You Are What You Eat
I can't seem to find a quote that I saw on a shirt in Manhattan once when I was visiting there a few years back. It goes something like, "If you are what you eat, then I'm fast, easy and cheap."
That was a throwback to the fast food industry. I didn't have fast food last night but something close to it- consuming too many h'or derves from Costco. Lance and Mike, my neighbors and part of the St. Dominic's Young Adults Group, threw a housewarming party. I came in after work and they had cheese sticks, mini quiches and mini spinach pies, tortilla chips, seven layer dip and booze. I stayed away from the booze and went straight to plain cranberry juice and Gatorade (the only non alcoholic beverages left). I literally gorged too much on the junk food and that coupled with a bag of chips I got from the vending machine last night at work, I woke up feeling gross. Not hangover gross but just about.
One time, I ate a Big Mac combo meal at McDonalds, the first in a long time and literally the next morning, I felt like I had a hangover. I was even riding too that morning and was not a happy camper.
OK, off to the Farmer's Market for some real food.
Fit Daddy-O
What I have realized with some of my friends who are coupled whether in a marriage or a domestic partnership or whatnot, some of them have packed on the pounds. I came across a photo of a college friend and her college sweetheart who is now her husband. She has always been as skinny as a twig and in college, her husband was on the college crew team and was pretty athletic and fit. Now seeing a photo of them and their two children who are cute as buttons was quite a surprise. Ruby put on some weight but she doesn't look like her skinny self but Em her husband. Holy shit! He totally packed on pounds!!! Makes me a little weary about marriage- instant weight gain!
I'm not trying to be vain here. More in a healthy sense. I have seen dads who are pretty fit and seem like they use exercise to keep the stress and strain under control. Just today, I ran into Tom at Fiona's campaign office and he is totally looking fit as the father of two young ones and a rather stressful job as a political consultant. I remembered Marie's husband Paul, two people I went to Catholic school with- Paul seems to be pretty fit but Marie has packed on mommy weight. I have read in numerous fitness magazines how women tend to stay active and in shape during their maternity months. There has even been testimonials that yoga has helped women in labor and delivery. My cousin Michelle wished she took advantage of Kaiser Permanente's pre-natal yoga classes when she was carrying her son who came into the world at a whopping 10 pounds. I even ran into a former Iyengar yoga classmate who told me that she took pre-natal classes and had a rather easy time delivering her second child. I also look up to Pam, one of the gals in my running club, who totally does not look like a mother of a young toddler. I heard that a few months after she had her son Seth, she trained for a triathalon. And another first time cyclist I met on AIDS/ LifeCycle 3 started training for the ride three months after the birth of her son. So there is this encouragment of keeping active and healthy.
Kids do pick up habits from their parents. I picked up cycling and running because Pop was always fit and putting time on the stationary bike. Whenever there was a park close by any of our family friends having a birthday party, Pop would pack my ten speed bike in the truck and I would do laps around the park. Sometimes Pop would take a spin on my bike too. He had me run around the house and practice jump roping for time during junior olympic times. I was more facinated in participating in sports than my brother Ed was. I want my kids to know that exercise is totally fun.
It's funny because now my friends and peers are worried about cholestrol intake. For me, it's not a worry since I exercise, I find myself being a little more concious of what I eat and make sure I up my whole grain and fresh fruit and veggie intake. I find myself drinking more water and trying to stay away from alcohol and caffine although at times I do need the occasional pop and mug of English Breakfast tea to jolt me up. I'm trying to not drink because it affects my medications.
Another qualification that I want in a partner: someone who isn't a couch potato or slouch. I mean he doesn't necessarily have to ride or run with me but if he has some sort of fitness program where he plays ball with the guys or mountain bikes in the hills or plays golf where he carries his own caddies and walks the green (the only way that I will allow golf as a physical activity) or kick box, that is totally fine with me. One advantage of being a fit parent is that chasing your kids around doesn't really tire you out at all. In fact, they are great for wind sprint intervals so as I found out with playing with my nieces and nephews and godchildren.
MySpace, YourSpace, HisSpace, OurSpace, TheirSpace dot com
The newest craze on the internet is the social networking website, myspace.com. It is literally like the new crack for the teen population and twenty somethings of the day. Unlike Friendster, it's competitor and predecessor, when you sign up, the first person as you friend is Tom, the President and Founder of myspace.com. So in that case, you're everyone's friend because everyone is Tom's friend. In fact, their tagline is "A Place For Friends."
Even though myspace.com is generating a lot of buzz these days, it's hardly something new. Since I work with college age students and twenty somethings, the conversation in the break room has always been centered around myspace, myspace, myspace. In fact, for the longest time, I avoided myspace like the plague. I have heard of people being fixated on their computer for hours and hours chatting with people on myspace and updating their profiles and posting comments in their friends comment boxes. Case in point, my 15 year old cousin Justin hogs up the dial up phone line by being on myspace all hours of the day and night. I knew I had better things to do than be on myspace.
