OakMonster’s Den

Irena and Danny are moving away to Massachusetts. And they’re getting married in May 2009. Please send all the good vibes their way!

Last night, I took the Metrolink down to Santa Ana where Brandon picked me up, and off we went to Irvine for a goodbye shindig for our girl and her boy.

Amidst a mass of the people behind World of Warcraft, I managed to survive and had myself quite a good time. Well, you can see in the picture here.

Irena’s fantastic friends hosted face and body paint artist Kari Ivey last night. Of course, I partook.

Many others did too. Almost all the girls did it and somebody’s little boy. Only 2 guys were ballsy enough for the paint job.

One of them have “Awesome” in Old English font across his forehead. The other (seen here demonstrating the drinking of the rum) had a comet on his forehead, Saturn on his cheek, and stars all over. His kid is into the solar system.

I wish I could’ve kept the face to come to work this morning.

So many pictures in the past few days! Phototastic Friday should be fun this week.

ETA: Irena posted the album here (the same one as the comment) for those who are curious.

The Christian God has been vying for my soul a bit heavily these past few weeks.

Observe the long list of Catholic and Christian coincidences.

#1

August 6 was the day of the dinner party with people on my last bus home. The bus was so unusually full in the morning that Tony who always sit in the back ended up in the front. Next to him was Robert, a gentleman who used to ride the bus when I started. We work in the same building. Since then he had stopped taking the bus, only popping up on the bus a few times a year.

The last time he was on the bus, he asked me to pray for him as he was going in for a lung biopsy. After that few bits and pieces of news were passed around on the bus that it was cancer, but he was okay. No one on the bus had seen him until that day.

Tony, being a friendly man, went ahead and invited Robert to our cliquey little bus party after the last bus. So I gave him my card so I could call me later.

Robert didn’t make it to the party. However, he asked if I would like to be his carpool buddy the following day on the way home. Of course, I said yes.

On our ride home that day, Robert told me about his cancer and the surgery. His case was eerily similar to my mom’s. About the same size, about the same spot, but I’m not sure if it was the same type. He currently is not doing chemo, again, similar to my mom’s case.

Not wanting to scare the man, I didn’t want to tell him about my mom. But the inevitable question of “Are your parents still in Thailand?” led to “If you dad and your brothers are there, where’s your mom?” And I had to tell him.

Robert was very grateful that I shared my mom’s story with him, and he was sorry that he asked so many questions. Then he mentioned something along the line that his view of religion has changed since his surgery.

And then he mentioned that he is Catholic.

#2

After the bus party, I came home to discover that Joy’s Mom Mary’s blog was coming to life. I set her up with the blog and am staying on as administrator to guide her (and a few of her children who are helping) through the wonderful world of blogging. However, her 5 posts a day was disconcerting to me. Perhaps :Mommy” didn’t get the idea of one or two entries a day is enough. So I wrote her an email full of tips for new blogger.

“Mommy” wrote back a few days later telling me that she didn’t post the entries. Her younger daughter Jan was working on the blog as a Mother’s Day surprise present, but didn’t know that I would be monitoring the movement. “Mommy”, a devout Catholic, has told me that God must have sent me to help her because I kept popping in at all the right time.

The day after this, Robert from #1 called me for that fateful drive home.

And of course, in true fashion, I passed along Mary’s blog address to Robert.

#3

The auspicious August 8, I was at my friend Katie’s wedding. It was a Catholic one. I needn’t say more, but there was more.

When I attend a mass with Nora, during the Communion, I would always go up for a blessing. At Katie’s wedding mass, when the priest blessed me, I felt something. The religious would say I felt the Spirit. But it was like a cool breeze washes over me and I felt a little shaky.

Brandon said the blessing might be exorcising the demon out of me. After all, I did make a joke in mass. Kind of.

I misheard the lyric in Here I Am, Lord. The actual lyric is “Is it I, Lord?” but what we heard was “Is it time, Lord?”

I leaned over to Brandon and asked, “Did they just sing, Is it…Time Lord?”

What self respecting Dr. Who fan wouldn’t crack up at that!

#4

August 12 was Thai Mother’s Day. So I blogged about waking up humming Que Sera, Sera, one of my mom’s lullabies.

My brother Onk emailed me later on that as he was reading my post, his MP3 collection pulled up Que Sera, Sera! A jazzy-bossa nova version of it that he didn’t know he had.

Okay this is not a Catholic/Christian coincidence, but hey, it was a MAJOR coincidence!

We both missed mom horribly that day, by the way.

#5

That same day, we were at Sony Studios for work. There were two brief studio tours given. Me and 25 people went on the early one. Naturally, when it was announced that the second and last tour was available, the rest of the people rushed for it. They ended up having to split the big group up into 2 smaller groups.

