Another Day Older
Hmm…another day older…and ten years have already passed. Oh, how the times fly by. So this birthday has been a memorable one for both Lia and I. She turned 21 and I turned 30. It’s crazy, actually. We lived it up, drank a little, and threw up nothing…well, almost nothing. It was, after all, our birthday. The good thing was, we remembered most of it. Wish ya’ll had been there but what the hey…the 10th just happened to fall on a day in the middle of the week - so no biggie. I’ve decided that I’m gonna start one of those to-do lists. You know…one of those lists to do before you die. Call it my semi-mid-life crises thing. It should be fun and who knows…you may end up being included on it. Thank you for all the phone calls. We totally miss you all and hopefully, we’ll see ya’ll soon. “Happy Birthday to us!!!”
-Joua
Just Another Day @ The Office 1560
So…every once in a long while…I get the urge to go out and have a little bit ‘o fun. Some time out on the town. It doesn’t happen very often and when I do get restless, those near tend to perk up and go along ‘cuase they know just how often it happens. This last time around…I gathered Lia, Xai, Isaac, Jackson, & Nick and we headed off to The Office. It’s a cute little lounge with absolutely great service. I would call it a pub…except I’ve never been in a pub and those who have would probably correct me anyway. It just so happens that on the very night I get restless, Captain Morgan would make an appearance and spice up our night. He kept us sloppy with drink and was a great sport… We were able to get some blackmail pictures and Mei-ma…here are some puuurfect blackmail pictures for you. Just in case you want a little somethin’ to hold over Lia’s and Isaac’s head. I was totally thinkin’ of you. Laj, Tou, & Patty…you’ve GOT to come join us some time!!!
-Joua
Stolen Moments
So…if you missed it, this weekend was spent in Morro Bay with mom & dad, Tou, Laj, Jackson, Torres’, and Nick and I. It was damn cold but fun as heck. All week long, the weather in Fresno had been a balmy high 70’s. Thinking nothing of it, most of us packed lightly and frooze our delighted butts off - the weather in Morro Bay ran about 65. Chilly! We took off Friday afternoon and stayed the night. Obviously, it was a really quick trip. Being that we only had a couple days to really spend time together - undistracted - we crammed as much stuff into those several days as possible. Tou and Laj met us there and Laj was determined to go kayaking that weekend. The experience was priceless. We paired off and I ended up canoe-ing with dad (mom being our ever talkative middle passenger - mostly like a back-seat driver). We all wore our bright yellow life vests and paddled like the dickens- mostly into moored boats in the protected bay. I’m pretty sure dad and I ran into at least 4 boats on the way to the sand strip and back. From where we sat in our little canoe, it looked like everyone else was doing spectacular - and apparently, looks were deceiving. We all had a great time freezing our toes off and we had paired off well enough that each person was stuck with someone way off our own beat. Everyone was off sync with one another so successful paddling was difficult - tho I doubt anyone else ran into as many boats as dad and I. It really didn’t help that dad was much much stronger than I and his idea of steering the boat into one direction was much more different than mine. The memory of canoe-ing with dad will forever be etched with “paddle on this side, dad!’.
One thing I realized this weekend was how much more sentimental and nostalgic mom and dad are in their old age (yeah, cause they’re so old already and all that). Dad pointed out several times throughout the entire weekend how few and far in between our moments as a family are. Our little trip that I tried real hard to get everyone to attend was very rare indeed. With everyone spread out all over the place and people not quite coming back to Fresno after they’ve left has left mom and dad broken hearted and reminiscing. Our last meal together was over pizza and beer by the coast. The California coast, by the way, is one of the most beautiful things you’ll ever see. I can’t begin to say just how happy I am to be living in California. The grassy rolling hills stretched off the horizon on the left while the sand, surf, and sea lions waited for you on the right. It was amazing! I would highly recommend driving along the 1 and 101 every so many months or so.
I took as many pictures as I could - mostly of us being silly. For those of you who went, share your high and low points of the trip. My high would be the amazing marble statues and pools at Hearst Castle. My low would be freezing my butt off while the sea lions sun bathed on the beach.