However, a story on NPR's
Talk of the Nation earlier this month had a discussion about myspace. As frivolous as it might be, myspace is the product of a generation of the technology age and the "keep my kid inside the house because the world is an ugly and unsafe place out there" culture. I say that last bit because it is these days, the time of hanging out in the mall after school or going to a friend's house or even playing a game of pick up basketball at the park is going extinct. Parents are working longer hours and kids are doing more and more homework requiring them to be digitally wired to get the latest information to make the best papers and homework assignments to get into good colleges. It's that fear that you don't want your kids to get shot or hurt or kidnapped or all three. However, the genesis of myspace.com has generated the age old fear of being a prey to harm, especially sexual predators.
For one to subscribe to myspace.com, one has to be 14 years old at least. Of course, people can lie about their age (I remembered 14 year olds sneaking into raves and 18 and over dance spaces). On myspace, people can post comments, chat with others, write in their blog. It is akin to the old diary but with a new twist. Private yet you share it with you, your friends, and an exponential growing number of people joining myspace.com. I don't know how myspace.com is doing in terms of policing who is actually 14 or not. But 14 is that prime junior high age, middle school as they would call it these days. The times that you want to create your own nitche and find out who you are and who your friends are. The time when you start to form what you call "your brand identity" which is not necessarily fixed in stone. In the days of corporate mergers and globalization, corporations are forming and updating logos and taglines and advertising strateigies just to keep the stocks up and the CEOs salaries and perks up and flowing. The teen years and the rest of your life is that constant makeover, that merger, that acqusition of things, the streamlining of lifestyles and sometimes friends that are part of those things in our lives.
Myspace.com gives teens a venue to try out new things and new looks. On the program, a caller from Berkeley, California, a dismayed father of a 12 year old who managed to fake her age and get a myspace profile and put a rather rique photo of herself on her profile. Now her parents found out by going into the computer and just happen to look at what their daughter has been seeing online. The parents go ballistic and ground the daughter and you can hear her scream, "I hate you!" to her parents along with other explicatives. I can understand the concern about your daughter being out there yet, why don't you have an honest talk to her about it and making sure that she is responsible instead of policing her. It's all about trust as it boils down to. Recently, there have been a number of incidents where young women have ran off with older men they found on myspace.com or young women that meet someone on myspace.com who posed as a teen but is rather an adult. Note that all the stories focus on the young women/ old man phenomenon. Like guys aren't out there doing the same but it's considered the Mrs. Robinson (The Graduate)/ Stiffler's mom (American Pie)/ Stacy's Mom (popular song by Fountain of Wayne) kind of deal. Ah yes, the double standard of the press.
But I will put the upsides of myspace.com. It gives people a chance to connect with old friends and new ones. And small independent bands and artists are having a ball on myspace.com telling fans about where their next gig is and the option of posting music on ones profile gives people a chance to sample their music. My friend Rachel has her boyfriend Jorge's band use their myspace.com profile to their advantage. Of course they have a website and all that Rachel has lovingly designed but the profile brings the masses to the website and to the shows and eventually to the record stores to get the tunes or downloads off the internet. Also myspace has an easy blog function where people can post their opinions. However, it only shows the latest 5 or 6 entries. I have yet to see if it archives entries so that you can read them. I just have people come to this site to read my blog.
In fact, myspace.com is a way for Madison Avenue to put their message out there to their target audience. In fact, some non-profit organizations that deal with youth are seeing that you are fluent in myspace-ese and other social networking websites like facebook.com and Friendster. I am not lying on that. The job description for a youth coordinator for one of the local agencies dealing with HIV and AIDS in the Asian American community here in San Francisco, one of the requirements is familiarity in online outreach.
So after hearing that story and wondering when Rachel and Jorge and the guys will come up to play in San Francisco with their band next, I joined myspace. I limit it to a few friends and mostly to keep in touch with my cousin A.J. He's in middle school and into all that myspace stuff too. He and Justin keep on fighting who gets the computer. But, it gives me a chance to look into his world and what he's thinking. It's not too often that I am down in Southern Cali with my family since life has its own priorities. But, knowing the angsts of what A.J. is going through, etc. One cool thing during my last visit down south, A.J. helped me bake a few pies and he was going to Google to see if there is a pie.com website. Lo and behold, there it was and he happened to e-mail me that to my myspace mailbox.
As I think about and groan at times about myspace to which someone on MUNI the other day commented that myspace is more addictive than crack (now let me know if there is a local myspace anonymous chapter meeting soon), I wonder if this would be a new marketing tool and way to talk to teens about the difficult issues. I'm wondering how Planned Parenthood could use that to get teens to be aware of reproductive rights issues and other things.
