OakMonster's Den

A lot has happened since I got back from Costa Rica.  As I was coming to grip with how to take life a little bit easier, this shit went down in Bangkok.

“How Did Thailand Come to This?” indeed.  (And this report is pretty accurate and surprisingly unbiased.)

My family home is literally in the war zone.  I mean, they had been since the Red Shirts camped out not 200 meters down the street.  Everyone is safe now, but my dad and brother, my uncle and his family, and our family maid were more or less held hostage by all of the activities all around.

My brother did take a heroic run to take an elderly neighbor with a heart condition to the hospital and returned home with food and supplies to stock up.  And he did it again the day after the city was ablaze, to take my dad with a severely painful “stuck shoulder” to the doctor.  Ah, calcific tendonitis, calcification of the tendons in the shoulder! You know just when to reveal yourself!

I didn’t realize I’ve inherited my mom’s ability to worry too much.

Hellooo anxiety!  Thanks for visiting.

I’m sure the level of angst I had since last Tuesday was multiplied by each mile away from Bangkok.  And that inadvertently made me shut down and mentally run away again.

Ask Brandon what I’ve been doing these past few evenings. That’s right. I sat in front of the TV and didn’t move.  The good ol’ self defense mechanism when things got too much for me to handle, I just ran away into TV Land.

As things seem to be returning to normal in my hometown, I came across another fork in the road of life.

But making the decision on which direction to take wasn’t a problem.  It seems things have been decided for me already.

Those who have read “The Alchemist” know this well: “When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.”

So many things happened to so many aspects of my life these past few weeks.

First, a few weeks ago, Brandon and I were deciding what to do for Memorial Day weekend.  Do we stay? Do we go?

Do you want to go to Monterey to re-do our disastrous first romantic getaway or go to Hearst Castle?  How about Joshua Tree before it gets hot?  We couldn’t decide but we know for sure we didn’t want to be in town.

Then I saw posts from our friends in Portland.  And I was reminded that we told them we’d going to visit them this year. Why not now?

Cheech’s dad is visiting but he’s leaving tomorrow morning, leaving him enough time to clean up and be our host.  Matt and Traci are lined up for dinner on Saturday night, and Rachel for Sunday breakfast.

And then just last week, another universal alignment.

Did you know that I’ve always wanted to do archery?  I don’t recall having shot any arrows when I was in Thailand, but I sure as heck ran to the booth the first time we went to Renaissance Faire. I was in love with the long bow.  But I didn’t quite find time or resources to explore further or take it up.

Then I started to go to shooting range with Brandon and his colleagues.  As much as I like to shoot firearms, I don’t really care for the noise.  I’d prefer something quite as deadly but a lot quieter.  We’re back to the archery conversation. And again, it didn’t go anywhere.

And then, out of the clear blue sky, Brandon’s coworker posted something on Facebook about his daughter doing archery class. He found out a new range has recently opened in Los Alamitos.  He was telling me as we got in the car to go get dinner.  But he suddenly changed his mind about where to eat and we ended up at Pasties…which is down the road from the Archery Outpost.

We popped in and I already felt right at home.  We chatted with the friendly staff, and got the tour of the place and a bit of the history of this family business.

This comes in the heel of my decision to step further back from my involvement with Thrill the World Los Angeles.

The universe couldn’t have been clearer about its plan for me.

Halloween night? Massive fun. My team of Thrill the World LA and OC kicked ass at Halloween on Pine. We literally rocked the stage. I mean, the fucking thing was swaying with our every moves! Not once, but TWICE! It was complete and total rockage.

Brandon was a complete trooper, escorting me up and down the street and once again played photographer and roadie to our rag tag team of zombies.

Obviously, I barely watched USC…and even more obviously, I had a bra on.

Sorry, team. My bad. Moo. Moo…

Sunday came easily. First Sunday with zero schedule. No Thriller. No meeting.

Holy shit.

I had no plan.

I took it in stride and parked on the couch for the first half of the day, picked myself up to go get a massage, took luxurious long shower, and went out to dine stress-free at James & Aurora’s.

A normal Sunday, I quit you for so long. It’s so good to have you back!

How was your weekend?

Oh hell yes.2,300 or so on paper but it felt/looked like 6,000 out there in the plaza!  Brandon shot over 700 pictures and I had another 200.  (What a trooper he is, braving the Blue Line and all!)

Worldwide, last counted, 23,000 people.

What a moment.  What an adventure!

You can’t see me in this clip though they did close up on me for the “Coming up next” before this section.

Life is slowly getting back to normal.  I have to lead my little Long Beach team to perform on Halloween at Halloween on Pine and that’s it for Thriller for a while.