Somewhere in there, half of the first group got lost. They tried to join the second group but the guide told them to go back to their original group. Unable to find the first tour guide, the separated came back to the party. The second group also returned to the party close to closing time.

What we didn’t know was that the first group’s guide, probably thinking the second half went to join the other tour, kept going with the tour with only a handful of people. (They actually got a better tour than the rest AND caught a glimpse of Tom Cruise!) The rest of us, having heard the story of the separated half, thought that everyone had returned to the party which was now being herded out of the premise. So we packed up.

We found the Coworker’s canvas bag but she was nowhere around. Being it a canvas bag, not a purse, we thought that she might have gone home and forgot the bag. Before we left the office, the Coworker and I swapped phone numbers. I gave her a ring, but no answer. (As we found out, the phone was on mute, naturally.)

So we loaded up Celeste’s boss’ car (for easy unloading at the office the next day) with all the stuff including the bag. We didn’t really pry and see what all else was in the bag. We just checked that there was no food container. We didn’t hear any plastic thunking and we saw the bible on top, and that was enough for us.

Celeste and I stayed behind a bit to talk and to discuss my best route home from Culver City. I was following her car around and out of the parking lot when I spotted our guests waving at Celeste. At first I thought they were waving goodbye, but they were actually yelling FOR her. (Later Celeste told me she thought they were waving goodbye as well so she waved back and continued on her way.)

I stopped and asked if something was wrong.

“A girl, your coworker I think, is missing her bag,” he said through my window.

Oh my god.

The Coworker was still on the tour. Her phone was in the bag as that bag WAS her purse! Her wallet, her keys, everything was in the bag. She would’ve been completely abandoned without the bag.

Here’s the freaky part.

Earlier that morning, I went to the flower mart with Celeste. She was driving so she couldn’t call her boss, so I called her from my cell phone. The Boss’ number otherwise wouldn’t be in my contact list.  I would’ve had to call Celeste for the Boss’ number, but she couldn’t really answer because she didn’t have a hands-free device.

I did get in touch with the Boss and to top it all off, she lives in Culver City.  She was not too far away, so she turned right around with the Coworker’s bag in minutes.

The Coworker is a very spiritual Christian.  I’m thinking God was on HER side more than mine on that one.

#6

You might have seen a seemingly angry comment on my Olympics post. Just like any other comments (with return email address), I replied personally. I told Robert I agreed on all counts why China shouldn’t have the rights to host the game. However, I support the Olympics and the original Olympics spirit, just not this year’s host.

Robert wrote me a very touching reply and apologized for his knee jerk reaction to my post. He also offered to light a candle for my mom at church and kept her in his prayer as the anniversary dawns tomorrow.

A Christian friend from the blogosphere I just made today.

*

I’m telling you. God is gunning for me.

Where am I going?

Brandon inadvertently made a hakaw dumbling out of our fresh laundry as a way to transport them.

I must apologize for the lack of posts these past few days.  There is a LOT to say but I haven’t the moment to actually sit down and write.  I promise to write over the weekend, okay?

On Tuesday, I was on Sony Studios lot, helping Celeste put on an event.  That was our last together.

Last night, we were out at the largest going away party I’ve thrown so far.  Celeste brought a herd of friends on her own and about a third of our office was there to celebrate.

Today is Celeste’s last day.  I promise not to cry, but between Mother’s Day the other day and my mom’s anniversary next week, I’m a bit of an emotional wreck right now.

I have gone to private Catholic school all my life, so it wasn’t a surprise to find that both of my best friends on both sides of the world are Catholic.  Nora is here, and Joy is back home.

Joy has always said that I should’ve been her mom’s daughter too.  Both of us are too “westernized” for our times. Both of us prefer to express ourselves in English most times.  Both of us also like to write.

Joy and Mary/Mommy–as I call Joy’s mom–contacted me a few months back about getting Mommy’s English translation of her original Thai edition book of prayers published in the U.S.  After much research and pondering, Mommy decided to do a blog instead.  And I set her up with one on Blogger.

The blog is full of Mary’s daily thoughts and prayers.  Some from her book and some straight from her heart.  You don’t have to be Catholic or Christian to enjoy her work.  So, please stop by to say hello to this amazing woman over at Mary’s Little Prayers.

Hey, it’s STILL Friday! And a double feature!

Me and Nhien got all goofy at Amy’s house.  And you know when people gather at Amy’s house, good times are ALWAYS had.

We partied among Amy’s fellow international MBA graduates from USC.  The world came together in this history Spanish home in Glendale, and so was the food.  There were the famous Pete’s tri-tip, Korean barbecue, lamb skewers, Chinese barbecue duck and crispy pork.  Then there were Tsing Tao, Dos Equis, Heineken, and wine of all variety and regions.

