I made a Christmas card again this year. The only other one I've made was in 2008. If you want to see either, just email me and I'll send you the PDF version. If you want a real/physical version, I will also send you that, but you've got to *really* want it. =)
In writing my Christmas card, I was reminded that it can provide only one angle of my life. Similarly, this blog will never tell everything. More importantly, this blog rarely provides a
view of my life. But I'm okay with that.
December 10: Uncle John and Auntie Val were going to CostCo, so I tagged along. I learned that one can use the CostCo pharmacy without being a member. They give flu shots and other vaccines.
And I saw this list at CostCo: It ranks the CostCo cashiers by items per minute (”27.27”), members processed per hour ("65.15"), and scanning accuracy ("95.55"). It reminded me of that 2006 movie, "Employee of the Month," with Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson. What struck me is that the list has values to the second decimal place.
I think the San Gabriel Valley has offered relatively inexpensive massages for several years. I even had a foot massage a few years ago, but I had no proof that they were always that inexpensive. Now I do!
Right in front, it says, "Foot Massage: $15/hr." (A body massage is $25/hr.) That's pretty reasonable, isn't it?
One thing I remember from my massage a few years ago: I laughed a lot. =)
For Christmas, I drove up to Sacramento. As usual, I posted on craigslist rideshare to see if anyone else wanted a ride. But this time, I also planned to visit Auntie Muriel and Uncle Ron in Fresno. We were going to have lunch to celebrate Muriel's birthday and their 35-plus-ish anniversary. (They're on the same day. Uncle Ron's very clever, isn't he? =)
So, Muriel, Ron, myself and my two rideshare companions all hung out at Sizzlers. Two of my social circles intersecting. I'm glad everyone had a good time.
This is my grandma's room in Sacramento. (It used to be my parents' room, but my mom gave it up for Grandma.) I liked how the light came in.
Christmas at First Chinese Baptist Church in Sacramento, the church I grew up in. In many churches, the worship music is done by a live band. I feel it's like an unwritten rule. But here, they play a tape of someone else playing the music. I love that. It's more pure, more inclusive. More courageous.
Christmas at the Hom home. I love this photo … because it has a happy ending. Here we are, in the middle of our Advent service: Mom looks sad or mad, Mary looks bored, and Grandma is, well, Grandma.
It's really just an example of how the wrong snapshot can be soooo misleading. (Like a first or second impression.) We really had a great Advent service. Really … =)
This year for our Advent service, we started by lighting all four candles. Then, we each read our favorite Bible passage, talked briefly about it, and chose a song to sing.
After our Advent service, we opened presents. Look at Grandma's stash!
Doesn't this photo look happier than the earlier one? Mom's happy, Mary's happily about to take a nap, and Grandma's still Grandma.
For Christmas, I asked Mary what she wanted. She said she wanted me to pick something good to do. (So the gift was both the choosing of something special and the doing of it. Ah, my sister cleverly turned things around on me!)
I chose for us to have lunch together at Panera Bread. It's the first time I can remember us really talking since, well, ever.
And now, we turn to a story that I know my mom and sis have been waiting for me to tell. The "Gray Lodge" story.
The
Gray Lodge Wildlife Area is a bird sanctuary about an hour's drive north of Sacramento. We had been there years ago, and Mom wanted to go back as her Christmas present. So we set aside a day, got up at 6:30 am, and went.
When we arrived, we were basically the only ones there. So far, so good.
There is a path from the parking lot to the bird-watching area. It's a mile or two long. Fortunately, we brought the wheelchair for Grandma.
But Grandma didn't want to use the wheelchair yet. She wanted to walk on her own and stretch her legs. No problem: Grandma held onto the back of the wheelchair and pushed it with her. She was pretty slow, so Mary and Mom went on ahead, and I said I'd keep track of Grandma.
In the distance, you can see Mary (left, black) and Mom (right, covered with a striped blanket). It was like the separation of the Fellowship in "Lord of the Rings."
When I said Grandma was pretty slow, I meant it. I didn't mind, but I couldn't help walking a little farther ahead, turning around to check on her. That was sort of a good thing, because it let me take this photo.
On the right, behind the tree, you can see my car. That's how far we had gone, while Mary and Mom were already way out of eyesight. Note also that there is a nice paved road for Grandma and her wheelchair. Also note that there are parts–let's call them ditches–just a few feet from the side of the road.
A close-up of Grandma. Since Grandma wasn't using the wheelchair, I put a blanket and a friend's tripod in it. Grandma didn't seem to mind pushing them.
Grandma has an insatiable curiosity. When in a new environment, she's always looking this way and that. Of course, that contributes to our slow progress.
So … Grandma's pushing the wheelchair. I'm walking about fifteen feet ahead of her. Mary and Mom are nowhere to be seen.
Then I hear Grandma shout, "Oh no!" I whirl around just in time to see our bright pink wheelchair roll off the side of the road and into a ditch. But the ditch … is really a pond.
Apparently Grandma wanted to get a closer look at something in the pond. So she wheeled the wheelchair off the paved road, but the ground was slightly sloped. The wheelchair either escaped Grandma's grasp, or she let it go, planning to walk the rest of the way on her own.
Regardless, there's our wheelchair, down an embankment and in the pond that's part of the bird sanctuary. The blanket and my friend's tripod are also in the water. And it's just me and Grandma.
For a second, I consider just leaving everything there. We could wait for someone to come by and help us … or maybe just run away? But, oh yeah, Mary and Mom are still here. And I think the wheelchair is slowly sinking deeper.
So, I slide down the embankment and into the pond. I grab the tripod and throw it onto dry ground. Same for the blanket. But the wheelchair is heavy, and bulky. It's stuck in some weeds and branches. And now, I'm starting to sink deeper.