This one I’m on the right toward the front.

Yep.

This is all I’ve been doing outside of work. And work is a whole other issue.  October 24 is Thrill the World at LA Live

Watch out world. Here comes the horde!

Zombieland. Who knew that movie would give you some great life lessons.  Well, you know, aside of the Zombieland Survival Rules.

Enjoy the little things, Talahassee said.

My life has been kind of a whirlwind these past few months.  There are many little things I totally appreciate and enjoy.

Like a bouquet of flowers Brandon bought for me. Very unexpected.

Like getting a ride home from a bus buddy who drove in in the morning.

Like getting my Italian homework explained to me by the Italian Coworker.

Like watching Dresden react to “big people’s food” we offer him.  On Tuesday, James, Aurora and Dresden were over for beef pot roast.  Carrots were a hit.  Tonight at a burrito place, the boy who, according to mom, doesn’t like eggs, asked for more chorizo and eggs from my plate, and later on for more of his first Dippin’ Dots experience.

And by asking, I meant he would reach out his hand toward whatever it is he likes and say, “Nom?” Yes, with a question mark.  It was the most adorable thing.

Like receiving the pictures from our Thrill the World LA shoot this weekend that look FANTASTIC.

Breakthrough zombies

Or…one of the goofy ones like these.

Zombie no like trees...

Like everything GLEE.  It doesn’t matter how my day was, music from the cast of GLEE cheers me up.  I frickin’ love this show.  The gem of this clip at about 2:22…

What are your little things?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

On Friday night, I was out at L.A. Live with 6 other Thrill the World zombies, entertaining the crowd waiting for Michael Jackson’s This Is It tickets.

We performed once and we taught the dance for another 1.5 hour.  And mind you, this is just folks hanging around LA Live here, nobody’s a professional.

If we were given another half hour, we could’ve taught them the whole thing.  But with the time we had, we were just a few moves away from completion.

People were having fun. They were putting in efforts to do the dance. And they all had a great time.

Forward to Saturday morning at my Italian class in Irvine through Fondazione Italia. This is our second class and our class size is pretty big.  We were told that the class may split up into 2 sessions because of the class size and also, as it turns out, the teaching style.

The lady who’s been teaching us is actually a substitute of another lady who’s returning next week.  She’s not much for having us repeating the conversation like a parrot, but deconstructing what we were saying.  It’s more grammar than conversational at this point.

However, some people didn’t like that so much.  They want to be able to walk out from the first class already talking.  Did you folks not notice that this class goes all the way to January?  This ain’t speed Italian.

Sure, when my Italian coworker asked me on Monday, “Come stai?” – How are you? My answer was, “Uh….si?”  I didn’t have an answer to that after my first week.  However, I know how when to use Un/Una/Uno (the) on a word.

I’d rather have the basic understanding of how everything works and THEN learn the conversation to go with it, than just sitting there memorizing the phrases. I want to be able to hold a conversation on my own outside of Hi! How Are you? Where’s the bathroom?

Seriously, I have a whole bunch of Japanese phrase I can spout out to you right now but I won’t understand a dang thing you said back to me outside of the standard reply.  What does that get me? Nowhere.

But then again, I digress.

Back to the bunch of whiny adults.  There were also others who have already taken last year’s class and wanted more.

“Can we have an all Italian class?” someone asked.  That would be across the way in Intermediate, we were told.  “But that’s too fast for me.”  But obviously, you weren’t going to get all the beginners in here to understand a lick of Italian.

So, here lies the problem. Our class has mostly newbies, maybe with Spanish background, and some that already had the skills.

Those were the one saying the our class is too slow but they couldn’t go on to intermediate because that one is too fast.  Here they are, in our BEGINNERS class, trying to make us go faster.

I have never heard grown adults bitch so much.  If beginners are too slow for you, then don’t bitch that class is too slow for you.  Obviously, it’s not the class for YOU any more at this point.  Suck it up and go catch up with the big kids in Intermediate.  Can’t hack it there? Well, you either do better or come back and learn the basics all over with the newbies.

We sat in class for another good 15 minutes just to agree to split the true newbies to 9 a.m. and the Advanced Beginners to 10:45.

I know this is probably an unfair comparison as the two occasions are completely different.  But going from one group of learners to the next, and I should probably add, one demographic to the other, I notice that the level of whines goes up with the median income.

Just sayin’.

When our beloved excuse themselves to disappear into their video games, we call that being a [insert game name here] Widow. For example, I was an World of Warcraft Widow, an EverQuest widow, and most recently a Fallen Earth and Fall Out Widow.