On that note, back to my myspace profile. Just kidding. Seriously, get on out there and meet people and do things! Soak up some sunshine and get some air instead of sitting on your butt on the computer and eating too much junk food to where you get juvenile diabetes.
Toots.
Losing My Religon
There are three things that you never discuss with your family: religion, politics, the Great Pumpkin.
Linus Van Pelt of the famous Charles Schultz
Peanuts cartoon woefully says this after his sister Lucy taunts him for writing a letter to The Great Pumpkin on the classic half hour seasonal cartoon, "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." In some ways, the first two topics are taboo like boobie traps that gets hearts, minds and emotions all riled up and at times can cause worse factions than the Hatfields and the McCoys, the Blue and the Grey, and Cal Berkeley Bear fans and Stanford Cardinal fans. OK, maybe the last analogy was a little bit of a stretch but you get the idea. The mention of some other, opposing force brings out the worse in people or maybe the best but in either way, the most passionate and from the heart of people.
In the last few months as I have been fighting depression, I found myself turning to my faith more and more. It seems like in bleak times of illness or crisis, one turns to their faith or some belief or anger towards a spiritual and higher power bigger than themselves. Because there are times when you are at such a vulnerable state and position that you might be in danger of not being reasonable or thinking straight. However, there are some things that are beyond reason and even beyond logic. Those things are matters of the heart and spirit.
In this case, the last few months, I have been taking a more deeper exploration of my Catholic faith as an adult. Many times, Catholics have either arrested their ideas or beliefs in God to the same way they saw God as a child or have left the Catholic church altogether. Granted I wasn't one of those Filipino kids who went through the whole nine yards of going through a Catholic school education from elementary to high school to even college (I had my two years of wearing that ugly green and blue and red tartan print skirt that was the required uniform of St. Adelaid's girls). Yet, there was a part of me that wanted to know why things were the way they were and ask questions instead of just going to Mass every Sunday and going through the motions and somewhat checking out instead of actively engaging. There was a part of me that resisted this deeper exploration of my faith for fear of letting religion rule my life where I no longer made decisions for myself, just following a bunch of rules for the fear of God or whatever higher power was out there.
However, my explorations in my faith as a Roman Catholic have been quite the opposite. The last few years have pointed me in an enlightened direction where it allowed me to question the things that Church rulers and hiearchy have placed upon. Especially in working in the issues I am passionate about, AIDS awareness and reproductive rights, it has made me explore religion in a way where how some people would use it as a controling tool, a weapon to incite fear in the hearts of men and women that if they do not obey a certain set of rules, they are doomed even if those rules are not part of their culture.
I think about religious leaders that go around and say that people in same sex relationships are spawns of the devil. Yet, I think of my friends in same sex relationships and they have the exact same problems as me and the rest of my friends who are attracted to people of the opposite sex. I think about those same religious leaders that say that birth control and aborition is wrong. Yet, they do not understand when it comes down to the economics and basics of caring and raising a child, when the one raising the child does not have adequate resources to feed, clothe, shelter and educate that child, that is not pro-life. It is those same religious leaders, the zealot Religous Right that was the backbone of the Contract on America in 1994 that even preys upon its own Christian brothers and sisters by saying that Catholic's are not real Christians because they believe in the Virgin Mary, saints and all the other fluff and stuff that make up the Catholic church.
Now hold on a minute. That last sentence really pushed my buttons, brought out the woman in me that you do not even cross. I remembered when I had to do a paper for an upper division social ecology class on field observation writing, my assignment was to explore the dynamics of a social group. I ended up observing one of the Christian groups on campus for about six weeks. When one of the leaders of the group I interviewed said that the Virgin Mary wasn't really that significant that Catholics made her out to be, I almost decked him. However, at that time ten years ago as a fifth year college student, I did not have the astute knowledge to challenge him or to at least show him my point of view. Come to think about it, even if I did, he was one to stick to his guns and show who is boss. On a side note, this one young man was the roommate of a former friend who told me that I was not allowed in their apartment after a certain hour, thus ending mine and Ray's standing Thursday night "date" to watch ER. For years Ray and I watched the hour where Anthony Edwards, Juliana Margoles and George Clooney did their rounds in a Chicago hospital and wondered if we were to join their ranks in a few years as physicians. And this person who happened to be Ray's new roommate and his Bible study leader was dictating the cards in our friendship. For a moment as I was sitting in my seat with my tape recorder, notebook and half eaten muffin at Cornestone Cafe at UC Irvine, I thought this young man was going to punge my heart with a wooden stake and throw all the garlic in Gilroy as if I was a vampire out of human blood.
