OakMonster’s Den

4 things that happened before 12 noon today. Emotion roller coaster ride from start to finish.

#1 - “Diddeedeeeee” Moment

Talking into a cell phone does not make your conversation private. In a bus full of practically strangers, this girl made her purchasing transaction over her cell phone. Here we were, the passengers in the front of the bus who heard her address, phone number, credit card number and expiration date clear as day. Um. Duh.

#2 - “Goooooal” Moment

Having arrived at work at 7:30 a.m., I called my dad. He was watching the Argentina v.s. Serbia & Montenegro game.

“I haven’t fired up my computer yet, so what’s the score, dad?”

“Argentina 5. Serbia nothing. Oh wait wait wait… Argentina 6. Serbia nothing. So, Mexico and Angola today for you guys, huh? How crazy is LA going to get?”

Man, I LOVE how we bond over the World Cup. And in 2 years, Olympics.

#3 - “Ah…a bit of normalcy” Moment

My dad and I discussed the possibility of him coming to visit at the end of year before his bonus mileage expires. I told him that we don’t have the extra bed any more, so he’d have to sleep on the (cheapy) air mattress which benefit is that he’d be right next to the space heater so he won’t be cold. Dad laughed and said that he’d probably should stay at a hotel then. In the background, I heard mom started yelling at him. Something about “Don’t be ridiculous! Just stay at their place. You’re not going to die of hypothermia”.

That means mom is feeling a bit like herself again.

On that note, right now, she’s going to the doctor. If the cancer has shrunk enough, they’d take her off of chemo and put her on some kind of oral cancer treatment instead. She’s grown quite weak apparently, and they really don’t want to continue her on chemo if they don’t have to. So, pray for her (and us) if you can!

#4 - Spontaneous Combustion

In a little powwow in my cubicle, a coworker raised his voice at my supervisor and ended up yelling at her while she calmly tried to talk to him and me sitting there and another coworker in the next cubicle.

He had his reasons to be frustrated. But seriously, yelling at people is just not appropriate in the office.

So yeah. That was my morning. The afternoon, thank god, was lighter and the mood continued to lift. Sure, I was disappointed Mexico didn’t win. But man, that Angolan goalie was just AMAZING. One handed save. *whistle* That was impressive. And I finally taught the Big Boss how to purchase digital sheet music. I hope he likes them…and he’d share them after he bought them… Hehee…

Yep. Just don’t feel like going to bed. Although I should. I have to be ready for my “cousin”’s graduation is at the crack of dawn.

Well, actually it’s my usual weekday wake up call of 5:30 so I guess there’s no difference.

Good night!

LA Times picked up on the FOOTBALL fever around Los Angeles.

See, I’m not alone in this.

Brandon and his coworkers were talking about firearms and going shooting at the range. 9mm this and shot gun that. Then suddenly, Abu*, an India native, spoke.

Abu: I blew a goat.

[Pause]

Brandon: What did you say, Abu?

Abu: I blew a goat. When I was a boy.

Brandon and Tim*: Uh…

Abu: You know? A goat. I blew it. I put rifle between trees. And bang bang. I blew goat.

Brandon: Oh. OH! Abu, you meant that you blew a goat AWAY.

Abu: It’s what I said.

Tim: No, you said you blew a goat.

Abu: It’s what I said. I blew a goat. With rifle.

Brandon: No, Abu. You blew a goat AWAY mean you shot at it with a rifle. Bang bang. Dead goat.

Tim: You blew a goat means you, you know…[insert gesture here] a goat.

[Pause.]

Abu: Fuck you guys.

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent. Well, mainly Abu. Because obviously Brandon and “Tim” aren’t that innocent. Heh.

My football fever is.

Apparently, my enthusiasm for it gets a few folks in the office to follow suit. Fortunately, the 21:00 game is on at 12 noon US time. And our little office TV that could does pick up Channel 10, a Spanish channel, loud and clear in the lunch room.

Like today, I’d timed my lunch so that I’d get my food and be back to lunch room for the remainder of the second half. So, a few coworkers join me in watching the game.

And wouldn’t you know it, the next time Brazil approaches the goal or Croatia made their moves, they all jumped up and screamed with me.

Maybe it’s the football that gets people interested. Or the cute players. (A coworker said if we think the Italians are hot, wait and catch the Swedes….Hm….) Or maybe my enthusiasm. But whatever it is, I’m sure glad I, once again in the role of a cultural ambassador, spread the joy of football to my little office.