Now, the table is being turned around.  I’m making a widower out of Brandon for the next few months.

As in, a Italian Class Widower…

Nora and I are taking Italian lessons together in Irvine on Saturday mornings, starting this weekend on through January.

A USC Football Widower…

If you’ve read my blog long enough, you’d know that Brandon is not allowed to watch any USC game.  Not that he would to begin with, the boy’s no sports fan.  But anytime he actually sat down to watch, even a few minutes, it all went to hell.  It was entirely my fault to have him and his friend sat down to eat dinner and watch the USC-Texas game a few years ago.

A Thrill the World Widower…

It wasn’t supposed to be as big of an event this year with Thrill the World. But then Michael Jackson died.  So now we’re in 120% go for this year’s event.  I’m still leading the PR/Publicity campaign. And now also a dance instructor.  Oh crap, I have to freshen up!

A Big Gala Widower…

Oh yes. The giant work event. A lot of pressure to raise money in this economy. A lot is at stake for the people we serve and for, well, the wellbeing of our non-profit.

And finally, A Thanksgiving Widower…

I’m heading home to Thailand for Thanksgiving for a quick week.

On top of all of this, I have 3 blogs of mine, a Tweet Up social life, and, oh yeah, the monthly cooking challenge.

Thank GOD we are putting long camping trips on hold until spring.  With my Italian classes, we couldn’t go far. And with my crazy schedule, I won’t have time to train. I guess the timing works out.

However, the Mister has scheduled us some together time of date nights, our monthly massages at Massage Evny, and game nights.  Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 just came in the mail.  /rubs hands together…heeheeheehee…

Am I nuts do be doing all this stuff? Perhaps.

But am I having fun with all the madness? Oh fuck yeah.

This will be one of those years I’ll never forget.

My epic battle with time this week?  I guess it’s a draw.

I didn’t start on Monday morning as planned.  Because, as you all have heard, we plan and God laughs.  Or something like that.

Last Sunday night, the night I wanted to go to bed by 10 to wake up at 5:15 and work on my stuff? I ended up going to bed closer to midnight and woke up the usual call time for morning with hair wash of 5:45.

I was up peeling and scraping the piths off of 25 lemons to go into my first ever batch of homemade Limoncello.

You heard me. Home made. Limoncello.  I will write ALL about that over at HmmFoodGood later.  But for this post, let’s just say that peeling and de-pithing took many more hours than I anticipated.

So, Monday was regular day.

Time 1. Oakley 0.

Tuesday morning, I’m on the new early riser schedule.  Was up by 5:15 and at station with a mug of tea at 5:45. I got a whole lot done.  I went to bed at 10 as planned.

Time 1. Oakley 1.

Wednesday morning, still on the wagon.  However, the near end of “Bad Things”, the book I’ve been reading, kept me up way past my bed time.

Time 1. Oakley 2.

Thursday, up a little later but was still up.  A couple of hours into work, an alien tried to dig his way out of my brain through my forehead and made me nauseous while at it.

Migraine in the office. That’s just great.  I couldn’t look at the screen, let alone tolerate the fluorescent goodness.  I took an Aleve around 10 and went to ask a coworker if I could go sit in her boss’ office–the boss is on leave.

My coworker let me inside and closed the blinds for me.  She went to tell my boss who came over straight away to check on me and told me to just take my time.  20 minutes later, feeling a lot less like a vampire, I crawled out to ask another coworker for a can of Monster to get the caffeine into my system.  A couple more coworkers came by to check on me and gave me some neck rubs…and those did help.

Nausea finally subsided around noon. The alien was now, digging more slowly, trying to get out behind my ear instead.  I downed 500 mg of Tylenol and continued to sip Monster to get better, fast.  After all, I had to go down to LA Live to check out a few venues for staff holiday party at 2 p.m.

Miraculously, that last bit of crazy self prescription did the trick.  I toured the facilities pain free and even scored some free brownies from The Farm of Beverly Hills.

That lovely bit of heaven sent me a wee bit over the edge on the jitters.  But hey, my head didn’t hurt any more.

Needless to say, it was an early night for me that night.

Time 2. Oakley 2.

Friday, I tried to get up early but my body screamed in protest. So I slipped back to nearly 6 a.m. scrambling out of bed.  My body continued to protest with some scratchy throat and sniffles.  I’m sure all these smokes in Downtown LA and all over Southern California doesn’t help either.  I fought it with echinacae tea, wild honey, and Airborne. By the time I was home, I was spent.

Time 3. Oakley 2.