Yet, religious has a way of manipulating people for control and power, very different and contrary to what God intended religion to be and what I was taught. Sure some folks wonder what the big hoopla is over a sixteen year old virgin Jewish woman giving birth to the Son of God. Yes that makes her special but not to the point where you put her on a pedestal and idealize her or even to the point where you just discard her because all she was is a vessel to bring forth someone great. Mary is both human and devine. One great illustration that brings it home to me is a statue by Kiki Smith titled "The Virgin Mary" where Smith takes a common pose of the Blessed Mother where her head is tilted downward with a loving gaze and her arms and hands are open and stretched outward. This statute is not clothed in the usual long gown and veil and have a crown of stars and angels singing etherical tunes. Rather, the statue is naked where you see lines of blood vessels and muscles. She is devine because of her compassion and love. She is human because she, well, was a regular sixteen year old girl called to do a great thing. It is something where she can't be either/ or but she is both.
I think about that statue as I flip through the paper I wrote back in my fifth year of college. I remember my Kuya Ray as I pray and go through the beads of my olivewood rosary and wonder how he is. I know the question will come time and time again, how people will scratch their head and wonder how can I be a woman of faith, a strong practicing Roman Catholic and be pro-choice?
I sit back and think for a minute as I contempate this question. What comes to my head are the many friend affected by HIV and AIDS. I think about my godsisters, some who are now single parents. I think about my own life and what I want to do for myself and how I want to have my reproductive life determined by me and my own body depsite the circumstances. My idea of pro-life is being a healthy individual being able to raise a child and children who are loved, cared for and wanted. Sure you can tell me that those that do not want the child they bore can always be adopted. However, until there is a system where those in same sex relationships can adopt, where there is no black market ring for children in developing countries and when the foster care system isn't to the point where putting a child in that system is akin to playing a game of Russian Roulette, wondering if the child will live a normal life or die, adoption is not a viable panacea. Access and options and respect for what a woman wants to do with her reproductive life and health is.
And yes, that last statement does bring a chill to the bones of fundamentalists people of faith.
Sudoku 12 Step
You know that you need to go to a twelve step program for
sudoku addicts when you start solving the
sudoku puzzle for the hand held
sudoku electronic game toy advertised on the front of the latest Harriet Carter mail catalog.
Guilty as charged...
OK, so I jacked this off of someone's myspace.com blog. I had to post it.
"YOU KNOW YOU'RE FILIPINO IF..."
1. You're related to everyone.
2. Your middle name is your mother's maiden name.
3. Your parents call each other "Mommy" and "Daddy."
4. You have uncles and aunts named "Boy," "Girlie," or "Baby."
5. You have relatives whose nicknames consist of repeated syllables like "Jun-Jun," "Ling-Ling," and "Mon-Mon." Mine by the way was "Che-Che."
6. You call the parents of your friends and your own parents' friends "Tito" and "Tita."
7. You have four or five names.
8. You greet your elders by touching their hands to your forehead.
9. You always kiss your relatives on the cheek whenever you enter or leave the room.
10. You follow your parents' house rules even if you are over 18.
11. You live with your parents until and at times even after you're married.
12. You make your children sing and dance to amuse your friends and relatives.
13. Your house has a distinctive aroma.
14. You decorate your living room wall with your family's framed diplomas and plaques.
15. You decorate your dining room wall with a picture of the "Last Supper." (that and the huge fork and spoon and knife)
16. You keep your furniture wrapped in plastic or covered with blankets.
17. You have a Sto. Nino shrine in your living room.
18. You keep a fly swatter in your kitchen.
19. Your kitchen table has a vinyl tablecloth.
20. You recycle shopping bags as garbage bags.
21. You have a piano that no one plays.
22. You keep a tabo in your bathroom.
23. You own a barrel man from Baguio (Schwing!).
24. You use Vicks Vapor rub as an insect repellant.
25. You have ageless skin, thanks to the high humidity of the tropics.
26. You eat with your hands.
27. You eat more than three times a day.
28. You think a meal is not a meal without rice.
29. You use your fingers to measure the water you need to cook rice.
30. You eat your meal using a spoon and fork.
31. You cut your meat with a spoon or fork.
32. You think sandwiches are snacks, not meals.
33. You feed all your visitors.
34. You always cook too much.
35. Your dining table has a merry-go-round (lazy Susan) in the middle.
36. You bring baon to work everyday.
37. You keep your stove covered in aluminum foil when not in use.
38. You wash and re-use plastic utensils, styrofoam cups, and aluminum wrappers.
39. Your pantry is never without Spam, Vienna sausage, corned beef, and sardines.
40. You love to eat daing or tuyo.
41. You prop up one knee while eating.
42. You eat your meal with patis, toyo, suka, banana catsup, or bagoong.
43. Your tablecloths are stained with toyo circles.
44. You love sticky desserts and salty snacks.
45. You eat fried Spam and hot dogs with rice.
P.S. My friend Liza has this really cool wooden table that has an intricate carving of the Philippine countryside encased in glass. I swear when she's not looking, I'm jacking that from her apartment...puahahahahah!!!