At some point, I say a little prayer. And I realize I need a source of strength, so I can pivot and yank the wheelchair free. Then I saw it: A tree root! I grab the root and use that for leverage for myself, wrenching the wheelchair free and heaving it onto dry land.
Now, I have to get out. I try using the same root to pull myself up the embankment, but it snaps! I almost fall in deeper, but I grab the root at a point higher up, and I climb to safety.
In the aftermath, I made Grandma stand close to the pond to capture this photo. It's hard to tell, but from the wheelchair's ground to the water is several feet. You can see where the wheelchair and I were in the pond: It's where the moss on the surface is dispersed, near the gray metal pole.
I'm not sure if you can tell, but Grandma is laughing.
Grandma and I went back to the car, and I tried to clean things up and dry my shoes and socks. I figured Mary and Mom would find us eventually.
Of course, when Mary did come back, she started laughing.
As no one got hurt, I guess it was kind of funny. (Thank you, God and trees!)
A few days after Christmas, it was time to drive back to LA. We stopped in Stockton at an In-N-Out, around 10 am. It's the first time I've ever seen an In-N-Out
completely empty. It was a bit surreal.
One of my Craigslist ridesharers was a woman named Becky. Becky needed to get to LA that day, because the next morning she was going on a road trip from LA to New Orleans "with a friend." It turns out that the road trip was actually a 7-car caravan, driving 36 hours straight to relocate 40 pit bulls! Becky's a volunteer at a dog rescue; it's featured in a show on Animal Planet:
"Pit Bulls and Parolees." Go, Becky!
At Panera, I saw this little kid watching an iPad. Check that: He's really a baby, turning 2 in February, and he was
using the iPad. I saw him swipe left to get to the app he wanted, open the app, and select the video he wanted to see (Veggie Tales). Then the kid sat back in his booster chair, obviously satisfied with his accomplishments. it was incredibly evocative of a man leaning back in his couch after successfully finding the football game he was looking for.
Then the iPad wireless prompt came up, blocking the middle of the baby's screen. I saw him hit the Home button to try to get rid of it. That didn't work, but it showed a savvy understanding of how the iPad works. (For example, he didn't try to wipe away the prompt or hit the iPad.) Then, the baby leaned over and calmly but insistently tugged his dad's arm, to get him to fix it. (The baby didn't scream, cry or throw a fit.)
Fascinating.
For New Year's Eve … I slept 14 hours.
For New Year's Day, my friend Chiyo invited me to her relatives' place. Chiyo is an older friend from church: She and her sister are the last survivors of six siblings. Chiyo is Japanese, and I think New Year's is a big holiday for the Japanese. They had an
incredible feast. It was like a multi-course buffet. You'd eat at the buffet. Then an hour later, a dozen more guests would arrive and bring along another buffet.
But I photographed only one dish: Mochi-wrapped strawberries. One of the relatives' signature dishes; apparently it takes a trick/secret to make.
I took a bite out of one, just so you could get a better idea. The sacrifices I make for you guys .... =)
February 1: For Christmas, my sister gave me an organic waffle mix. A clever way to make me eat healthier and learn to cook, since my sister knows I won't let food go bad. We don't have a waffle maker, so I decided to use the mix to make pancakes.
I don't think I've made pancakes since I was a kid. I did some quick searching on the Internet to prepare. Is it supposed to bubble like that? And how do I flip it?
Hey, it looks pretty good! They tasted okay, too, but butter etc. definitely helps. And flipping the pancakes in the air was totally fun … until I messed up. (I don't like wasting food.)
Since I was in cooking mode, I decided to keep going. Auntie Valerie had given me a 25¢ bag of salad from Fresh & Easy. I could have eaten it plain, but Auntie Val has a special way of making it tasty: Cook it in olive oil, with some garlic and salt.
That day was also the Super Bowl. Here's Uncle Al watching it at the end. Once Tebow's team lost, I was really rooting for the Giants. It definitely could have gone either way, but I'm glad the Giants won!
February 6: My Bible study group ("sedaqah" group) was planning a retreat for the next weekend, and I was on the food committee. To stay on budget, I did some comparison shopping. Here, I took a serious self-portrait at CostCo.
There's a lot about CostCo (and food), that I never knew! They have pre-cooked bacon, which costs only a little more than uncooked. ($3.36/lb vs $2.92/lb, adjusted.) And it's been "naturally wood smoked," so maybe it also tastes better?!
February 7: I visited my cousin Gigi. Gigi's technically my second cousin (my cousin's kid), and she's a freshman at Cal Poly Pomona. It was my first time there. I really liked this building. But now I'm wondering what it's pointing at? 
On the way to the house, I stopped in San Bernardino, right before the mountains. They have a "Mr. Video"! That was the local movie rental shop when I was in elementary school. I particularly remember one weekend, when my parents let me rent a Nintendo from there for the weekend.
I had stopped to get something from Jack-in-the-Box. I stood at the counter for maybe 15 seconds, but there was no one at the counter and no one came up to help me. Then I saw it: An automated ordering machine. It was scary but cool at the same time. Coming soon to a Jack-in-the-Box near you? (By the way, I got an error when I first used it, but there was no one there to report it to….)
The retreat house was nice. It easily fit the 14 of us (well, three bathrooms, but it seemed to work out fine). The house also had a nice view of Lake Gregory (not Lake Arrowhead). In the photo, my friend Rob is practicing for worship.
February 17: I babysat for my cousins. There's Caroline, Brandon, and 1-year-old Charlotte. How did I handle a 1-year-old? Actually, Caroline took care of everything, and when we ran into trouble, we called Charlotte's mom back from across the street. =)
Here, Brandon is looking at a picture of his mom … when she was in middle school! Trippy.
The kids playing on an old, electronic organ. I was surprised it still worked!
