Sitting in Barnes & Nobles with a full stomach.
Left earlier from El Torito. Had two platefuls of everything. Fruits , I was being healthy. Kalhua mousse because they looked and smelled delicious. Had three tacos—carnitas, chicken, beef---because they were making it fresh. Had a spinach, mushroom, cheese, bacon omelet because it looked cool. Got some pasta salad with broccoli. Had to be healthy. Got some Belgian waffles with syrup (whip crème) and one apple because I was so good not overdoing it. Also got a brownie and carrot cake (healthy again). Needed to reward my self for being so good. No soda. I will take water. Please send me another Kalhua mouse pleaseWant to be healthy. By the way, I had to try the chili relleno verde because green chills mean plants--like salad--because its healthy.
Didn’t go for the walk with the rest of family around the mall. Said I was going to the gym. Needed to work off all these calories. Whew, instead I went to Barnes and Nobles. Okay, I am going into diabetic coma in a minute.
Anyways, here I sit. Ready to go LA in a moments notice. Its Uncle John’s house. He’s throwing a barbecue after visiting Tatay and Rochelle. Maybe I will be hungry by the time get there. That should be a few hours. I should be hungry again, in a week or so. May have to sale de basin in order to make some room for the gi tract. I don’t know, but I am full. Food looked so scrumptious and I have been working out so. 
Neah, just wanted to be around family. Looking at someone’s Iphone watching a lady shake her booty. Looking at the same iphone with my pregnant sister in law’s pic as she shake her tummy. I said I was eating. They showed to me anyways. Lost my appetite.Reminded me of time when I went Raman, Ramsin, and Ken. We were journeying for for the perfect strip joint on Santa Monica in Hollywood. we searched and searched through the night. That was until we saw a pregnant stripper work the pole. Not a sight that I want in my memory banks. Gave her money because she was working. Felt bad. It is what it is. No judgments.Time to go home.
Anyways, back to El Toritos. Being with Family. It was showing my nephew the proper way of eating mousse and jello—through a straw. It was showing the fine art of ripping off a straw’s paper wrapping. One must tear off a section like so in order to make use of the makeshift blow dart. One must use the remaining paper for the ever popular spitball. Ah so young. So much need of the fine art of making a mess. 
Remembering those times at the Hometown buffet. Not stuffing oneself, but playing Iron Chef at Home Town Buffet. It was the responsibility to come in with a plate full of food. It was the task of making pieces of art like the Iron Chef. Have the food plated with proper salad. A dash of this. A pinch of that. Sprinkle of this and drizzle of that. It was to be displayed and judged by the Fonacier, Collado, and Nadonza clan. Eating is art. Time has it where we make joy in things that we do. It is time to enjoy the people that we are with. It is time to pass the joy and love amongst us all. To tell stories of times past. To show the parents and parents’ parent the fine art of the Iphone and blackberry. It is the time of passing of oral history. It is a time being with people who you love and loving the people who you are with.
This is a time shared with food and drink reminiscing of times long ago. Discussing the love of the time to come. It was a time being in the now. In a time where youtubes and facebook, recording our beinghood, these are attempts to capturing in the pleasant moments in the now.
Technology changes and the tradition of passing memories are limited by the screens of the Iphone and blackberry in all of us. These are important to lock into digital world our time and love on this earth.
However, let us not forget the screen and lens are only so big and our view is so large. Nothing can replace the hug and kiss of the one’s next to us. The smell of a baby in need of changing. The stain on the blouse in which syrup has stained into one’s memory. The human condition is more than a flash of a photo. It is the facial expression that can never be taken at the right moment. Our eyes, ears, smell, and touch are the sensory collectors that locks into our memories of the Loved Ones in our lives.
Bullets may flash by here and there. Our demeanor is the same. The loved ones could be taken flight to distance long, far and near. Something about being in the moment that no words, no camera, no video can record.
Etched into the memories are the love and memories of good and happy moments. As music plays overhead. As smells of someone’s lotion waffes on by. As the reflexive smile of the person next to you is flashed, these moments can only be caught by the human condition of being in the now. So when you hug your mom, your brother, your sister, your everything—remember that the moment is forever as speeds on by. Capture that moment of love with a hug and a smile. 
Remember your Mom. Remember your Son. Remember your Sister, your Brother, Your Husband, Your Wife. Your Daughter. Cameras and CDs can only capture only a snapshot of happiness. You are the holder of everything that is beautiful. It has always been that way. So in this time of Mothers near and far, remember enjoy everything, Make buffets fun. Take a bite of everything. Remember camera phones can only capture what the little screen can hold. Your memory holder is the sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound of everything in the Right Now.
Sorry so long. My words can only capture so much.