Bicycle Ride
This week hasn't been the greatest week. Yesterday I was down, getting frustrated with the state and my disability check not coming and stressing about bills. Instead of going out and about and doing things like looking on craigslist for a job or asking people for job advice or networking or slugging some time in the language lab to brush up on my Tagalog skills, I stayed in bed until I had to go to work for a short four hour shift. I knew Shelly wanted to ride the next day and it was going to be a short one.
Lo and behold, I wake up late this morning, close to 11am or so. I am grouchy yet I get myself to go on craigslist to check out job listings when Shelly calls. I tell her that I might ride with her. I did get up and out to walk to the corner to get the Examiner for the daily sudoku puzzle. However, you have to get there by a certain time or the machine runs out of papers. And since the Examiner is free, it goes up pretty fast especially by the morning commuters. As luck would have it, the two machines carrying the Examiner had no newspapers and I growled. I didn't feel like taking a hike in my house hoodie (my favorite hoodie with the busted zipper that I use to wear around the house) and sweats just to find an Examiner. I ate some breakfast and an hour later when Shelly gets home from her petsitting stops, she calls and somehow, I am convinced to go out. Even though part of me really wanted to stay in and do stuff.
Well, it was a nice day to go out. We met at Sports Basement where we saw Susan getting some stuff for the LifeCycle office and getting essentials (sunscreen, butt butter and bars). After Susan left, Shelly and I rode around Fort Point and the Presidio and just talked about life and family and things. She told me about the hot looking Korean American medalist who won in the skiing events in the Winter Olympics (Shelly knows how much I really go after Asian men). I tell her about my financial pinch. With a good three loops under our belts, we parted ways to go home and I am now more focused on getting things done.
That's the thing I love about exercise. I get focused and stay focused on what needs to be done. I would love to start my days with a run or a ride then I can go from there. I have to say that it's a lot harder for me to do the after work workout. However, one thing that I can depend on Shelly on is that she will get me out on my bike even though I don't want to. And I tell you it's the best thing. She got me on my bike when I was stressed over law school apps. I got her on her bike when she was in crazy work mode and hadn't gone out to get some fresh air and sunshine.
I would never trade my bike for any car in the world. Really. I am that hooked!
Changing of the Seasons
I forgot when I last stepped into the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market on Saturdays. I went in there late. To my chagrin, Steve at Rancho Gordo ran out of homemade tamales while the Downtown Bakery guys after some weeks of vacation where I have not seen them ran out of donut muffins. But to my relief, I did get some wonderful citrus from Vicki at Bernard Farms, traded recipies and stories with Cindy and Marie as I bought my almonds at Alferi Farms, and found a stand that sold organic corn tortillas in the back of the market. I did get almost everything I was set out to get execpt fresh mint but that is not a major thing.
I am now seeing season changes. Bruin Farms was out there selling hothouse tomatoes. However, the tomatoes were gone when I got there. The guy at the Bruin Farm stand told me that he will be coming soon with more heirloom varieties and hothouse cucumbers. Yum!
I also saw green garlic in the stands. Ah green garlic, chard and eggs. Mmmmm...
My next pie project will be a Shaker Lemon pie for the ride documentary on Logo Premier. That should be loads of fun. It's not until a month from now but I am going to make a Shaker lemon pie in honor of Jon, one of the cyclists featured on the documentary and a very good friend of mine and Shelly's. Shelly and Jon are both native buckeyes (grew up in Ohio) and since the Shakers had a big community in Ohio, there you go, hence the pie.
Fun fun fun fun fun!
You can tell that I am a major foodie huh.
Birthday
Yesterday, I turned one more year older. I'm still thirty something and added one more year to that thirty something to still be thirty something.
OK, I turned 33.
As in that old School House Rock song, three is indeed a magic number. I am beginning to like the number 33 already because it has some signifance in life. The 33 Stanyan is one of my favorite MUNI routes where you hairpin down Clayton from the Haight to Upper Market and you get this wonderful view of the City and the Bay. 33 happens to be the number of Los Angeles Laker ledgend Kareem Abdul-Jabar. I will admit that I am not as fanatic of a Laker fan like the rest of my family but I always do root for them, even when they are having a losing streak.
Yesterday was a chockful of activities. Actually the whole week, I've been getting some nice cards from Ma, Pop and Ed; Most Holy Redeemer, AIDS/ LifeCycle with a personalized message from Cadby, my roommates Molly and Shannon and cards from friends and a few presents.
