LN, was a Donny fan though and even dragged me to an Osmonds concert to try to convince me that the boys from Salt Lake City, Utah were much better than the boys from Gary, Indiana. Didn't change a thing for me, my heart still belonged to Michael, Tito, Jackie, Marlon and Jermaine.
During intermediate school, I went though a KISS phase so Michael became a nonentity. All I wanted to do was learn how to play drums like the Cat Man, Peter Criss, and have a rose tattoo on my shoulder like Paul Stanley.
However, in high school, Michael released Off the Wall and I went back to him. What girl didn't swoon when you saw him with his big afro and black suit dancing on Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough? He was actually SEXY which was both a turn on and a turn off. I even made a total okole out of myself dancing on stage to Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, dressed in shiny La Mancha clothes, for my Senior Class play. That's how much I loved Michael.
Then came that performance of Billie Jean at the Motown 25th Anniversary Celebration. That's when you know you were in the presence of an icon, of a person with talent the likes you would never see again.
When Thriller was released, it was over. I was back to being a die hard Michael fanatic. Admit it, you too tried to follow the choreographed steps to the Zombie dance whenever the video came out on MTV. It was and always will be one of the most memorable videos ever released. I can tell you every scene in Smooth Criminal or The Way You Make Me Feel. I can even tell you when Latoya Jackson and Linda McCartney appear in the video for Say, Say, Say.
Sadly, that was when all of the Wacko Jacko stuff started and I had to take my love of Michael underground. It was no longer cool to like Michael. It was fine that he "dated" Brooke Shields and Tatum O'Neal but when he carried Emmanuel Lewis of Webster (and Bubbles) to events, that was very disconcerning. Hey, did I tell you I met Emmanuel in LA when I was in Law School?
The child molestation charges were unexpected but not surprising. Yet, I still believed in the goodness of Michael. Maybe I was naive but I wanted to believe in him, I wanted to believe that the person who was my childhood hero was a pure as he purported to be. I wondered what I would do if my children received an invitation to Neverland? I thought I would let them go only if I could accompany them and I surely would not accept an invitation to let them "sleep over" in his bedroom. As a parent, I thought anyone who allowed their kids to do that was crazy. That's when I knew he was no longer my hero but had turned into a strange creepy person.
When the whole Debbie Rowe baby thing and the dangling Blanket out the window situations happened, that was it for me.
But now that he is gone, I find myself incredibly sad about his passing. I now understand how my Mom and my Aunties felt when Elvis died unexpectedly. They still tell stories about the time Elvis visited Hawaii and how lucky they were to get tickets to his Aloha in Hawaii concert. They envy those who have travelled to Graceland and always seek out the Elvis slot machines in Vegas. They choose to ignore the "old" Elvis, the pill popping, television destroying, tragic Elvis. Instead, they remember the "young" Elvis of their youth.
That is what I am going to do - remember the handsome, young Michael who was the lead singer of the Jackson Five and not the white female plastic surgery ravaged Michael of the past decade.
That is the only way I can cope with this.
My five favorite Michael Jackson songs:
1) Don't Stop Til You Get Enough
2) Ben
3) Bad (must dance around and pretend I am a gang member)
4) Man in the Mirror (always makes me cry)
5) ABC
Like many of you, I "grew up" with Michael Jackson. I remember watching the horribly drawn, even worse vocal acting by the Jackson brothers, Jackson 5 cartoon. The best part of that show was Michael and his pets, two mice and a snake if I remember correctly. Back then, that was the strangest thing about Michael - that he owned a pet snake in a cartoon. Who could imagine that later on he wold be best friends with Bubbles the Chimp or Macaulay the Caulkin? At that time, he was still the cute black normal Michael with his original nose.
Back then, girls of my age were divided into two camps. You either liked the Osmonds or you liked the Jacksons, you either had Tiger Beat photos of Donny on your wall or Michael. For some reason, you couldn't like both. (For those of you who are younger than me, it was like the New Edition vs. NKOTB rivalry). It never felt like a race-based choice, at least for me. I never thought that it was chosing the white kids over the black kids. It wasn't even an issue. It was strictly liking one lead singer with lots of brothers over the other.
