Because a Friend Said I Don't Blog Anymore...

Let me just say that as I enter my second year as an alumnus, I really don't have a lot to blog about. However, if you were to separate my five points as five individual blog entries, I update more often that what is perceived.

Besides that, here is the top 5:

5) I love Thanksgiving Day. It's the time I get to flex my cooking skills at its max. The only other time I get to do that is Christmas Day. Let me just say that it definitely does take some practice to improve efficiency and gain awesome results. I have a very long list of massive cooking fails from the turkey was still rare (NOT a good thing for poultry) to this sauce lacks taste. However, I've definitely gotten better. I don't consider it stressful at all. Just get a couple of beers and start cooking! I consider Thanksgiving Day as a practice round to Christmas in terms of being in the holiday spirit and cooking some awesome food.

I will definitely post some pictures.

4) Thanksgiving Day is also a personal reflection of what I am thankful for. While I am thankful for many things, I am especially thankful for my parents and for finding a decent job this year. I am thankful for my parents because they have continued to support me despite graduating from college. It has been a rough year trying to find employment. It would've been even more rough if I didn't have the love of my parents to still give me some support. This recession has definitely changed my mindset on how should I live as a person. I do want so many different things. However, I am happy with what I had during the year and I am still happy with my simple lifestyle. Nothing flashy, indeed. I hope I keep that mindset for the future years.

I'm also thankful for finding a job. The numbers do show that less people are being laid off. However, that still doesn't change the fact that the US still faces 10.2% unemployment and about 7% underemployment. I know that there are many people that struggle so hard since being unemployed. People have also lost their homes. I have seen some foreclosed homes in my neighborhood. Perhaps a good chunk of the blame does go to the individual families that have made poor financial choices in the last many years. On the other hand, it still does not change the fact that they don't deserve to suffer this hard. The capitalist society does have winners and losers, but the losers shouldn't lose everything that they have. Perhaps just a "big slap to the face" whatever that means.

3) Being in SoCal for almost a week has been great. It was a good way to spend the time before being a part of the workforce. Also, I have not eaten that good for a very long time. It brings me back to my college years when I didn't really care what I ate, which probably has cut a few years out of my lifespan. However, I still enjoyed the food. The only thing I did not get was the fries. However, there is a reason why I did not get it. It was because I had a massive breakfast burrito in Pasadena. It had the weight and the shape of a brick! It was six to seven links of breakfast sausage, eggs, a hash browns wrapped in a tortilla. It was effin' amazing! However, it definitely does exceed to recommended amount of calories for a day and then some. Getting the fries as well during the week would've been overkill. I love food, but I just rather not die because of it.

If you want a list of where I went, both the old places and the new ones, look at my Yelp account in a couple of days.

2) I always enjoy coming to SoCal for Liwanag events. To be honest, I have now hit the point where I personally am over it. Benefit Concert, Spirit Rally, the meetings themselves...you name it, I'm over it. Perhaps it's because the general overall message has not been as engaging as it was when during my first time as a Logger. However, that doesn't mean that I don't like going to Liwanag events. I will go just to support the community. Though the specific messages don't stick to me anymore, I love, really love, to simply praise God through song and "dance" around, something that I no longer do as a young adult. I also like spending the time with my friends, practically my second family away from home when I was living in Irvine. Perhaps my grades would've been better if I didn't join Liwanag. However, if I had an opportunity to do become an 18 year old freshman at UCI, I would not change anything. Actually, the only thing I would've change was to join in Fall 2004 instead of late Spring 2005. Though I have given up a slightly higher GPA, I have formed close, lifelong friends. It is definitely something that I could not have received by just hitting the books alone. I have gained so much being a college graduate.