-Joua
A Field of Blooms
So…As I was driving Josie home one gloomy afternoon, we passed a field of wild flowers…weeds, really, and I thought to myself, “wow! this is really beautiful!”. So even though it was overcast and quite dark…with some homes and fences far off in the back, we parked, took a walk, and took some pictures. It was a moment of brilliant bounty that I just so lucky enough to be carrying my digital camera in my purse. Thank goodness! Everyone out there, this is why you ought to always be carrying a small camera around with you. To capture just these moments. And please, if you do happen to capture these times, share them with me. You all know what an avid photographer I am.
-Joua
Taken
So…I just saw the movie “Taken” recently and it was intense! Isaac, this movie’s for you! Liam Neeson ( I think that’s how you spell his name) was pretty mean and I guess if ever I was to be kidnapped, I want you guys to hire him to come get me. I was scared shitless of him through the movie. He was just so very…focused. It also made me be thankful that while dad was somewhat of a tyrant growing up, he wasn’t quite that bad (came pretty darn close tho). For those who haven’t seen the movie, I would give it two thumbs up. Go see it already! It’s ust such a cool action movie!
-Joua
“Watchmen” is next. Who wants to go see it with me? Can’t wait!
Kittens!
I saw this video today and got a big kick out of it. This little girl is so funny!
The Manifest Of My Destiny
I’m turning 30 this year and already, I’ve had several not-quite mid-life crises - es. My 16th birthday came and went so quietly, it was nothin’ but a soft pitter-patter of wings. I remember being in the crux of the begining of another hot Fresno summer. I always thought that with my birthday falling on June 10th, it was the whole of the educational system giving me a birthday present of a summer vacation. That being so, my birthday usually past by quietly. I never really had a chance of celebrating with the few friends that made past the strict rules that governed my social life. So, while everyone was busy making plans with their own friends on how they were gonna spend their summer vacations, I sang myself a lonely birthday tune and blew out the candles I bought myself. Funny how birthday’s weren’t so important then.
My eighteenth, while passing by just as uneventful, passed by loudly. That June would mark the last year I would be in high school. It was filled with promises of prom, senior night, sober grad, and possibly, my very first love. I was finally crossing that line that defined me as a youngling and a woman. Or so I thought. My friends who stuck through with me decided to throw me a suprise birthday party. A party, as it turned out, I was never gonna attend. I did not get the approval to go to my own birthday party! And with the fresh ideas of a young woman still growing out of teenage angst and glory, I vowed that I would never forgive or forget the fact that my friends would throw me a party and that I would be able to go. Simply because mom and dad did not see it as important. Bitterly, this would jump start the quiet unease and torment that became our relationship during my college years.
This would also be the year that Nick and I would meet (even though we had been in AP Composition in junior year together).
The glorious torment of my very first true love still makes my heart burn at the memory. All the restrictions and sneaking around just fueled the amazing need to be together. All the quiet memories we stole together…the adrenaline rushing through my viens at the possibility of being caught…our first chaste kiss…aahhh…to be so young again.
And now I see my friends having families and watching their children grow. Watching my own nieces and nephew growing bigger by the day. And this ol’ world is getting older and more mean every day. And it is here that I’m finally coming to understand the wisdom that comes with being an adult who is coming into her own. I’ve finally reached a place that my mind’s eye never could see. It is definitely not the dream I had dreamt for myself and I am glad for it. How boring it would have been. The journey would definitely not be the same. The friends I’ve made along the way would not have taught me the neccesity of working towards a greater meaning. My emotional footprint would not be the same. And my realtionship with my family would not be as strong.
You go where your eyes go. This is where I’m trying to manifest my own destiny. And I hope that you will manifest your destiny too. Because in this great big world, while I am so small (literally and figuratively), I am trying to lead myself to a place where I can be at peace with who I am and how to marry my dreams and the reality of it together. Everyday, I vow not to give up too much of what I believe in. I vow to put in 110% into everything that I put my hands to. I vow to keep in mind my husband and the life that we’ve built together when I make adjustments to my dreams. And I understand that all the beautiful people who are very much a part of my life are there because they choose to be for me. And there because of the choices I’ve made.
