WHITE LOTUS

It's Good Friday and although I don't consider myself a Catholic, I sometimes try to follow some traditions they've set forth. For example, Catholics are not supposed to eat meat today, so they eat a lot of fish instead. Although I was raised Catholic, I still don't know exactly why Catholics mustn't eat meat today.

I had a horrible time sleeping last night. It might have been because I was thinking about going to Pechanga today, but the real reason is that it was unusually warm yesterday and I felt kind of sticky in bed. I kept tossing and turning all night and wondered if I got any sleep when I woke up this morning.

So I pretty much tried to nap this afternoon which went okay. I got about two hours of good napping in and then it was dinner time.

Rachelle came over straight from work and we got to Jansen's place right on time, at 8:30pm. We immediately left to go to White Lotus where Eleanor was celebrating her birthday and BJ was celebrating his passing the pharmacy boards.

We ended up getting a VIP room which was nice considering the heat on the main dance floor. Then the bottles came and I began pouring drinks. The bottles ranged from $250-$500. That sounds pretty expensive considering that bottles in Vegas range around those prices.

After clubbin', we went to the Roosevelt Hotel where BJ and Eleanor had a room. I'm glad they were being responsible because no one was in great shape to be driving after all those drinks.

When we got back to Jansen's, Rachelle went straight to sleep on the couch and Tam, Jansen and I played a few rounds of no limit hold 'em.

KNOTT'S BERRY PLACE

Oh my gosh I'm tired, but in a good way. I spent the entire day at Knott's Berry Farm with my nieces and nephew and a bunch of their friends and moms. I haven't been to Knott's in a long time so a lot of it was new to me again. When you grow up in Southern Cali, one of the things you are exposed to is amusement park mania. There are so many over here that it is nearly necessary to go to every single one, even the dumb ones. Knott's isn't a park that competes with Disneyland, but they do like to think of themselves as one of the major amusement parks of Southern Cali (along with Universal Studios, Six Flags Magic Mountain, etc.). There are two reasons Southern Cali boasts so many parks - one of course, is the weather and two is all the room they have to build down here.

Around 10am, when we first arrived at the park, I began to regret not having eaten breakfast. I'm not a breakfast eater. A few years ago, I was eating breakfast pretty regularly, but since then, I don't find much use in it. Everyone says its the most important meal of the day, but I can't totally agree. I've gone without breakfast for years and look where I'm at. Hmm, wait a sec . . . I'd better re-think that! Could there be a link between eating breakfast and other facets of life? In fact, according to the Nutrition Explorations website:

• One study found eating cereal at breakfast may help teenage girls form healthy eating patterns that support nutrient intake and healthful weight. In addition to the nutrients directly contributed by cereal, the researchers conclude that other factors related to cereal consumption, such as enjoying milk with cereal, may have a beneficial impact on girls' diets.

• Another study found adult breakfast cereal eaters had a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity, a better nutrient profile and higher intakes of calcium and milk. The authors of this study noted calcium's role in weight control. Editor's Note: Keep in mind that the weight-loss science is applicable to adults only. There is a growing body of research indicates that adults who get three servings of dairy foods each day and follow a reduced-calorie diet are more successful at weight management and weight loss than those who don't.

So today's lesson, boys and girls, is eat your breakfast!

Anyway, the first ride was Ghost Rider, a wooden roller coaster that reminded me of Colosus at Magic Mountain. All wooden roller coasters are fashioned after the one in Coney Island (which made me snap my fingers wishing I had gone there during my visit - shucks!). If you haven't noticed, I'm kind of into rides, even at my old age. 8) However, unlike Colosus which was, at one time, the tallest wooden roller coaster in the world, Ghost Rider isn't about height - it's about speed. It is easily the fastest wooden roller coaster I've ever been on and was probably the most enjoyable ride for me for the day. First because it was so fast and second because it didn't get me dizzy like most of the other rides.

The next ride was the newly built Silver Bullet. It's very similar to Magic Mountain's Batman except that there are many more twists and turns due to lack of space. The Batman ride is also faster. After the Silver Bullet, I was officially dizzy and starving my ass off. I realized at that point that there is hardly any other feeling worse than being hungry and dizzy. I've had some hangovers in my days and I gotta tell you, being dizzy and hungry is very, very close to this feeling. So if you ever run into a Mormon who wants to know what it feels like to have a hangover, starve him and make him spin around in circles.

