Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Topless woman frolicks in Newport Surf
An interesting event happened in the surf at Blackies Monday morning. While the surf was a miserable 1ft ankle slaps, there was a bit more of a rise in the surf, as a woman in her 20s frolicked in the surf, topless. Yes a genuine topless woman with perky tits hitting the waves. She was in the water for about 15 minutes, frolicking about. Jeremy got to see his first topless woman at Newport, and so did I and a fellow surfer Dave and his friend. What a trip. Now mind you other countries such as France and Brazil are familiar with topless sunbathers, but not conservative OC, and especially not ultra conservative Newport Beach. I then told Jeremy, erroneously, that they only sold bikini bottoms in France and he believed it until that night when we had dinner at Thai Princess. It was such a distraction, that Dave, one of the locals at Newport lost his board to get a better look. She murmured something to him that he didn't repeat, but I know that Dave hardly ever loses his board, and on that day it was next to impossible given the lack of waves. At any rate, we all took a long hard look at the topless woman and we all enjoyed it, despite the crappy surf.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Overseas Filipino Worker
Imagine an OFW gaining support from fellow OFWs and running for president of the Philippines. That might just be the ticket in moving the country forward. How much money do OFWs send back to the Philippines in remittances. Are their remittances the #1 driver of the Philippine economy? How many Filipinos work abroad each year while the Philippines continues its slide backward? Ok here are the statistics
10.7 billion in remittances back to the Philippines, equal to about 12 percent of the country's GDP
9 million Filipinos working abroad, or more than 1 in 10 Filipinos
Three thousand one hundred Filipinos leave the country each day seeking work abroad
2.5 million Filipinos work in the USA
more than 1 million in Saudi Arabia
That is quite a major voting force. There have been rumblings to deny these folks the right to vote in elections. Imagine if one of these overseas foreign workers became popular enough to rally other OFWs to vote for one of their own? And what if that person was elected and had a real agenda, rather than an agenda of corruption ajnd enrichment of the trapos in power? COuld that person turn the country around and reverse the spiral into the abyss of non-factor when it comes to the global ecomony? because that is going to be the case if the country doesnt get its act together, and why not a person who helps to build other countries who can lead the Philippines?
The country is a total joke, it is exporting people to other countries, it has to beg other countries to rescue their people from Lebanon, yet it gladly sends them off, as long as they send their money back to line the coffers of the politicians. I've got Filipino friends who are "caregivers" to the elderly in ritzy newport Beach, NYC, and LA. I know a filipina who is an assistant to the director of Seabiscuit; Countless others work menial jobs here in So. CAL, though others are professionals. Filipinos are fast becoming the mexicans of the world, performing the most menial of jobs to earn money to send to their families. The country sits back while other countries in the region enjoy the fruits of a global economy. I've said it before, but Vietnam will surpass the Philippines economically and will be a new tiger before the Philippines
That is quite a major voting force. There have been rumblings to deny these folks the right to vote in elections. Imagine if one of these overseas foreign workers became popular enough to rally other OFWs to vote for one of their own? And what if that person was elected and had a real agenda, rather than an agenda of corruption ajnd enrichment of the trapos in power? COuld that person turn the country around and reverse the spiral into the abyss of non-factor when it comes to the global ecomony? because that is going to be the case if the country doesnt get its act together, and why not a person who helps to build other countries who can lead the Philippines?
The country is a total joke, it is exporting people to other countries, it has to beg other countries to rescue their people from Lebanon, yet it gladly sends them off, as long as they send their money back to line the coffers of the politicians. I've got Filipino friends who are "caregivers" to the elderly in ritzy newport Beach, NYC, and LA. I know a filipina who is an assistant to the director of Seabiscuit; Countless others work menial jobs here in So. CAL, though others are professionals. Filipinos are fast becoming the mexicans of the world, performing the most menial of jobs to earn money to send to their families. The country sits back while other countries in the region enjoy the fruits of a global economy. I've said it before, but Vietnam will surpass the Philippines economically and will be a new tiger before the Philippines
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Daddy again
It is official. I am going to be a daddy again. The baby is due the first week of March 2007. When my wife took the first and second pregnancy test and it came back positive, I felt, well maybe it was a false positive. Whent the third came back positive, and the fourth was backed up by the OB/GYN, it sunk in that yes, a new addition is coming to the family. Over the years I began to think that my little guys stopped swimming or perhaps, they just swam in circles and no longer swam upstream. I thought this so. And we haven't used any form of birth control in ages, perhaps two total years since Jeremy was born. But God finds a way. Anyone have any name suggestions?