1) The second entry has led me to a second question, "Where will I ultimately live in the future? NorCal or SoCal?" I have gotten two interesting response to this question from Melissa and Marites (Something you have to ask them about if you are ever curious). While I can see myself living in either part of the state, I lean more towards NorCal than SoCal. Quite honestly, if it weren't for friends, I would avoid SoCal altogether. The people there are not that great to begin with. They're extremely superficial in general. Also, I feel like it's extremely crowded, which is a fact considering that Los Angeles is the second largest metropolitan area in the country aside from New York City. Even going to SoCal last week for a vacation, I still felt a little tense and stressed. It just feels like everyone is rushing to go somewhere and do something. Also...no green! Everything is covered in buildings and asphalt. Everything else is just one barren desert, with a few exceptions. I do enjoy the weather and the beaches, but is that enough to convince me to convert to living in SoCal in the future? I just feel that in my opinion, the people in NorCal are a lot more chill. Everything is not as crowded. Also, there are still trees and greenery around. It may be cold here at times, but cold is good sometimes. Why can't winter be winter? Simply, I am a lot more comfortable and relaxed in NorCal. Perhaps I have a bias considering I have lived in NorCal my whole life except during college. On the other hand, remember that I really wanted to live in SoCal for a bit longer after college, until it became a massive fail (and I'm still glad it did considering this was before the massive economic collapse).

Despite what I ultimately choose, I still have the power to travel across the state, whether by plane or by car (I love driving across the state by the way. The anticipation for either friends or home home is a lot better when driving than by plane in my opinion). Who knows, perhaps I will move out of the state overall.

That's for my future to determine where I will go.

Since Thanksgiving has ended, here's an homage to the next major holiday, Christmas!



It's the way that it was presented that made it a fail. Otherwise, Jesus is most definitely the Reason for the Season.

Fo shizzle.

That is all.

Food for Thought

Here is the usual top 5.

5) I recently went to a job fair in San Francisco. I'm not going to talk about the job fair in itself. I thought it was successful and informative. However, it was the process of getting to the job fair and really thinking about the future. I took the BART to San Francisco because traffic tends to be hell by the time I was planning to return home and the price of crossing two bridges and parking is ridiculous. While riding, I began to contemplate about my life in general like, "Where the hell am I going?"

I think I've hit a first in a series of bottoms in my life at this moment. I felt like I could either live a decent life whatever that means, or I could end up some bum overly dependent on the government cheese, which a good number of those living in the Bay Area are doing at the moment. I can definitely portray myself as confident in the job search. However, deep within, I feel like my life is on a massive standstill and I don't like the feeling at all. I'm working hard towards my current goals at the moment, but I feel impatient. I want everything now. Part of it is pride for sure. However, part of it is independence. I love my parents very much and I am blessed that they are still continuing to support me, but I don't want to be dependent on my parents forever; it's not even a possible scenario. I want to live on my own and do my own things. Hell, I'm even considering leaving California in general in search of something exciting.

The thing I need is some patience and a lot of hard work and determination to get out of this ditch. Also, I'm willing to do anything possible to reach my goals. I'm young, and I'm single. That definitely equates to flexibility. I just need to make it happen.

On a side note, I came across one of the lab techs at school that interviewed me for a job that I applied a while back. She noticed me and said that I did a great job on the interview. I smiled and said thanks of course. However, in my mind I was saying, "Well then, why didn't I get the job!"

4) The health care debate has been going on for a long time, and I have been surprised with myself that I have not said a word. The reason of this is that it's extremely complicated. Complex enough that I rather not write about it in a blog. My information has been from MSNBC because I need some optimism, NPR because I need a dose of reality, and the non-partisan fact checkers that actually check if the talking points are fact or total bullshit. I love the fact checkers because they talk about everything from is the H1N1 vaccine safe (which it is) to is the White House going to rename their Christmas trees as holiday trees (which they're not). It is definitely a useful website for any of the current major political arguments.

If you want your frequent dose of facts or lies, here are the links:
PolitiFact
FactCheck.org

3) This video blew my mind. I wonder if it's a psychology thing or is there some sort of mathematical algorithm and probability stuff that makes you pick a certain square.



2) For quite a while now, I've been trying to improve myself as a person. One of those things is learning how to cook. I've been writing down my mom's recipes. They're not really recipes because everything I have seen is in relative amounts. However, I know the process and how it should taste. I've also bought Julia Child's first cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol. 1". All the ingredients needed are usually found in a supermarket. The recipe itself is not very short and simple; it's rather time consuming. However, the instructions and methods are very clear-cut, and the results are delicious. Here's a few pictures of what I've done so far:

Mussels in Wine and Flavorings


I love mussels! I don't have access to fresh mussels so I bought the frozen variety on a half shell. The white wine broth that accompanied this dish was also excellent. Ate these with just French bread and called it a night. The only note is to use a good quality wine. The wine I bought was sour so it gave the broth a tangy taste. Also, the book suggested using a dry vermouth instead which is way cheaper than white wine also eliminates that sour taste.

