Just Waking Up In the Morning Gotta thank . . .Big Smile (Part 2 of 2)

Just waking up in the morning gotta thank God
I don't know but today seems kinda odd
No barking from the dog, no smog
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog
I got my grub on, but didn't pig out—Ice Cube

I’m back. Little background, yesterday was a good day. (Read previous post) Met Chelle and her family, which indirectly is my family. Guess, I want to talk about again. It’s great feeling discovering a new part of me. 

I digress. Okay, feet back on the ground. Meeting my Chelle’s family made my heart rise. Company, food, music, ambience—it was just great. Unfortunately (and fortunately) I had to leave for my cousin Ron’s birthday get-together. More than couple of hours late, and good half hour away, Just hoped they were still up. Torrance to Burbank, just didn’t know. Called on the Blackberry, speaker phone , of course (It’s the Law). Before I knew, I was standing  at their front door knocking. What seemed seconds later, we were fueling up with Krispy Kreme at the Plant. Needed fuel  before journeying through the streets of LA.

I mean, quick overview of night  1pm, Morgue in Lancaster. 4:30pm Torrance, grilled peppers, ribs, and buried in face down studying my new family.  9 pm at Burbank Krispy Kreme with family. 11 pm, Federal Building and National Cemetery, Westwood. 1 am, Hookers and Hollywood.

Midnight Sightseeing LA
Now, we ready for another journey. Thank goodness, I wasn’t driving.  Great photos and famous sights. Capitol Records Building and Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Then it was the National Cemetery and Federal Building in Westwood paying our respects. We, then, got lost and found the Bel Air Bar & Grill where I danced on tables (my other life, another time) We, later, drove by Hana Sushi with the stripper poles (previous post). We ventured West Hollywood and searched for a French patisserie on Santa Monica Blvd. Passed Miyagi’s, Body Shop (strip join), and Comedy Club. We took photos at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym. Manny Pacquiao wasn’t there. Next, we travelled past Griffith Park Observatory and my favorite Fountain. Stopped by Jim Carrey Yes Man’s bar. Drove by Americana in Glendale, the bigger, better version of the Block of Orange, Farmer Market’s Grove, and Universal City’s City Walk

What Really Matters. . .

Despite, all the great sight-seeing, what I loved the most . .  .the company.  It was family.

Midnight driving with loved one talking about this, that, and everything. It was the greatest. Midnight story of midnight Denny’s Mr. Crazy Man fight.  A mentally disturbed boyfriend sitting in the next booth  put his girlfriend in a headlock. Two patron angels stood and fixed this situation. Six police came in and arrested Mr. CrazyMan. That was the back story. 

Fight, Fight, Fight---Denny's Night Fight
Funny part was German. Rod’s 11 year old step son, soft-spoken and calm demeanor, was the punch line to the story.  Iceman, my new nickname for him, kept calm while the rest of family was hysterical. Anesha screamed at Rod to help them. People were jumping over tables and booths to avoid flying silverware and dishes. IceMan had the wherewithal to calmly pick up his plateful of spaghetti, keep an eye on the fight, fork in hand-- and still feed himself while getting out of the way of the restaurant tussle which was inches away. The rest of the family left their food on table. Calmness, I’m calling German, IceMan. Funny part was the family wondering why they didn’t get their food free since it got cold waiting for the fight to finish. Guess, the manager could have said, “Well, your son kept eating. Why didn’t you do the same?” Damn it! German, you mess up everything. Can’t even panic right. Bet they’ll expect a tip.  

Secrets Learned
It was learning cousins John and Antoinette were on a few TV episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Boy Meets Girl. It was my story of grinding on femme while dancing on the tables at Bel Air Bar and Grill. It was the ghost stories at the National Cemetery. It was the crashing-seashell-chandelier-and-the-standup-5 ft- lamp-almost-killed-Antoinette-while-we-playing-Nintendo story. It was educating my cousins the physiology of rigor mortis. It was our collective personal experiences with spirits and apparitions.

Dead Again. . .

It was helping Rod recall the circumstances how our Nanay’s death.  In parts of the Philippines, it’s tradition to have the deceased family member’s body stay in the house a few days so the spirit can take care of business before passing on. You see our Nanay’s sister died twice in a week. Yeah, twice. During a vigil, Nanay was watching over her deceased sister in her casket. All of sudden, a grumbling came out of her dead sister mouth. Nanay’s sister sat up in the funeral casket and asked for water.  Nanay had a heart attack. Both sister passed later in the week. Seriously, Nanay’s sister came back to life after being pronounced dead. We speculated she needed company.

Solicitation Is Against the Law
 It was laughing at Anesha vomiting off the side of the road. It was our fear of being arrested.  Black and whites cruised the streets of Hollywood. We thought the police would bring us in the pokey for soliciting some pokey. From an outside view, it looked like we were picking up a working girl in in the middle of a Hollywood night. There were a few street-walkers on the track tonight. (IceBerg Slim, if you know) It was Krispy Kreme hats. It was weekend plans to initiate Mitchell and Nayr for their first lap dance.

Okay, I'm Done
Can’t tell you how good a day (and night) it was. Love, life, fighting, hookers, lap dances, cemeteries, vomit, dancing, resurrections, sightseeing, Krispy Kreme, Ribs, Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffle (Hollywood sucks BTW), ghost stories, road trips, Beverly Hills 90210, Morgue,  good eats, warm fire, Buddha head—It was everything. It was my birthday gift before my birthday. Today was a good day. . .