Yes, I’m watching the World Cup. Shut up.

No I don’t follow to know who’s who and what not. I’m a football fan once every 2 years, folks. The World Cup and the Olympics.

And yes, I’m calling it FOOTBALL, not soccer. So, nyah.

So, GO BRAZIL! I have been rooting for Brazil since before I even remember so that tradition will continue.

And, GO ITALY! You have some hotties on your team. So, go team!

It’s been a great weekend of sleeping and dreaming.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 9:00 to a faint memory of my dreams and a strong recollection that I told myself in the middle of the night not to forget the dream. Duh. Should’ve gotten up and written that down.

The Friday night dream has something to do with Chris Cactus and his wife Beth. I dreamed that we were all in a reality TV show. It was all these couples living together, like a camp for married couples or something. Why else would there be a bonfire in the middle of the circle, right? That is all I remember.

Last night I went to bed at 11 p.m. and woke up at 11 a.m. this morning. Unless I’ve been tired all week, I don’t sleep like that anymore. It was quite strange for me. When I woke up, I had an equally bizarre dream which I could only remember clearly just one part. The rest of it has something to do with a preview to an epic Thai movie that has to do with the King’s elephant and a jungle monkey that stowed away in the King’s carriage on top of the elephant. Something like that.

The part I remembered is that Brandon and I and a bunch of folks are in a caravan heading for the beach. We drove through this main street, and I saw in a window a leather pirates boots for $5. I looked up to see that it is a Renaissance used costume thrift shop. So I told Brandon to pull over. I got into the store and picked up this wispy blue fairy dress and the tag said $5.

No way! I said. The shopkeeper came out in her purple Renaissance costume and said that the entire store is $5. Holy crap! So I started ransacking through the racks and gathering up some goodies when, true to the Oakley Effect, everyone else arrived at the store.

Then Brandon came running in, “You’ve gotta come out and see THIS!” I was reluctant to come out because I had to put all of my stuff down. I wasn’t about to lose my loot! But it was do-or-die for him that I come outside. So I put my stuff down and went outside.

There it was, the Jack Sparrow costume in the window for $20. That’s it?? Shit!!!

I ran back inside, and it was too late. The line to the dressing room was long. The racks and shelves were empty except a few random items. All I could find for me, already difficult to find clothes my size, was an undergarment corset thing.

And oh yeah, the Jack Sparrow costume in the window? Gone by the time we got back inside the store. Aaaarrrgggghhhh!!!!

So yeah. Me and my crazy dreams.

Look at the time stamp! Even I don’t remember when was the last time I stayed up until 1:30 a.m.

Thanks, Irena!

BTW - Go see “Cars”. It’s awesome. Just awesome. I probably have to see it again because I missed a few jokes.

And yeah, you should know Pixar by now but just a reminder to sit through the credit.

Oh, the trouble a self taught novice graphic designer has to go through.

So, the printer said our logo uses PMS 871 Metallic gold.

Okay that’s well and good, but finding a good match for that in RGB or CYMK is a little tricky as my old Photoshop doesn’t have PMS 871 in their Pantone color match.

I hit the internet in search for an equivalent to PMS 871 that other people use on their style guides. I either ended up too green or bright yellow.

Finally, I found the perfect gold. The bosses love it.

I took PMS 126 Yellow Gold as directed by the style guide of, of all the places I could’ve found this, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism.

Holy hallelujah. I mean. Really. Thank God. Oh, stop it Oakley. Jesus. Ack!!

I’m going to hell for this, aren’t I?

When I was in kindergarten, the King was hospitalized for something. A flu, maybe. Anyway, I thought it was a good idea to write him a get well note. My note said something along the line of, “Dear sir, please get well soon. The country needs you. Please be good and take the medicine that the Queen gives you. When you’re well, I’ll come play the piano for you if you’d like.”

Pretty much my mom knew a lady who worked in the palace, and that was how my letter got delivered. Or something like that. Sometime later, someone from the palace called my mom. I believed he said he was the King’s attendant. He then talked to me. He said that the King appreciated my letter and that he was looking forward to getting well so I could come in to play the piano for him.

You wouldn’t believe how much I practiced from that day on! When the news said that the King recovered, I practiced even harder. For about a month. At least. And I kept hoping that the palace would call me someday.

Earlier this year, the lady who delivered the letter came to my brother’s wedding. The first thing she said to me when she saw me was, “So, when are we taking you to the palace to play for the King?”