We ate. We drank. We talked. We laughed.  Tons of innuendos and inside jokes floating about everywhere.  Those lovely wigs included.  (Pete will provide accompanying video which I will surely share later on.)

Seriously good times had by all!

Oh, and yeah, hello there boys and girls from the party!  If y’all had my Moo card (and if you remember what the hell it is the next morning), you should be reading this by now.

Master Greg and his friends joined Brandon and I last night out on the hard stone grounds of the Orange County Performing Arts Center for “The Muppet Movie” under the stars. The movie was free, however the parking was $8 a car. Brandon and I had to drive separately so it wasn’t too “free” for us. But if I didn’t leave early like I did, we wouldn’t have any place to sit down. And thanks to a tip on Yelp, we did bring enough cushioning to sit comfortably for the hard floor.

The grounds was packed with both outer and inner children of all ages. Everybody STILL loves the Muppets!

I remembered watching the Muppet Movie a long, long time ago. Again, one of those I saw before I understood English properly or any of the humor. What I remember most is the fact that I was freaking out at seeing Kermit’s legs! Him riding the Schwinn terrified me for a few moments. And then I remember the “Fork in the Road”. I didn’t know what that means, but I remember seeing that fork on the road and wonder, why was there a fork in the road? Americans are so funny.

Being there with 3 gay guys, of course, any mentioning of “bears” was hilarious. “Patriotism swells in the heart of the American bear,” got the most giggles. Added, predictably by our band of chorus, “Guess what else in the American bear swell?”

More giggling ensues at Dr. Bunsen’s lab in the ghost town outpost.

Floyd Pepper: [about the growth solution] What else do these pills make big?
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew: Oh, they work on anything, but the effect is sadly temporary.

The adults in the audience cracked up all over the grounds. More importantly, it took grandpa in front of us a few seconds to get what all the other dirty minds were thinking, then he started laughing. That set us off into an entirely different giggle.

Throughout the show, we were singing along and interjecting our own sound effects. There’s nothing like the crowd going “Hiiiii-yah!” when Miss Piggy went kung fu on the baddies or “A-ni-mal! A-ni-mal!” growls at any time Animal was on.

Good fun for everyone last night.

ETA: We also never realized how much of a drag queen that blondie in Electric Mayhem is!  Good god.

I have made a complete transitioned into piratehood last night as everything I drank was made with rum.

Rum. Yum.

I can blame Master Greg for this new addiction.  The orange juice + 7up + rum that he had at his 4th of July party got me hooked.  So if I’m don’t feel like a beer and can’t really handle a martini, I ended up asking the bartender to surprise me with “something with rum, just not coke”.

Last night, as you might have seen the updates on my Twitter, was hell of fun.  One of my rare impromptu night out, and the first one with my coworkers Dave and Nik and former coworker Erin.  It all started innocently enough.

I got a few usual suspects together after work last night at Suede to congratulate Nik on his upcoming wedding.  Great turn out for this non-bachelor party for the Groom To Be!  [Insert 1.5 servings of the OakMonster: orange juice, grenadine and rum.)  Dave kept trying to leave to head home so he could party in his neck of the woods, the east end of West Hollywood, without having to worry about driving.  After much discussion and convincing, the Groom, Sequoia, Erin and I decided to converged with Dave in a few hours.

First stop, Bar Lubitsch.  This is where I had the best rum drink ever, served up by our gorgeous bartender.  Dark and Stormy consists of dark rum, lime juice, and ginger beer.  Obviously a rare find at bars because most place doesn’t carry ginger beer.  So. Totally. Delicious.  Here an absinthe drinking lady befriended us.  I got to finally taste absinthe.  And it wasn’t pretty.

I did enjoy the taste.  However, if there is no chance that you’d hallucinate on the U.S. version, why bother, really?  Without the real green fairy, absinthe is just like fancy licorice Everclear…

…which when Nik arrived, he ordered a properly prepared glass.  And the boy DOWNED it at the encouragement of 2 Ruskies next to us.  I mean, Nik shot the fucking absinthe!

The rest of the evening was filled with more booze, a little dancing, equal parts of trash talking about other people and some soul gazing, deep conversation.

Oh, and then we hopped the bar over to our original first choice (which Sequoia couldn’t locate and therefore went on with her friends to party elsewhere), Winstons.  Very cool bar.  Here I sipped dark rum, pineapple juice, triple sec and soda concoction.  We also had stopped counting what number of beer Erin was on, nor the vodka and cranberry or Greyhound Dave and Nik were having.  We did, however, took notice that I seriously banged my knee on one of their chic black  wooden chair.  The girls at the table went “Ooooh!” when I hit it.  I kept walking on to walk off the pain.  But I mean, seriously, a BLACK chair in a dark club.  Whose fuckin’ brilliant idea was that?