For me, it was unquestionably Michael. He was so adorably cute back then. His bell bottoms, vest and tilted hat were so much more appealing to me than Donny in his white polyester jump suit and ever present purple socks. My cousin, LN, was a Donny fan though and even dragged me to an Osmonds concert to try to convince me that the boys from Salt Lake City, Utah were much better than the boys from Gary, Indiana. Didn't change a thing for me, my heart still belonged to Michael, Tito, Jackie, Marlon and Jermaine.
During intermediate school, I went though a KISS phase so Michael became a nonentity. All I wanted to do was learn how to play drums like the Cat Man, Peter Criss, and have a rose tattoo on my shoulder like Paul Stanley.
However, in high school, Michael released Off the Wall and I went back to him. What girl didn't swoon when you saw him with his big afro and black suit dancing on Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough? He was actually SEXY which was both a turn on and a turn off. I even made a total okole out of myself dancing on stage to Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, dressed in shiny La Mancha clothes, for my Senior Class play. That's how much I loved Michael.
Then came that performance of Billie Jean at the Motown 25th Anniversary Celebration. That's when you know you were in the presence of an icon, of a person with talent the likes you would never see again.
When Thriller was released, it was over. I was back to being a die hard Michael fanatic. Admit it, you too tried to follow the choreographed steps to the Zombie dance whenever the video came out on MTV. It was and always will be one of the most memorable videos ever released. I can tell you every scene in Smooth Criminal or The Way You Make Me Feel. I can even tell you when Latoya Jackson and Linda McCartney appear in the video for Say, Say, Say.
Sadly, that was when all of the Wacko Jacko stuff started and I had to take my love of Michael underground. It was no longer cool to like Michael. It was fine that he "dated" Brooke Shields and Tatum O'Neal but when he carried Emmanuel Lewis of Webster (and Bubbles) to events, that was very disconcerning. Hey, did I tell you I met Emmanuel in LA when I was in Law School?
The child molestation charges were unexpected but not surprising. Yet, I still believed in the goodness of Michael. Maybe I was naive but I wanted to believe in him, I wanted to believe that the person who was my childhood hero was a pure as he purported to be. I wondered what I would do if my children received an invitation to Neverland? I thought I would let them go only if I could accompany them and I surely would not accept an invitation to let them "sleep over" in his bedroom. As a parent, I thought anyone who allowed their kids to do that was crazy. That's when I knew he was no longer my hero but had turned into a strange creepy person.
When the whole Debbie Rowe baby thing and the dangling Blanket out the window situations happened, that was it for me.
But now that he is gone, I find myself incredibly sad about his passing. I now understand how my Mom and my Aunties felt when Elvis died unexpectedly. They still tell stories about the time Elvis visited Hawaii and how lucky they were to get tickets to his Aloha in Hawaii concert. They envy those who have travelled to Graceland and always seek out the Elvis slot machines in Vegas. They choose to ignore the "old" Elvis, the pill popping, television destroying, tragic Elvis. Instead, they remember the "young" Elvis of their youth.
That is what I am going to do - remember the handsome, young Michael who was the lead singer of the Jackson Five and not the white female plastic surgery ravaged Michael of the past decade.
That is the only way I can cope with this.
My five favorite Michael Jackson songs:
1) Don't Stop Til You Get Enough
2) Ben
3) Bad (must dance around and pretend I am a gang member)
4) Man in the Mirror (always makes me cry)
5) ABC
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
It's here, it's here - SWINE FLU!!!!!
Earlier this week, we got a notice from the Diva and the Professor's school that a Kindergarten student had swine flu. Apprently, the kid was out of school since June 2 but the school was not informed about it until June 5. The kid will not be in summer school until his physician releases him.
I don't know if I should freak out about this or not. The Mad Cow starts summer school next week but at least he won't be in a Kindergarten classroom. Well, he hangs out with Tiger so much that I'm sure he's immune to any germs. You can't let some slimy dog kiss you all day without getting some kind of immunity, right?
