The Eleventh Little Indian Boy

Wednesday, February 26, 2003:

Guess what I ate for lunch yesterday.....and I did this b/c of a severe lack sleep and didn't feel up for driving to a restaurant or walking over into the adjacent building for cafeteria food. The official tally was: 3 packs of Grandma's Homestyle cookies ( 2 per pack so a total of 6 pieces : oatmeal raisin and peanut butter ), one 12 oz. can of Coca Cola and another of Barq's root beer, a big grab bag of Fritos corkscrew chips ( honey ranch ), and a bag of cornuts ( sour cream and onion ). Of course, these items were consumed throughout the day at different times, but they still look mighty awkward when you sit down and actually visualize everything....haha. End result: all the carbs and sugars had me rolling throughout the day and eventually enabled me to crash pretty hard once everything wore out. I had a better lunch with TMilbrae today....slice of pizza from Costco, Berry Sundae, Sushi, and a granola bar. Well, not that much better I guess....=P

Table of contents for days gone by: Rockets tickets vs. Magic in April / pair of courtside tickets....$560.....a piece/ chance to see Yao Ming, Franchise, Cat, and T-Mac up close....priceless....b/c if you have to ask for a price you most likely can't afford it....=P, Hiking out in Marin at Mt. Tampalais...lets just call it Mt. Tam / didn't know there were waterfalls out in the area....almost fell into one / you know the sound that opening up a tomb in a movie makes?....watch out for it when stepping on stones / 2 girls and a guy striking the National Lampoon pose....sweet / lunch and dinner for a total of over 5 hours combined with Shorty.....haha.....time sure does fly when you're chilling with Geodude, Clean laundry.....critical mass....code red.....endangered species....but it's all good now , Great phone call with an old friend....don't you just love those?, Dinner at Houston's for my favorite P.I.T / was kinda skeptical about the ribs....but they turned out to be juicy and tender.... / couscous = nasty nasty, Final thought: I HATE THE MIAMI HEAT......THEY SUCK!!.

One of the things that has kept me from posting the last two weeks ( and AIMing, and sleeping, and eating....well, sensibly that is....) has been my involvement with various Chinese New Years activities as an escort for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce's scholarship pageant. It was a constant ride full of pain and fortune right up to the very end....but I had a great time and have these thoughts to offer up in journal......

1.) Free Food. Amen to that.....the Chamber was great in that they provided you with complimentary meals as long as you were on duty. Some of the restaurants were classier and more savory than others....but you just can't find any fault with the words Free and Food. The only bone that I do have to pick with the variety was that we frequented this one place called "Four Seas Restaurant" around 7 or 8 times. I was only there for maybe 4 or 5 of the days and I have to comment that.....some of their dishes were straight nasty. There was this one monstrosity that was like fine combed seaweed sauteed with tofu and greens....I think...to me it looked very much like a clump of sea debris that they just plucked right out of the ocean and threw into a pot. There was also a salad that was basically lychee, pineapple, shrimp, iceberg lettuce, and marachino cherries.....basted in mayonnaise.....it was ok the first time around.....but towards the end of the days people touched the salad less and less. Haha....overall though.....Free Food....Yummy Yummy!!

2.) Accompanying all of the women to and from their appointments and engagements......what can I say....I'm not gonna lie. It was cool. Especially the degree of formality that some of the events required. When else am I gonna get the opportunity to constantly rock a suit and even collect Ly See ( red packet ) on certain days? I netted a cool 85 smackeroonies the first day that we visited family associations. Unfortunately most of it went to the parking garage across the street. I am looking forward to taking some of what I picked up within the process and hopefully translating it all into tangible realities within my everyday interactions. Dunno about the squatting and pulling out chairs though...or the stinking two spoon crab claw trick.....but you get the idea. Oh....and for the record.....I was NOT looking at her butt....thanks alot Greg.

3.) Discovering a sense of pride within my Chinese heritage....I know....many of you out there are thinking....OK....whatever. For myself, getting to observe how seriously the community viewed all of the events surrounding this new year somewhat amended my opinions of certain things profoundly. From family associations to ceremonial tea to crazy old men taking handfuls of candy and stuffing them into my coat pockets.....the experience is truly unique in that no other ethnic grouping can take pride in the upkeep of these particular traditions. One of the coolest things discovered was the actual family association buildings and facilities. Some of them were more spacious than others and a few were totally decorated like they were straight outta a kung fu movie. Where at any moment someone could come barelling in with a desire to challenge the master of the house in combat. Complete side note....finally got to see Bruce Lee fight Kareem...haha.