I determine and control how I see my reality. Therefore, should I choose, I could see grey or sunshine. I manifest that which lays before me. Thank you to all those who’ve sown sunshine in my path.
Good journey to the destiny that you are sowing.
All my love, Joua
Aaaaahhh…the romance!
So…Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and everyone’s busy making plans. The fluffy stuffed bears are hanging out of every window enticing those romantic enough to buy them for someone special. Pink and red heart-shaped balloons are telling me that I’m loved while the tropical sweet smell of flowers make me yearn for a bouqet all my own. But alas, I’ve already made my schedule and I will be working that entire weekend. Thankfully, I’ve got some great co-workers (both present and past) who will be trudging through this Valentine’s Day with me at work. And dare I say how pleasantly surprised I’ll be should a pretty bouqet surprise me on the day of and send itself nicely to my store (hint, hint Nick). For those of you singles out there and coupled alike, I’ll be thinking of you all since I’ll not be able to get some time in with Nick. Supposedly, he may be on a business trip out of town that very weekend! I’ll just have to console myself with a nice cold glass of pina colada and some chocolate truffle ice cream. Yuummm…
While we all work out our plans that weekend, I just wanted to share the poem written by David Feinberg and featured in the movie Harold and Kumar. I thought it was irrististably charming and cute. May you have a surprisingly wonderful Valentine’s Day!
I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed
-David Feinberg
With All My Love,
Joua
My (Not-So-Much) Attack Dog
So I thought I ought to introduce my adoptive dog Doolah (aka, Lia’s dog, Darla). She goes by many names…sometimes Falcor…sometimes BabyGirl…sometimes other things too. But right now, she’s Doolah. She’s pretty quite and very good natured. She’s real pretty and get’s lost all the time ’cause she blends in so well with the carpet. But whenever food comes out, you can always count on her to be in the kitchen. In fact, the other day, we left out bacon and spam on the dining room table and the next morning, I found a guilty trail of twisted and mangled paper towels leading to my bedroom door. When I cleared the hallway, I just about shrieked. You can guess that there was no more bacon or spam left.
She’s pretty cool in the way that she doesn’t shed fur but Nick still doesn’t like it when she gets up on the couch. She loves to be petted but doesn’t cuddle at all! And because Nick is so indifferent towards dogs, they usually love him because he doesn’t ask for their attention. This dog, however, has a very special relationship with Nick. They walk in circles around each other and there’s no point in asking him to take her out if Lia and I are going to be gone for long periods of time. He’d have to catch her first!
Doolah is a perfect roomate right now ’cause she sleeps just about as much as I do. She stays pretty quite and stays out of the way when company comes over. Heck, unless she’s introduced, you wouldn’t know we even had a dog. So here’s my Ode to Doolah. I’ve posted some of her most recent pictures of our little trip to the doggie store. Isn’t she cute?!
-Joua
To Remember
So I’ve been taking a hiatus from some of the tv shows I usually watch and I finally saw one of the recent episodes of Ghost Whisperer and I had to catch my breath. WHAT?! Jim died?! Well…kinda died? It is a show about ghosts, afterall. If you’ve never seen the show, you ought to catch a couple of episodes. My TiVo will catch and record all the episodes but i try not to watch each show because…well, I get kinda tired. She’s just so haunted by ghosts all the time! And Jim (her husband) usually stays in the background (he’s a paramedic) giving her support. Well, to my surprise, I find out that I’ve missed the BIG episode where something actually happened! Jim died! And it was so far back that my TiVo actually took it off and started recording more recent episodes. So, of course, I start looking on-line and through YouTube for the espisodes when IT happened. I cried. Yep.
It made me think…hmmm…if my husband (or significant other) were to come back to me but couldn’t remember anything…what would I do to make him remember? What is the ONE thing that is sure to bring him back to me? And then it came to me: put him in front of a computer and ask him a technical question. THAT’S my Nick. He’ll figure it out for me. He always does.
To You and Yours, Always…Joua