Each year, the Diva and the Professor make something to give the staff, teachers and administrators on the last day of school. They've (or more accurately, I've) made wind chimes, hats, pencil holders, squids out of bottles and other artsy things that don't cost a lot of money. This year, we decided to make hand sanitizer since we couldn't find any at Target or Walmart. Everyone was sold out. It was easy - just needed to go to the health food place to buy tea tree oil and find some liquid fragrance at Ben Franklin.
The Professor thought it was "wierd" but the Diva said the teachers liked it. Someone even asked if we could make some next year to sell at the Fair.
Well, now that Swine Flu's officially hit the campus, I'm sure it is a very appreciated strange gift.
Washy, washy, washy, y'all.
I don't know if I should freak out about this or not. The Mad Cow starts summer school next week but at least he won't be in a Kindergarten classroom. Well, he hangs out with Tiger so much that I'm sure he's immune to any germs. You can't let some slimy dog kiss you all day without getting some kind of immunity, right?
Each year, the Diva and the Professor make something to give the staff, teachers and administrators on the last day of school. They've (or more accurately, I've) made wind chimes, hats, pencil holders, squids out of bottles and other artsy things that don't cost a lot of money. This year, we decided to make hand sanitizer since we couldn't find any at Target or Walmart. Everyone was sold out. It was easy - just needed to go to the health food place to buy tea tree oil and find some liquid fragrance at Ben Franklin.
The Professor thought it was "wierd" but the Diva said the teachers liked it. Someone even asked if we could make some next year to sell at the Fair.
Well, now that Swine Flu's officially hit the campus, I'm sure it is a very appreciated strange gift.
Washy, washy, washy, y'all.
Update on Mad Cow's Ear Tubes
The Mad Cow's surgery on Monday went well. Oscar the Grouch and I had barely settled in to our breakfast at the Kapiolani Cafeteria when the ENT doctor came to tell us everything was done. All we had to do was wait for the Mad Cow to wake up and we could go home.
We were a little worried since the last time he had the ear tube surgery, he had a total freak out coming out of anaesthesia. He pulled out his IV and screamed to get out of there. It was really scary - like watching Linda Blair getting holy water thrown on her in The Exorcist. I half expected the Mad Cow to spew green pea vomit and have his head do a 360. The nurses even let us leave that time without him having any fluids or giving us our instructions. As is his way, as soon as he heard "you can go home", he morphed back into a semi-normal child and asked for a green ice pop.
Apparently, this time, he was calm enough to tell all of the nurses all about bowling and his fascinating Saturdays at Aiea Bowl. When we left, they all said, "Have fun at bowling on Saturday..."
But everything was fine this time. We had to wait for his ear drops to come down from the pharmacy and that took about 30 minutes to an hour.
At least it is over and he'll not have to do this again for another few years.
We were a little worried since the last time he had the ear tube surgery, he had a total freak out coming out of anaesthesia. He pulled out his IV and screamed to get out of there. It was really scary - like watching Linda Blair getting holy water thrown on her in The Exorcist. I half expected the Mad Cow to spew green pea vomit and have his head do a 360. The nurses even let us leave that time without him having any fluids or giving us our instructions. As is his way, as soon as he heard "you can go home", he morphed back into a semi-normal child and asked for a green ice pop.
Apparently, this time, he was calm enough to tell all of the nurses all about bowling and his fascinating Saturdays at Aiea Bowl. When we left, they all said, "Have fun at bowling on Saturday..."
But everything was fine this time. We had to wait for his ear drops to come down from the pharmacy and that took about 30 minutes to an hour.
At least it is over and he'll not have to do this again for another few years.
You're sure to tear up when you see UP
I really really didn't want to like the new Disney movie, Up. I am not a big fan of computer animation, never have been. The first time I saw that Pixar desk lamp thing dancing around, I felt like I was witnessing a murder - the death blow to the old school hand-painted cels that I grew up with. There just wasn't the same warmth and humanity you felt watching a light fixture hop up and down on a red rubber ball that you got watching Thumper and Bambi get to know Fl
ower the Skunk.