Our "worst experience of the day" came during lunch. Although Knott's is an amusement park that is well-known, it has always felt like a second or third-tier business. At one point, it was really a farm where Walter Knott and his wife would sell fruits and vegetables and have some entertainment by the side of the road. So in a sense, they've almost kept that tradition up, but in a bad way. Here we are, about twelve hungry folks and we waited in line one and a half hours just to get an order! I say "we" loosely because it was actually the mothers that waited in line. I, of course, was sitting on the picnic bench in the shade with my head on a backpack with the kids pointing at me and whispering, "look at Uncle Gio - he's dying of starvation." Then, the cashiers had to stop taking orders from time to time because they were so backed-up. Needless to say, but we all ate at different intervals and our lunch lasted about two and a half hours. This delay cost us serious riding time and ultimately, a very late departure.

However, a Knott's tradition is eating Mrs. Cordelia Knott's famous fried chicken. Although I have recently been watching my weight (I've watched it go up four pounds but I wonder if that's lean body mass or fat - probably fat, I just like wondering), I am one who can, with only extreme willpower, stop myself from eating fried foods. I've often thought that I may have some Southern blood in me given that I enjoy reading Mark Twain and love that Southern drawl. But I think it has to do with Filipino genes because I don't know too many Filipinos that can stop themselves from eating anything fried.

So we ordered ourselves the traditional chicken dinner and had ourselves a feast. One thing I noticed (other than the delicious, juicy fried chicken, boysenberry pie and on and on) is that I think I am a different person when I am not around my immediate family. I tend to layback a little more when I'm around the family. I suppose I realize that I don't need to worry about entertaining anyone so I end up entertaining the kids while the grown-ups talk amongst themselves. And although I sometimes want to change this odd habit, I really think it's just in my nature.

I got back home and blew my nieces and nephew a kiss since they were all very tired and knocked out in the mini-van. They'll be going to the river tomorrow for some water sports. They invited me, but I think I'll wait until it gets a little warmer. There's really nothing like going to the river when it's a hundred degrees out. It kind of clears your skin and and revs-up your sweat glands.

BLOG THIS

I spent some time blogging this morning. This daily blogging thing is tough to do, and I don't know if it's a good idea. Nevertheless, I will trudge along as I feel the need to document my daily, if uneventful, existence.

Kristy wrote me an interesting email today. She's the girl I met in New York through some of family of the family (that's a play on "friends of the family" if it didn't make sense). Her p.s. was, "why did you kiss me while you were in town?" What a wonderful question! On the one hand, she's going to get an answer and on the other, she doesn't lose any face. If I were less shallow, would I be interested? It's quite a possibility.

But really, as I told Joyal, I really do not feel like I can commit to anyone right now because I have absolutely nothing to offer a fine lady at this time. I'm still trying to figure out my future career, I live at home with moms and I'm unemployed. That sure is attractive if I may say so myself. But everything in life is temporary and so is this situation.

I had dinner at Jansen's mom's house in Brea. He made roast pork in one of those Set It and Forget rotisseries. It's a lovely home with all the modern amenities and quite spacioius. He was there to keep Joy company as her husband (my cousin) is in Yemen for work. He called and said it was over a hundred degrees right now. Wow, the other side of the world. I hope he does well and stays out of danger over there.

After American Idol, we watched About Schmidt on and off. Then we got sick of it and decided to install a wireless router. We never got through it. I left and adopted a little shelf unit that was once owned by Jansen. I will use it to organize all the old VHS tapes hanging out under my bed.

A NEW DAY

What isn't cliche these days? But for some reason, I've felt like it's time to take a deep breath and savor the rich air. It may also be because my unemployment checks are on its last legs and I've got to get me a jobby job!

I did some slow motion room cleaning and before I knew it, it was time to run. I don't know why I am such a pack rat, but I keep a lot of shit. Today, I decided I would throw away some of the paper receipts I've kept. Why do I keep receipts? Maybe I got screwed once long ago where I didn't have the receipt and I could not return the item. Maybe I couldn't even exchange it. I don't know. But I figured that if I haven't done whatever I wanted to do with those receipts for the past six months, why the fuck would I need them?

The neurotic thing is that I wanted to save all these receipts so I could input certain spending categories in some kind of book keeping program such as Quicken. Then, I could use this data to figure out what my spending habits are and where I spent my money. But then I started to realize that I really don't give a shit because I don't think that's important right now.