It was a beautiful day when just six of us rode out to Tiburon for the weekly Tib loop ride. Manang wasn't in town but I decided to step in for her. I made chocolate brownie pudding pie for the ride and Jon's kids (my co-ride leader) made cookies. It was sunny and beautiful. When I slipped into Cafe Acri being the last one in, Randy, Martin, Manuel, Jon, and Amanda sang "Happy Birthday" and I think everyone in the cafe joined in. I ate the top of a pumpkin muffin and saved the rest for the ride home. On the ride home, there was a thick fog on the bridge which cooled us down from climbing Sausalito grade. This time, the tourists didn't vex me and it was fun overall.
I got my haircut after showering and getting ready after I came back from the ride. My stylist Jay and I were just cracking jokes left and right as he was cleaning up my shaggy do. I then stopped by the AIDS/ LifeCycle office and dropped off my registration. I chatted with Susan and Leslie about volunteering and roadie stuff. Then a quick change at home and off I went to Delancy Street Restaurant where me and my closest friends had this wonderful dinner. It was very lively with my friends and even in the menu where the daily specials were, it said "Happy Birthday Edna".
It was indeed a great day.
Not So Superbowl
I will admit that I am not a big American football fan. Even though I watched high school football games since I was in marching band and we had to perform at football games, I never understood the rules and nuances of American football.
I am using a qualifying statement because football in most parts of the world refers to soccer which in my opinion, is a much more exciting game. I wouldn't say that I am a soccer fanatic but if you were to give me a choice between football and American football, I would choose football. And I would rather watch it on BBC or some Asian broadcasting channel or Spanish television which is the best. Those announcers really have heart when they give their play by plays. I watched the 2002 World Cup on Univision late at night because the announcers kept the game lively. I also love it when they shout, "GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!" It's an expression that really comes from the gut. It takes major muscles to give a call that exuberantly.
If I had to, I would mostly watch commercials in the Super Bowl and be very analytical about it. I mean, it is the most watched event on television and the highest rate per minute in television advertising. It can also reflect a culture of a people and what the trends are these days. Like during the dot com boom, all these dot com companies such as pets.com were using the Super Bowl as their platform to get people to log onto their sites only to find out that a year later, they busted when the dot com bubble busted.
However, a more sombering fact about the Super Bowl is that it is the day of the highest number of domestic violence cases in the year. Think about it. You have people who are drunk. Their team lost. The wife or partner gives the loved one watching the game beer that is less filling while he or she wanted something that tasted great. They put a lot of money into a pool and find out that they lost their shirt. So all those frustrations along with their own personal frustrations mixed with a lot of alcohol in their system equals to some folks, a real act of domestic terrorism. The accusor uses words or fists to take out their frustration. And in some instances, there are situations where this is just another day of beating and berating.
Domestic violence is one of those issues that touches people really emotionally and can drain you so much. It is a complex web in why people end up with partners who abuse them emotionally and physically. I could go into the issues of why certain folks tend to bring out this abusive behavior but it's too heavy for me to go into. Plus I guess in my little world, domestic violence can happen to anyone, not just the usual mainstream case of a husband or boyfriend hitting his wife or girlfriend. I know of some instances of domestic violence in same sex relationships but of course, those are not discussed because mainstream America is not as comfortable to talk about same sex relationships. I mean, slowly American society is showing more acceptance to same sex relationships but it has a long way to go.
Domestic violence is another area were many Pinays are affected. As I am applying to law school, I hesitate in terms of getting involved in doing legal issues that deal with domestic violence. It's a very complex web and issue. I knew a guy whose mother was abused by her husband and it affected him greatly to the point where we had some issues between us. Because domestic violence is such a heavy and emotional issue, I want to stay away from it because it can be very draining and taxing. However, I do see the lack of resources for women to go into places where they can be safe, especially in the Asian American community. In most Asian cultures, we women must stick by our husbands and partners for better or for worse. We as women are not taught to stand up for ourselves and say to get out of a situation. That we took vows in our marriages that we stand until death do us part even if that death were to come to us in the form of blows to our bodies and our souls.
The root of domestic violence is all about who has power. A weapon. Something that can be used against the person that is abused. Where the abuser is the breadwinner, the holder of a green card, using deportation or shame as a weapon of subjugation. But also, the one being abused may also have their own chains- being isolated from friends and family and resources, growing up in a culture where a woman does not stand up for herself but accepts whatever lot she is given in her life, not having the money or the courage to say, "No, I will not take it anymore."
And if you are wondering who I was rooting for, I rooted for Seattle by default. I have an ex-boyfriend whom I am not in really good terms with who was a huge Steelers fan. Enough said.