Just Waking Up In the Morning Gotta thank . . .Big Smile (Part 1 of 2)

Did not get much sleep last night. Can’t tell you how happy that made me feel. Got home in bed at 2:30 am. My adventure started in the Antelope Valley to Del Amo/ Torrance to Burbank to Bel Air to Pasadena and then back home. It was great. Saw Hana Sushi. Saw the National Cemetary. Saw the 6967. Saw the bar of Yes Man. Drove the green, green mountains of highway 14. What was the greatest part of the entire adventure, it was seeing family.

Left late afternoon around 3:30 from Palmdale. It was late, in that, I had much commuter traffic to go deal with. Everyone would be getting off work and would make the 405 a parking lot. Yet, this day was different. After logging many wasted hours sitting on the freeway, I knew the battle ahead. For some reason,  the roads parted from Palmdale on ramp to the Crenshaw Blvd exit. Got there an hour earlier than planned. Had time to just take it in and say my thanks to the Big Smile. Took to amazing pics, too.

Birthday Wishes Come Early
You know its my birthday in two days. Got my gift a couple days earlier than expected. Got a birthday wish from a beautiful high school friend I went on a dance with. Got another birthday message from a Vampire Wars friend. (I promise to return thank yous after I finishing typing these magical moments)

My gift was seeing my second cousin’s 5th Birthday. It was pretty awesome. A new family. Kids had a birthday habit (genetics, I guess). I had the same issue. We knew cakes felt lonely. Birthday cake is just sitting on the table not being appreciated. . .well,  you got to appreciate. Its lonely. So much activity all around. Kids playing with toys. Family cooking. Laughing, smiling, and the cake gets nothing. Kids are in tune to unhappy vibes of the cake. Well, they want to show love so, kids take swipes of the frosting. Yummm. Inexperience. They need someone to show them the way. Lucky for them I was there to show the way. 

Cake Taster, Birthday Boy's Responsibility
Kids don’t take fingers swipes at the top of the cake. You take it at the bottom. On the sides. Take swipes where no one can see cake divots. The obligatory pictures and Birthday song time are simply too long. Sugar bliss right there, come on. Patience is a virtue; however, one can always for Forgiveness. Cakes want to be eaten. Kids want to eat cake. One can only guess outcome. Plus, there is an unsaid birthday celebrant's responsibility. Who checks the cake is up to birthday standards? It is the responsibility of the celebrant. Don't forget, its his damn party. What are you going to do not eat the cake? Are you not going to sing him birthday? Come on. It his duty to make sure the cake is good. If not, let’s just call the whole thing off. Enough said about that.

Beautiful Home Filled With Love
Went to a beautiful home. With beautiful family, with lots and lots of family and friends. People I never knew until a few days back. You see, I hardly know anyone on my late father’s side. Chelle was gracious to invite her to home to celebrate her son’s birthday. There has been a calling for me to learn more about my Dad's side of the family. I am glad I went. It was incredible. Not only was the eats great. I mean great. No, I mean outstanding. Ribs perfect. Grilled eggplant and peppers. Suvaki--just delicious. Her husband is Greek and manages a Greek restaurant. You know the food was outstanding.

The whole time was full of love. Lots and lots. . .lots of Love. So many things revealed. So many questions answered by a glorious trip.  First, one was greeted by yips and yaps of the furry three. Tiny. Reminds me of Tina, my fearless Chihuahua that loves swimming with the ducks. Smiling hand-sized dogs. The door opened and I was greeted by a  great big smile and warm loving hug. It was cousin Michelle. It was . . .Home.

Don’t get me wrong I love my family. It was different. Kind of like chocolate. I mean there’s three musketeers. The Twix. Hershey Kiss. Its just a new flavor the family of Chocolate. It felt, smelt, tasted, looked, and sounded like. . .Home. Could’ve burst into tears. Just not the guy thing to do. Inside. It was something.  If you ever watch the movie Joy Luck Club at the end, it was like that.It’s just its been a whole lifetime. More than a quarter of decade since I seen Chelle. What I remember Chell, she was the short, skinny girl that Dolph and Robert picked on.  “Cuz” was what she called me. Awesome. Great ear to ear smile. Her presence just fills the room.

Husband a strong, good man. Ex-Judo guy. I've seen his type at Gold's Gym before. Body builder-type. Walks with an air of confidence and strength. He has "If I want to kick your ass air, I love family deeply and I know how to get shit done" air about him. I love that. Well, their home was filled with toys in the living room. The kids were playing, watching Sponge Bob (My favorite). My cousins. Cool. These strangers were part of me. A part I never knew. They were my family, too.  My Dad’s family. Best way I can describe it was like this. When I schooled in Boston for college, coming off the airplane and seeing Mom and Dad smiling and waiting in the airport terminal after more than year away. It was that feeling. A connection of who you are while you weren’t there. It’s a welcoming of old you and new you. It is the merging of all love then and all the love now and love in the future. Its all the important stuff in one single moment.

Stealing a line from the movie Star Trek Insurrection. "A person can live a whole lifetime in a moment in time."

Well, I’m sorry but I got to run. Wish I had more time to write. But, 800+ words , plus ten minutes to get where I need to go in five minutes time.