King Bhumibhol has reigned Thailand for 60 years, the longest reigning monarch in the world. A king that is much loved and admired by his country. Whatever someone else may say about my king, the royal family rumors, and foreigners’ comments, at the core of it, my king is a good man.

Anyways. This Bangkok Post’s article said it best.

MORE THAN A MONARCH
The King rekindles our belief in humanity–and ourselves The Pillar of Stability. The Father of a Nation. The Guiding Light. His Majesty the King is all of this to the Thai people. And much more.

Foreign newcomers often express astonishment at our deep love for the King. That astonishment quickly fades, however, once they learn of the King’s longstanding dedication to the Thai people, particularly to the majority who are poor.

So they conclude for themselves that Thais love the King dearly because of his good deeds. In a world where meritocracy prevails, this is the ultimate virtue; for what you earn must be through commitment and hard work, not birthright. Under this rationale, the King receives so much love from his subjects because he has given so much of himself. As simple as that.

But is our reverence for His Majesty as simple as that?

His Majesty is often described as the world’s hardest-working monarch. And he is. During his 60-year reign, the King has initiated thousands of projects to improve the quality of life of the rural poor and to nurture the severely degraded environment back to health.

Over the past six decades, the King has spent most of each year in the rugged countryside. He has visited villagers in every nook and cranny to listen to their problems, to ask them what they need to ease their difficulties, and to empower them by providing what it takes to help them become self-reliant in the long run.

The King also has used his passion for science to offer his country several cost-effective technologies to deal with the problems of drought, flash floods, water pollution, soil erosion, energy shortages and public health.

Thanks to modern communication technologies, the King still closely monitors the situations of his people with deep concern so they get fitting help in their time of need.

Yet our devotion for the King goes much beyond the tangible.

We are ever grateful for what he has done for the country. But our deep reverence for him comes not only from what he does, but also from what he is.

In the eyes of the Thai people, His Majesty is the embodiment of virtue, the symbol of purity. He is the one person who keeps our faith in goodness alive in an era of dirty politics and cut-throat competition where anything goes.

Thailand is now a different country from what it was 60 years ago. From a sleepy agrarian society governed by traditional values on what was right and wrong, it is now an urbanised, consumer society where money talks loudest.

From a society where group norms kept people’s behaviour in check, it is now a jungle of individualistic pursuits for material gain and sensory pleasure.

Thailand has seen many bumps in between. The Cold War. The communist insurgency. Military coups. Environmental devastation. Street uprisings. Corrupt governments. The economic crash. The tsunami. Southern strife.

These bumps elevate public anxiety and insecurity. Throw in a corrupt police force and flawed judicial process, and morality flies out the window because people cannot rely on the rule of law, but only on their personal connections and the ability to pay their way.

Had it not been for the King, we might have lost our faith in goodness long ago.

When we are up to our necks in corrupt and arrogant politicians, our hearts light up when we see our King walking tirelessly under the scorching sun in faraway villages, or sitting on the ground talking with simple folk, however dirt-stained .

When it is fashionable for the rich and powerful to flaunt their wealth, our heart warms to know that our King uses locally made, simple sneakers, never throws away half-used pencils, eats brown rice despite its stigma as food for prisoners, and adopts street dogs as his pets.

When sensory pursuits are the country’s main obsession, it is good to know that our King is a serious meditator.

Where few dare to tread, such as the areas infested with insurgency, the King makes it a point to go there because it is where help is most needed.

When the country is reluctant to embrace ethnic minorities, the King leads the way by being there with them so the rest of the country knows all must be friends if peace is our goal.

When the greed-driven economy crashed, he guided the country back to its senses with his self-sufficiency philosophy.

In His Majesty the King, we see the beauty of simplicity. We see courage. Indiscriminate giving. Compassion. Perseverance. And spirituality.

By feeling close to him, we feel close to his virtues which makes us feel much better about ourselves when we are constantly sucked into a world of competition and selfishness.

We may feel hopeless over the country’s general decline of morality. We may feel disappointed with ourselves when we cannot resist the surrounding temptations. But we have not lost touch with goodness, thanks to the King.

Because of what the King is, we know what we should strive to be.

Life may be strewn with difficulties. And we may be weak and imperfect. But knowing that we are loved by such a great person who is the embodiment of virtue gives us magical strength to face come what may. To follow in his footsteps. To rediscover the good in ourselves.

More than a monarch, His Majesty is the one person who in times of darkness and despair rekindles our belief in humanity _ and in ourselves. This is why we love and revere our King so much.

Long Live the King!