Pear Clafouti


This recipe was extremely simple yet tasted amazing! The pears were soaked in cognac and sugar for a hour. Then layered over the batter. The result was something that tasted like a flan with pears and a strong hint of cognac. The only problem was that I used too much pears so there was less batter to consume. I would just cut down on the pears and it would be perfect next time.

French Rolled Omelette with Swiss Cheese and Parsley


This was another simple thing I could do but give it a rather fancy flair to it. According to the book, if you have all the ingredients prepared, a good omelette should be done in 30 s. I had all the ingredients prepared, but since this was my first time, it took about 2 min to cook. Just added the cheese at the end to let it melt from within, jerked the pan to fold itself on the pan (I used a spatula since I don't have those kinds of skills yet) and added the parsley on top. Probably if I make a few more omelettes I can probably hit the 30 s mark someday and not use the spatula.

1) The times are changing. There were two things that indicate these changes. First was when at Mass, one of the intentions was for the intersession of St. Francis of Assisi for more responsible environmental practices. St. Francis has been the saint for ecology for quite a while, but this has been the first time I have heard of such an intention at Mass. The other thing was a commercial:



I have definitely grew up saying "That's so gay." ever since I was a kid. However, it's going to the point were using that phrase or anything derogatory to homosexuals is falling out of style. Growing up in the Bay Area has definitely made me very tolerable for the gay community in general. However, I don't know if I'll ever stop saying these kinds of phrases. There will always be this kind of negative stigma in the back of my mind toward the LGBT community simply because that is how I and everyone else in my generation has grown up to be. I believe that gays will be fully accepted by the next generation, in other words our kids. Even though our current climate is intense over this one issue of the culture wars, it is no longer a question of if there will be gay rights in the US, but a question of when.

That is all.

Pop Songs, Rain, and Class

The top five of the moment:

5) As the summer ends, there are certain pop radio songs that wish will just...disappear. Here's the list of my top five songs that I NEVER want to listen again for a very long time, and when I mean long time, I mean when it comes back on those Time Life infomercials about CDs of songs from the first decade of the new millennium. Note that the songs don't follow any order.

5) Sean Kingston - Fire Burning (I will admit, the lyrics are addicting to sing to in the car just because, but it's WAY overplayed)
4) Jeremih - Birthday Sex (Real birthday sex is probably great, but this song does no justice. I'm just saying)
3) Keri Hilson - Knock You Down (This song would've been tolerable...if it wasn't played every hour.)
2) BEP - Gotta Feeling (What the hell is this song about?! Black Eyed Peas has seriously hit rock bottom with this song.)
1) Mariah Carey - Obsessed (Why is she still making songs? The early 90s version of her was way better.)

4) I am VERY excited for The Office. I got the 5th season DVD and I can't believe how much has happened. For my Office friends, here's the 100 moments from 100 Office episodes. Even just watching the snippets from the episodes, it still makes me laugh.



It's about to get ALL stupid up in here!

3) I'm still looking for a job. Acutally, I've honestly not quite been on the ball in my job hunt. I need to get back on the ball! Otherwise, I've been occupying my time time studying for the MCAT, which I plan to take by the end of January next year. Also, I'm a TA for anatomy lab, which is also cool. I don't grade papers, but I do everything else from dissecting the cadavers to setting up the practicals. It also feels weird but interesting being a part of the other side for once. The professor that I'm working with also is very chill. She even gave me a $10 gift card for Barnes & Noble for setting up the first practical. I also like helping out the students in the class. Even though it's only community college, it's still a pretty awesome experience.

2) It rained a few days ago. I'm hoping for more rain, seriously. If you haven't noticed, California has been having serious drought conditions. From what I remembered, it hasn't rained as often for a few years, even in NorCal! I blame global warming (Pretty much any environmental issue can be blamed on global warming anyway.).

From my list of other priorities to pray for, I'm praying for a rainy fall and winter. I'm also thankful that we at least have clean water to drink, bathe, and wash our clothes with. Just thinking about the other places in the world that doesn't even have decent water to drink makes our situation even more fortunate.

For some reason this point is also making me thirsty.