4.) Driving the van....you haven't felt confidence ( or power...in a small / warped sense ) until you've navigated through the streets of SF in a big ole van...=P

5.) Making new friends and aquaintances.......It was nice to get out and mix within a different group of people. Persons from all walks of life with individual histories and motivations. I didn't become chummy chum chum with everyone contacted throughout, but there was a whole slew of entertaining characters and hopefully the friendships will continue to develop even though the bonds of service have past. Certainly looking forward to taking advanatage of opportunities which would allow the Spirit to share itself.

6.) The pageant itself. Last year I went as a spectator and totally thought it was hokey. This year there was a residual essence of "hokiness" as well, but the choreographer's vision was way more modern and all of the back stage access/exposure contributed to the experience being much more educational and enlightening. Cirque du Soleil: Varekai....that's a great soundtrack. Ballroom dancing opening number was clever. Swimsuit event was tastefully done. Talent portion....was...good....haha, my favorites were: an operatic piece from La Boheme in Italian, Chinese Butterfly dance...thought I still thought it resembled a phoenix more, Wu Shu demontration, Classic Piano...of course, and the Zither. Up until the pageant experience....I didn't even know what a zither was. That thing is HUGE!! Funny how Lucky seemed to always get stuck carrying it around after practices and stuff though...=P Interviews were hard on the nerves. I will never forget the word Altruistic though..haha. Man, for the most part it was all about the experience and I'll just sum it up and say that it was pretty sweet.

7.) Marching in the parade. Wow! I've been to my fair share of parades before, but had never been on the participating side of the experience. It was nuts. So many floats with an even greater amount of people walking around....and that just encompasses the participants. Some informal complaints: the portable electric generator for our float was defective and kept sputtering back and forth between life and death. All the while billowing massive amounts of smoke straight into our faces. The weather was totally bunk. Cold, Wet, Slippery....etc. Some of the people in the crowd were kinda rude. More like they were skeptical and cynnical. You gotta just tune them out and walk away. Still though, if someone had said something about my momma or my weight.....things woulda got ugly...haha. The women really extended a great showing and I was actually really impressed that they weathered the whole event solidly with no real complaints. One regret....that I didn't get to take a picture with the Sagwa float....dope!!!


8.)Coronation Ball. So much FUN!!! Got to meet mayor Willie Brown of SF and also the chief of police Prentice Sanders. Actually participated onstage with the awards presentation ceremony. Fanciest chicken pot pie dinner I ever ate. Ballroom dancing, freestyle dancing, salsa dancing....I'm a pretty horrible dancer so my appologies go out to all the ladies whose feet were hurting bad later that evening. Crooner for the evening was off the hook....that guy could sing!!! I thought they were playing a Sinatra CD or something. De La Cruz sound baby. Sucks that I didn't react fast enough to snatch one of the centerpieces though.


9.)Being myself and living the life with Christ within a very secular environment. This was really difficult. Especially after the church guys made such an impact last year in leaving a positive mark on the participants. There was slight air of anti church sentiment given off at the onset of the pageant. Still, in a very large way ( packaged within small wrappings) I sensed that spiritual foundations were formed throughout and that continued contact and prayers will allow the Spirit to manifest and work it's mojo.

Final though on this funny journey over the last two weeks of February? It was draining. Especially having to start a new job during the second week. Getting to dress up was entertaining and fun. I've never seen so much crab in my life....=P Street fair was an enjoyable experience and my crown will forever hold an important place on top of my monitor. House mothers are cool as....well, they were cool. The women were all beautiful, smart, charming, and nice....in their own ways of course.....but generally they were a good bunch with minimal drama. If I have the time and opportunity to do it again next year.....I dunno.....got a whole year to weigh things out. But, now I can definately scratch out another item on the "Things I gotta do in my lifetime" listing though. Hahaha.....Yellow Ram!!!



LIB // 4:52 PM

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