love + equality

history in the making... yesterday the state of california began issuing marriage licenses and ceremonies to same-sex couples. same-sex marriage is legal now. yay for equality! yay for all my gay friends, co-workers, neighbors, and relatives!

twenty years

its been twenty years since my grandfather passed away on valentine's day. since it will be nanay's 90th birthday in march, i've been working on an album and slideshow for her. i've been looking at old pictures of them and our family. since my trip to the pi and having been influenced by efforts by relatives on my father's side to record their family history, i've also been working to piece together a family tree for my mother's side. it is sorely needed. my mother doesn't even recall some of the names of her nieces and nephews. i am fortunate to have visited (finally!) the childhood home of my mother and house of my grandparents.

that day twenty years ago was really sad because my pregnant dog scarlett also died due to complications from giving birth. she had given birth to one puppy, arvin, who passed two days later. i was merely a child and had no means of procuring critical veterinary care to scarlett or arvin. i felt helpless. my family was in mourning and focused on nothing else.

the end and the beginning

the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008...
christmas eve morning - my life (and chewy's life) almost ended tragically (and randomly) in the high desert as an out-of-control white toyota 4-runner driven by a drunken avril-lavigne-lookalike rampaged through the sleepy little red sky subdivision. i picked the wrong sidewalk side of the street as the vehicle dangerously snaked its way down the street, jumping the curb. although the front tires sustained damage carving into the curbside, the suv continued its recklass path and headed towards chewy and me. it clambored on to the sidewalk, 15 feet in front of me in a path straight towards us. then it jerked suddenly to its right back on to the street, the semi-conscious driver's ragdoll body tossing back and forth with the vehicle's violent swerving. her long blonde hair covered her face so i couldn't tell if she even saw us.

starbucks palo alto sometime between christmas and new year - a wasted opportunity to meet james franco in person. he attended junior high and high school with chris. we were on our way out when chris spotted him ordering his drink at the counter. he wasn't sure it was him so he hesitated. james sat down at a table all the way in the back, so i didn't want to make a big scene so i didn't follow chris as he walked down there. turns out it was him but by the time i worked up some courage to go down there, chris had come back to the front. damn. he looked pretty good from afar. he isn't my first choice for a hottie (i.e. like justin from brothers & sisters), but he's like the type of guy you're friends with and see all the time and one day you just look at him and think, "damn, he's sexy."

first sunday of the year - oc marathon! i did it despite lackluster training.