I was woken up this morning from a lovely dream about my little country house in an orchard with the fact that I couldn’t breath through one of my nostrils.  Then both.  Getting out of bed was an out of body experience–as in I was out of my body, dragging it.  A cup of echinacea tea later, I had enough energy to make breakfast.

And now, I am stewing in my office intentionally.  I am hoping sweating all of this badness out might help me feel a little better.

Time 4. Oakley 2.

Things that have gone wrong? Not going to bed as early as I should have.  And the fact that I started this new program on the week before my boss goes on vacation when everything needed to be done before she leaves.

Stress + Change of routine + Lack of sleep + not eating much because of stress = System crash.

So here I am, sweating out my sickness in my home office, instead of out in Studio City, rehearsing Thriller with my fellow LA Zombies.  Here I am, missing out on a Beat It flash mob.  Here I am, sniffling, sweaty, and icky.

All because I want to beat time.

Next week awaits a new battle strategy.  But for now, back to the couch and more tea.

Friends, get ready for another long and slow season on the OakMonster blog.

Thrill the World is here. And in full force.  (Oh hey, register with our LA team here.)

I’m involved in many different levels this time, a lot more than I signed up for this year.  Well, you know, MJ went and died on us. That brought a lot more to the original “let’s take it easy this year” plan.

I met with Amanda and Mahdroo and our new group of helpers last Wednesday.  This year is going to be awesome!

Friday was the second anniversary of my mom’s passing.  It gets a bit easier each year, but I still teared up a little when I tell a stranger about her death.  (Weird, huh?)  This year, I took Friday off to go to the temple with my aunt and cousin.  That evening, the cousin and uncle came over for dinner I cooked in my mom’s memory.  Some of her favorite dishes: Caesar salad (I cheated and used bottled dressing–mom LOVED table-side service), lasagna, and crepe suzette.

Mom’s favorite part of crepe suzette was the flambe’ing of the orange liquer.  I tried to do it this time with my cousin ready with his iPhone camera and Brandon with a fire extinguisher.

I didn’t know how to use the fireplace lighter, apparently. Mom probably was afraid I’d burn my apartment down or something.  LOL.

Saturday came with a morning full of errands and off to a barbecue at Nhien and Jonathan’s where I played a sous chef and general helper.  Poor Brandon was left to socialize for himself as I was busy assisting the hosts.

With all the busy-ness, I was supposed to start on the new time management plan this morning.

The problem I’m having is that I stayed up way to late to blog and work on Thrill the World stuff that I would crawl into bed around 11 p.m., long past our bed time.  Brandon would be long asleep by this point.  Of course, being a TV junky that I am, between after dinner and time I got to blog usually is occupied by going through the DVR etc.

Meanwhile, piles of paperworks colonized my desk.  Ask me to get a receipt from last week for a return and I will yell at you to leave me the fuck alone.  It’s that bad.

One morning, I was up at the first alarm and had at least 20 minutes before I have to be out the door that morning.  I did my Thrill the World duties and started on a blog.

It dawned on me that if the evening is to be left for family time, then the morning would be perfect to work on my hobby stuff!  So, instead of waking up at 5:40 a.m. (non hair-washing day), why don’t I just get up at 5:15 and get 25 minutes extra time in?

Well, I told myself that when I wanted to wake up to work out daily.  That just didn’t happen.

However, working on Thrill the World, my blogs, and other household stuff?  These are the things I REALLY do want to work on…unlike a work out which was something I really don’t want to do.

So this morning, I was supposed to be up at 5:15.

Didn’t happened.

Because last night, I was up until 11 p.m. scraping off any possible piths from the peels of 25 lemons to make a batch of Limoncello.  Yes, I am making my own.  (Blog coming soon).

We call can thank Justin and Olaina for having brought me an authentic Italian Limoncello.  Now that I had it, the commercial stuff tastes like crap.

My coworker Rob obliged in bringing me a bag full of his spray-free backyard lemons earlier in the week.  I finally started in on the lemons on Sunday around 4:30, took a break at 6:30 to make dinner, and came back to it around 8 p.m.  I finished at 11 p.m.

My right arm and hand still hurt from that and I’m one day late on my new time management plan.

The thing about it is, I REALLY want this plan to work.  I feel so guilty with all that I have been neglecting. The piano and the guitar have been sitting lonely for months.  There are many things I would love to do but never got around to because I seem to keep running out of time.

No more.

I’m determined to fix that.  There is no magical time turner for me to use: just discipline.  I definiely have been slacking in that department but with all that I WANT to do and NEED to get done, I can no loger afford it.

I can do this. I know I can do this.

Right?

Bye, Michael.  Thanks for the memory.  This year’s Thrill the World will be a tribute to your greatness.