Shame". When the dogs were punished for some wrongdoing, they were forced to wear the Cone of Shame. Having spent the last few weeks dealing with Tiger and her own cone, it just brought home how totally stupid every dog looks with a plastic satellite dish around the head. Like Tiger, the cartoon dogs kept banging into things and getting whiplash - like furry bumper cars or something.
ower the Skunk. All that changed when the Diva, the Professor and I went to see Up yesterday. The Mad Cow was dealing with a traumatic morning and didn't want to go anywhere (Oscar the Grouch and I thought the Diva started summer school yesterday but she actually starts on the 22nd so I had to pick her up. The Mad Cow was still asleep so I figured I could get home and back in 5 minutes. Of course, he woke up and freaked that I was gone)
I cried harder and stronger during Up than I did when Bambi's mother was shot or when Nemo's Dad couldn't find him. The kids always tease me about being a crybaby since I find a reason so sob away at any movie we go to. The Diva never lets me forget how I was crying the ugly cry (yes, with hanabata and Alice Cooper black streaks running down my face) during the 3-D Hannah Montana movie. No, it wasn't because of the obligatory Jonas Brothers placement during the film (although that was very painful), it was the result of thinking to myself that someday, that would be the Diva on stage singing to a crowd. Well, that and the realization that I would be as obnoxious a stage parent at Miley Cyrus' Mom who let her ride in an Escalade without a seatbelt or as irritating as Billy Ray Cyrus insisting on singing a duet as part of the movie.
So, while we are watching Up, I am crying like I have an onion shoved up my nose and I hear the Diva sniffling away on my side. I thought that she was either being funny and mimicking me or was having a delayed allergic reaction to mango season. But no, she was actually crying. "Oh, it's so sad....." said the Diva with the heart of stone.
The Professor just thought we were nuts. I know he was thinking, "FEMALE HORMONES!"
In case you have been living under a rock and haven't been exposed to the media fubar, Up tells the story of an old man (voiced by Ed Asner) who decides that he will fulfill his late wife's dream of living near a waterfall in South America. He ties helium balloons to the house and as he is airborne, he discovers that the short fat Asian kid (with a real Japanese kid doing the voice - hooray) who had been harassing him to get an "assist the elderly" Wilderness Badge is on his porch. They make it to South America but land short of the waterfall so they have to walk through the jungle to get to the location in a few days. On the way, as is the case with all things Disney, they encounter the following:
1) A giant bird named Kevin who is actually a Mom
2) A big fat dog named Doug (who looks like a brown version of Rayni) who speaks in English
3) A pack of dogs who all speak English who are looking for the bird (totally hilarious esp. the Doberman Alpha whose translation collar goes on the fritz so he speaks like Alvin the Chipmunk)
4) An evil mad adventurer who was the old man's hero when he was a kid but is now totally demented and obsessed with catching the bird
The only thing that was missing from your standard Disney film was a catchy tune by Elton John. I kept waiting for an Hakuna Matata moment but it never came - thank Buddha!
What made the movie so great was it was a social commentary on many of today's ills. It really made you think about your views on a lot of serious topics: the devaluation of the elderly, coping with life after losing a loved one, absentee divorced fathers, the maternal instinct, bullying and social hierarchy, worshipping false heroes. You really couldn't leave the theatre without wondering about your own values. Would you save a friend if it meant giving up your life's dream? Could you rid yourself of a lifetime of possessions in order to help someone in need?
Usually, when I watch a computer animated film, being an artist, I focus more on the technical side of it - how was that animated, how did they get that to look so realistic, etc. but this time, I found myself wondering about the deeper issues in life. The film really made it clear that you are not living if you are chasing someone else's dream. If you are living for someone else or living in the past, you are missing what is going on around you presently. Your life needs to be YOUR life, your dreams need to be YOUR dreams. Wow - so deep.
My absolutely favorite part of the movie was the "Cone of
You do not need to have kids or be a kid to see Up. it is really a great film to EXPERIENCE - not just watch but experience. You really get
caught up in the adventure and grow to love the characters. I'm a sucker for any movie with dogs - and if they talk, all the better.
Just bring a lot of kleenix!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)