I ran three miles straight with a few "wind" (using wind very loosely) sprints stuck between the miles. I hear wind sprints can help you achieve fitness at a much faster rate, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Then it was time to chill with Jarvis, a homie of mine. He lives in the hood on the outskirts of Pomona. How do you define the hood? Let me quote a famous U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who once said, "I know it when I see it." We smoked some stress and kicked back. He told me how much tail he's been getting from a dating site called BlackPeopleMeet.com. I thought it would be interesting to join and meet a non-black person. How cool would it be to date a non-black person on a site called Black People Meet. Imagine the possibilities!!

I got back home and watched About Schmidt, written and directed by Alexander Payne who is more well known for directing Sideways. He has such an interesting view of life is that so depressing and yet affirming that it really touches me. It's funny because art touches people in so many ways because people are so very different. I can not imagine my mother or sister-in-law enjoying this film, but I loved it.

THUMBSUCKIN'

I don't know why it's such a bitch to wake up in the morning. I'm beginning to think that my sleep is not restful enough. Maybe I need a new mattress or a new pillow or something. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to get up and get the day started. Whatever the case may be, it was a bitch getting up this morning.

Of course, the kids plotted to do something they thought was funny to get me up. And of course, I didn't find it funny and yelled at them. By the time I got up, Jared was kind enough to let me wake up slowly. It was 10:30am.

There was nothing to do so I got on the girls' case about their audition this evening. They're trying out for some kind of play for a local church. They both decided to sing "Hopelessly Devoted To You" from the Grease soundtrack. I berated them for choosing the same song because I felt that they are different and should have different songs.

Nevertheless, I tried getting them used to taking criticism. They can both sing okay and probably need voice lessons, but at this stage, I don't know if it's a good idea. They may just get sick of this whole sing and dance idea so why spend all that money on lessons?

As they practiced, I played Lord of the Rings with Jared and finally passed a frustrating stage. It reminded me of playing Atari 2600 at his age and staying up until 3am in the morning trying to get the high score on Space Invaders.

Then we decided to finally try making Turkish Delight. The girls love the Narnia movie so much that they are obsessed with everything in it. In one scene, Edmund asks for Turkish Delight. I gotta say, when he eats it, it looks really delicious. It looks sticky and gelatinous in the movie. So we got the recipe and purchased the necessary items at Stater Brothers.

Before going home, we decided to stop by Juice It Up to buy some smoothies. We all bought one except for Karina who seems to be fine tuning her cheapness that is most likely genetic. She loves to save her money but has no problem when someone else is buying. This trait concerns me because I fear she may turn out to be too much like me.

Anyway, Jared and I decided to try the wheatgrass shot. We were scared and sure enough, our hesitation was justified. Try taking a whiff of this stuff and you'll know what I'm talking about. Jared jumped right into it and tried to take a sip, but he ended up spitting it all out. Since I knew how to take shots, I drank it down like a champ. However, I'll probably never do a shot like that again because it made me feel funky afterwards and gave me some horrendous burp smells.

Maybe it was working out, or maybe it was lack of sleep, but I think it was the wheatgrass that made me super sleepy after preparing the Turkish Delight. So I crashed and before I knew it, my brother was home and it was time to go watch the girls audition. He stayed home with Jared and I got to the church perfectly on time to watch the girls audition. I could tell they were nervous, but they did well relative to some of the other girls I saw audition.

I got back and started a fire outside in the outdoor fireplace I bought for Noel & Kimi for Christmas. It worked pretty good and Jared and I ended up eating a grip of roasted marshmallows. The girls got home late and the fire was out by the time they got back. I was a little disappointed that the girls didn't like the Turkish Delight. I can't say I liked it either, but it was kind of a pain in the ass to make it and they sure didn't show me enough appreciation for making it, especially when they're spitting out your hard work in the trash.

I called Brenda on the way home because she's pretty much the only person I can call late at night. I wish there were others, but there really isn't. How sad.

When I got home, I watched Thumbsucker. I love watching movies that I have never heard about. It's an "indie" in the sense that the stars in the movie didn't make much money. That's pretty much the only definition these days for "indies." Anyway, it made me realize that I have to pay more attention to the Independent Spirit Awards because a lot of the movies I've seen that were nominated from it have been quite good.

The one thought I had from the movie that made me wonder about real life was whether my brother Noel is having issues with Kimi because of what my dad may have told him before he passed away. Noel seemed to have the closest relationship with my father and he must have had very interesting conversations with him about my mother. I should ask him about that someday.