Jovi called me on the drive home from San Francisco, where we went to my cousin Ernest Trias' step dad's funeral. I didn't know that Ernese had such a large extended family, and that his step dad was such a funny guy. I only met Tino a few times over the years since Ernest's mom married him back in 82, around the time Ernest and his sister Marleen moved to the states from the Philippines. I found him to be a funny guy even then, but the photo and video montage that was screened at the reception was testament to that, as was the Eulogy delivered by one of his four (or is it five) sons. The funniest story was about their trip to Yosemite, where his sons convinced the family to let them go fishing in Yosemite, with the ages of the boys ranging from 7 years old to barely 18. And when they asked Tino for permission, Tino asked, "eh, What kind of fish do they catch in Yosemite, mackeral?" I was absolutely ROTFLMAO. It was so funny because his son totally captured the way Tino spoke.
Tino got a US Navy burial, complete with Taps, the folding of the U.S. flag, and everything. He was buried in the same cemetery as my grandfather, who served in World War II with the US Navy at Pearl Harbor. We visited his grave and took pictures with my two boys. I never got to meet my grandfather as he died before I was born.
This marked the first time the boys went to San Francisco, and even though we only got a day to drive around, we did visit Sam Wo, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Ft. Baker Pier, where they were crabbing. The Chinese guy below wanted us to stay and taste the crab they were cooking right on the pier.
We also visited the house my dad first bought in 1958 at 260 Bradford Street. It was a small house, all of 1200 square feet, on a hill, that shared a common wall with the neighbors. The Bernal Heights neighborhood that it is located has been cleaned up considerably since the early 1980s-90s, when it was a somewhat depressed neighborhood. It has cleaned up well thanks to the tech industry that has revitalized the city.
Jovi called me on the drive home from San Francisco, where we went to my cousin Ernest Trias' step dad's funeral. I didn't know that Ernese had such a large extended family, and that his step dad was such a funny guy. I only met Tino a few times over the years since Ernest's mom married him back in 82, around the time Ernest and his sister Marleen moved to the states from the Philippines. I found him to be a funny guy even then, but the photo and video montage that was screened at the reception was testament to that, as was the Eulogy delivered by one of his four (or is it five) sons. The funniest story was about their trip to Yosemite, where his sons convinced the family to let them go fishing in Yosemite, with the ages of the boys ranging from 7 years old to barely 18. And when they asked Tino for permission, Tino asked, "eh, What kind of fish do they catch in Yosemite, mackeral?" I was absolutely ROTFLMAO. It was so funny because his son totally captured the way Tino spoke.
Tino got a US Navy burial, complete with Taps, the folding of the U.S. flag, and everything. He was buried in the same cemetery as my grandfather, who served in World War II with the US Navy at Pearl Harbor. We visited his grave and took pictures with my two boys. I never got to meet my grandfather as he died before I was born.
This marked the first time the boys went to San Francisco, and even though we only got a day to drive around, we did visit Sam Wo, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Ft. Baker Pier, where they were crabbing. The Chinese guy below wanted us to stay and taste the crab they were cooking right on the pier.
We also visited the house my dad first bought in 1958 at 260 Bradford Street. It was a small house, all of 1200 square feet, on a hill, that shared a common wall with the neighbors. The Bernal Heights neighborhood that it is located has been cleaned up considerably since the early 1980s-90s, when it was a somewhat depressed neighborhood. It has cleaned up well thanks to the tech industry that has revitalized the city.
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