Not a few minutes after Nik left, some big Asian girl grabbed Erin and started dancing with her.  Erin laughed her butt off and looked at Dave and me.  The Asian Girl saw Dave and dragged him off the bar stool to dance with her.

Well, more like groping Dave and molesting him for a few minutes.

Erin and I couldn’t even sit on the bar stool we were laughing so hard at Dave’s desperate and feeble attempt to get away, and his pleading expression for us to bail him out.

On that high note, Erin and I left Dave to himself and headed to Astro Burger.  And wow, the BEST veggie burger I’ve ever had in my life!  Then again, I was buzzed and hungry.  But man, that sounds REALLY good right now!

I got home around 2 a.m.  And predictably passed out.

And now, here I am, nursing a minor hangover and a swollen welt on my left knee cap.

But my god.  That was THE BEST TIME I’ve had this year!

An internet pass-around from Raven X.

What to do:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page, pick an image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s Flickr Toys.

Answer these questions…

1. What is your first name? - Oakley
2. What is your favorite food? - Japanese food
3. What high school did you go to? - Santa Margarita Catholic HS
4. What is your favorite color? - Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? - Jason Statham (Hellooo Delicious!)
6. Favorite drink? - Guinness
7. Dream vacation? - Kuaii
8. Favorite dessert? - Creme Brulee
9. What you want to be when you grow up? - Philanthropist
10. What do you love most in life? - Music
11. One Word to describe you. - Quirky
12. Your flickr name - OakMonster

Do yours and share your link here! 

Upon arriving back at the house, Brandon mentioned that James needed to take a break for a while since he’s been with Dresden all day. So the boys plus Bob went to get donuts and coffee. Since neither of the girls had dinner yet, we packed Dresden in a car and headed out to pick up greasy goodness at John’s.

Dresden was happy most of the time until he realized a) the car stopped moving, and later, b) he was finally really, really hungry. Otherwise, that kid was the happiest kid on the planet the entire time.

See?

Pretty much the same way he was yesterday at Girls Night Out. Aurora, Lee, Lupe, and myself went to Joe’s Sushi with Dresden. We passed him around the table so Aurora can eat. Everyone had a different style that night. Lupe just plopped Dresden on her massive boobs.

“Oh, you wish these were working pairs, don’t you, kid?” she said at one point.

I took the walking route and gave Dresden a tour of the restaurant. Lee was more of the quietly swaying type, and managed to get Dresden to take a nap as we were paying our bills. We did really realize the true meaning of how it really does take a village to raise a child and develop a new sense of appreciation for single mom everywhere.

The nap didn’t last very long as when we got out of the car at Aurora’s, the little flirt was wide awake and smiling at everybody all over again.

“Ah, crap,” Aurora said. “He’ll be at it for another 3 hours. I’m never going to go to sleep tonight.”

Whoops.

On the same note of being supportive of people you care about, Bill wasn’t on the bus yesterday but the support for Gunny continues.

Lee on The Bus donned his USMC t-shirt although you can’t really see that on him.

I was thinking of doing the same but I figured you can’t really a shirt when the print is in the back and when we are all sitting down on the bus. So I brought mine and draped it across the chair for all to see.

Let me just say that if that commie who complained was on the bus that day, that should be a strong statement to him/her.

Gunny was very appreciative of all of our continuous support.

Welcome aboard the most patriotic bus in the region!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy ID4!

Me? Not doing much. Just chillin’ here with the hubby for the day. The biggest plan of the evening is me cooking up a couple of filet mignon for dinner.

However, you can see from my Twitter history that last night at Master Greg was quite fun.

I went to the party with Aurora. Poor thing, Dresden was a little brat all day apparently. Well, until we were leaving the house when he was in an absolute bliss, laughing and cooing all over the place. So it was a good few hours off for mommy.

But of course, Mommy got tired so we had to go. But then Shane and Tamara showed up, so I stayed behind and hitched a ride home with them instead. I haven’t been up until 2 and feeling buzzed for a long, long, LONG time.

Rum + Orange juice + 7up = My new favorite drink. Hmm. Rum.

Oh and so many gay boys to gawk at at Greg’s party. And even a few straight ones! At some point, Tamara and I were on rooftop, being introduced to someone’s straight guy friend as “the other token straights”. Now that guy was soooo good to stare at. LOL.

And speaking of hot, as we were telling Greg about being the token straights, he started to tell us that one of his friend wanted to know who the “straight hot bear in a hat with a goatee” was. Then he kind of squealed.

“Oh my GOD! Shane! He was talking about YOU!!”

The hot bear in a hat. He’s NEVER going to live this one down.