Pie-O-Vision
I will have to admit that I have had a one track mind lately. Last weekend when I was at Berkeley for a
GABNet orientation, I had some time to kill over at the
Berkeley Farmer's Market. I browsed through the stands in the dismal grey day looking at produce and hungering for veggies. I stumbled upon a stand, Ludming Avenue Farm, where an older African American gentleman was selling bags of dried black eyed peas, eggs and pecans. The farm is based out of Santa Rosa and I was surprised to find pecans growing in California. I had a nice conversation with him and I decided to make pecan pie from his pecans. From all the pie books I have read, I found out that you would have to special order pecans from Georgia. At least I can support a local farm and have a face to the name.
When I was looking at a few pie books this week, something struck me to make Shaker Lemon Pie where the whole lemon (pith and all ) is sliced paper thin, bathed in sugar and baked. I immediately thought of Vicky and Vince Bernard of Bernard Farms. Their citrus trees are the last standing ones in Riverside County and it is a connection to my citrus heritage as I was growing up in Highland. The orange groves up the hill in East Highland are long gone replaced by monchrome beige tones of suburban housing tracks that look like mushrooms from afar. Funny how one's view of paradise is another person's hell. In this case, my brother Ed prefers the sameness and consistency of suburban life while I am out there sticking my neck out there living on the edge in city life. I bag on the burbs, he rags on the City.
As sson as funds roll in, so does the pie.
One Long Assed Run
In an e-mail to a friend of mine, I was telling her that my friend Alain and I were going to run the Los Angeles Marathon this year for fun. I ended it by saying that we weren't smoking crack but we were addicted to endorphins.
Yes, if I were to tell most people that I was running a marathon for fun, they might think I might have gone behind an alley and smoked crack. However, I do like the endorphin rush. Running gives me a chance to think, to have some alone time, to sort out things.
Running long distances alone is quite daunting and sometimes a welcome silence. However, any activity is much more fun with a friend. I look forward to my runs with the
San Francisco Road Runners where I have been a member for about three years now. I have a set of people that I run with, my pace group. I love my pace group where we are shooting for an average time of 10:00 minutes to 10:30 minutes per mile. Rusty, an older gentleman who is a schoolteacher, and I have some really great talks. Mostly we talk about crass stuff but hey, it gives me a chance to vent. Plus Rusty and I can talk about far away travels (he has traveled around the world quite a bit) and discuss what's new at Berkeley Bowl (this really cool grocery store with organic produce and quite a selection of exotic things).
Sometimes I wish that I could record my thoughts while I run because I do come up with some great ideas. If you were to ask me to give up exercise for Lent, I would jump off a bridge. I think it would really suck if I had an injury where I couldn't excercise. That would be the death of me.
Speaking of giving up stuff for Lent, some guy on our training ride this Sunday told me to give up baking for Lent. That would also be the death of me too.
Here are some of my thoughts and observations that go through my head as I run.
Plain GU isn't that bad. I had expected it to have no taste but it's a nice clean taste supplying one with the necessary carbs and electrolytes to keep going. It's like plain yogurt. It cleanses the palate. When I was younger, I hated plain yogurt. I liked fruit flavored yogurt, especially fruit on the bottom yogurt. In college during my University Administration Internship, my supervisor at the Center for Women and Gender Education ate plain yogurt and flavored it with whatever fruit was in season. She also swam during lunch. I didn't try plain yogurt until a few years ago and it really is better. Some of the flavored yogurts on the market have a lot of sugar. So now that I tasted plain GU and like it, I will get the assorted flavors box on the next trip to Sports Basement.
A few weeks ago, I saw some ad on TV for Shoe Pavillion having a sale on athletic shoes. Here's my take on that. If you're going to start running, don't go to Shoe Pavillion to get your running shoes. Go to a running store that specializes in running. That way, they can fit you for the right type of shoe for your feet. It might be a little pricey, but if you are a member of a running club or part of a charity run like Team In Training or the
National AIDS Marathon , you might get a sweet deal of a discount. Your shoes will be different for your needs. It took me awhile to find the shoe that I run in, the Saucony Grid Omni with ultra stability. If you like a shoe and stick with it for awhile, then you can go to places like Sports Basement or Shoe Pavillion to get your shoes for cheap.
Now, I think I have bitched about this before in this space but I still don't get it when people use their iPods or MP3 players to run. This morning, my run started in the dark. Luckily I have a red tailight I put on my hat and a headlamp that I borrowed from Shelly to see where I was going. Now you might chastise me for running in the dark but I go on places that I am familiar with and places that have people walking on it and running. Not being plugged in is good because you can be more aware of your senses and what is going on around you. For me, I love the sound of my footfall on the pavement or trail and this morning, I heard the waves crashing as I was going along Chrissy Field and the sound of the foghorns form the ships as they go by the Golden Gate Bridge. I even heard a frog croak as I was going by Chrissy Field on the way back home.