1) There's been so much rudeness going on this week. First with Rep. Joe Wilson, then with Serena Williams, then with Kanye West. Is this a start of losing our civility and our manners in the world? I think everyone has concentrated so much on progress and the material things in life that we are losing our ability to be civil in our lives. I hope that this does not become some sort of trend that it's "cool" to be an asshole. In fact, if it ever becomes trendy, which I doubt, I will counter with some sense of politeness and civility. Besides, I don't tend to follow trends in the first place.

That is all.

Padua Family Reunion

1) This Labor Day weekend was the Padua Foundation annual family reunion. This year was camping near San Andreas, CA. I haven't gone camping for quite a while so I was excited.

The funny thing about going to the eastern part of California, regardless of it being NorCal or SoCal is how rural and even secluded it is. All the towns like San Andreas or even Murphys were really small and has a old town feel to it. I always wondered who lives in these kinds of places! Considering that our entire family and myself were the only colored people there, I was thinking what were the locals' perceptions of us. Even getting there was an adventure. The campground was up in the mountains so the only road was this strip of unmarked asphalt that if you made one wrong move or turn, you would've fallen off the mountain. Luckily my dad was comfortable driving there and back, and I was comfortable enough to drive my cousins and Erynn around the area.

When we got to the location, I was surprised that it wasn't a "campground", but rather a house that had a big enough lot to pitch some tents. It had this retreat house feel to it because of the random pictures hanging on the wall that was reflected of the Sierra region of California and also there was a guest book of all the random people that stayed over. However, one of the family members owned the house and just lends the house sparingly to people from time to time. We pitched our tents and just enjoyed the two days we were there.

The big thing that I love about these reunions was of course family. I still can't believe how big our family really is. That the Dumos are actually a small portion of multiple branches of what is known as the Padua family. We even have a foundation to make an attempt to maintain the ties between our massive family. The one thing that's always great is the Filipino gossip and the Filipino jokes. All the talks about the family members that have passed away like my cousin who was accidentally shot in the back by a shop owner during a robbery, and the other family members that are worth mentioning like my grand-aunt from the Philippines that is able to see the dead and heal people or one of my aunties who is also in the Philippines that is coping with multiple sclerosis were also pretty cool. There was one joke that was just ridiculous. My aunties and uncles were making riddles and one of my uncle wrote on a piece of paper:

130 + 0 = ?

We were stumped, thinking that it was obviously 130. He wrote the answer. The math problem resembled the word "Boto" which is Ilocano for a man's privates. It seriously cracked me up. I guess inappropriateness runs in the family.

Also, there was a lot of food. What was great about the food was aside from the Filipino aspect, our family has a Mexican component to it as well so there were some pretty awesome carne asada and chorizo. We also played cards. I didn't lose too bad, but the pot was not that big to begin with. It was just about the thrill of the game and spending time with the family.

There was one thing that was worth posting some pictures about. It was a zip line in Moaning Caverns near Murphys. Let's begin the "slideshow":


The zip line near Moaning Caverns. Length of line was approximately 1700 ft.


My cousin Patrick and Erynn getting their harnesses. I didn't do it because it was $39 per person and we ran out of money (sad).


Erynn getting her harness.


Patrick getting his harness.


They really didn't have to pose next to the frog, but it was cool.


The white jeep to take them to the top of the tower.


The view of the tower from the end point.


The end point and the crew. Before Erynn and Patrick went, there was a boy that was stuck in the last few feet of the zip line. Luckily, one of the crew hooked himself on the line to retrieve the boy. I would've taken a picture of it, but the mom was there and it would've been a tad awkward.


The stopping mechanism.


The few moment before they were ready to go.


If you zoom in and notice the two dots in the foliage, that's them.


Coming in closer.


The breaking mechanism stopping them.


They made it.


Un-attaching themselves from the zip line.


Removing their harnesses.


The red jeep to bring us back to the kiosk. Was it worth the $39? They said YES!

The thing I appreciated was the family. This year it was pretty small, mostly because of personal issues, distance, or the future generations of the family just not interested to stay in contact. However, I still enjoyed the reunion camping trip. It's really hard to keep in track with all of the family members because to be quite honest I have never met them. Even with this reunion, I've only met a small portion of my family that is not connected with the Dumo Padua side. However, I still find it interesting on the size and definitely the stories of how they have found themselves here in the US and how they have flourished. I wonder where the next trip will be? I'm hoping next to a beach.

Till next time.

That is all.