I make it more of an effort now to run. I have way too many peers and friends and co-workers now worrying about their high cholesterol rates. I know I admit that I eat like I don't care- scarfing down cookies and sweets and the occasional bag of chips and what not. However, I do need to be careful. I want to be healthy and I do have some health risks in my family. Pop's side of the family has a history of heart disease, strokes and diabetes. Ma's side of the family has a predisposition to high blood pressure and diabetes. Now there might be some link to what they eat and that they don't exercise but Pop is pretty athletic and watches what he eats and doesn't drink or smoke and still he had a heart attack 15 years ago. My Manong Ferdie who cycles every day to work and watches what he eats ended up having a mild stroke...and he's in his mid-30s. Yikes! Plus running is a fountain of youth I think. Nobody believes me when I tell them I'm in my early 30s.
I'm not sure which marathon it is but I know it's one of the major marathons. They have a contest on who is the healthest CEO.
Runners World did an article last year on CEOs and running. They do come up with great ideas and innovation when they run. Public officials have gotten the running bug as well. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee started running when his doctor warned him that if he kept up with his bad eating habits and lack of exercise, he would have at best a decade to live. Former Vice President Al Gore ran the Marine Corps Marathon. A friend of mine who did advance for the Vice President had one of his jobs was to map out running routes for the Vice President to train on. Even former Senator and Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards runs where he was once featured on the cover of Runner's World before the 2004 Presidential elections. Funny how the letters to the editor have the magazine an earful saying that it was playing partisan politics with putting Edwards on the cover. I wonder if an article featuring Huckabee who is a Republican and in some circles, considered on the short list for the 2008 presdiential nomination, would have quelled these naysayers. I mean, between Edwards and current Vice President Dick Chenney, Chenney has had heart attacks galore and pacemakers put in. But I'm sure that public officials and candidates for public office have come up with good ideas for their campaigns and legislation. Just like the round of golf with lobbyists, I bet the jog would kick up some ideas. My ex-boyfriend Joe once joked that lobbyists might have to learn how to cycle if the want to break a deal with me.
I was thinking of e-mailing Alain to bring his laptop and the second part of the sixth season of "Sex and the City". I have yet to watch the final episodes of the four gals and their adventures. I figured that the day before the marathon is a rest day, why not sit and watch "Sex and the City". Oooo fun fun fun.
Now I have this craving for pancakes. I think I'll just whip up some French toast instead.
State of Our Disunion
Last night was President Bush's annual State of the Union address. To mark this event, some folks staged a protest at Union Square asking people to make noise during the President's speech because "we want to drown out the lies he is telling us."
Well, yes, the Presdient sucks eggs and is doing really bad policy. But what will a protest do? And people in the Bay Area are more or less liberal so what's the point? I know I'm being a whiny woo but just having the SFPD in the store yesterday around the time of the protest in riot gear didn't put me in a good mood. And waiting for the 38 Geary during the evening commute where every bus is full and zooms by my stop at Geary and Powell doesn't really help. I was not too far from all the protest action.
Call me cycnical but a protest like this won't get you anywhere. Drowing out the other person's sayings is being closed minded. Kind of like right winged rabid folks only in liberal stripes. I think my godbrother Christian told me that in Los Angeles one time, some young Filipino activist was trying to get
The Boondocks cartoonist Aaron McGruger (a young African American man) to support their protest/ boycott. Aaron just said it wasn't going to work and went off. He wasn't being cynical. Just realistic.
Sometimes you have to listen to the other side, no matter how ugly it sounds to your ears or makes you sick to your stomach to plan the next bold move against them. It is a gam unfortuately but when the stakes are people's lives, you have to put all you got. With now Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court bench, yes
Roe v. Wade has a noose around its neck and it's getting tighter and tighter. However, I think it's high time that the pro-choice movement starts to change how they put the message out there on defending women's reproductive lives and health.
I get angry when people think that pro-choice equals abortion. That is not entirely the case and it's just some simplistic, moronic conclusion to subjugate women. If only folks on both sides of the arguement see that it's more than just access to abortion but to health care, accurate sexual education, reduction of single parent pregnancies to adolescents, reduction of sexually transmitted diseases. The sad thing is that the pro-choice side has let the anti choice folks slowly chip away at things that make abortion legal and safe.
I still have my critiques about Bush and what he said. I really wonder if he will increase funding for state drug assistance programs. I cynically think that he would lobby with his pharmicetual industry friends to jack up the prices of drugs and keep the state funding levels at the same as the previous years.
Interesting that the Democratic address to the State of the Union was more of a concillartory tone instead of a devisive one. Yes, we should get into our own issues and stop fighting one another. But, it went a little kumbaya-ish for me. It would be interesting to see Antonio Villarigosa, mayor of Los Angeles, to see what his comments were. He gave the Democratic address to the State of the Union speech in Spanish. According to
The California Report this morning, Villarigosa was more critical about more people going into poverty and the slde of the educational system under the Bush administration.
