Sugar

This is a shot of Jovi's mom's sugar cane fields. As far as the eyes can see, it is Rodriguez land. Pretty crazy the whole sugar cane business. It is a six month a year job, for Jovi's brother. According to him, his workload is six months out of the year,four days a month, (every saturday), four hours a day, of which two hours is spent driving back and forth to the fields and two hours is spent walking the fields. Imagine that. the following six months is just pretty much doing nothing, and he is the loaded brother in the family.

The business was actually booming up until the 1980s, when the sugar market collapsed under the monopoly set up by Marcos. I was able to get a story from Tita Chita, Jovi's dad's wife whom we laid to rest, about the whole business from her perspective. You see her family ran pawn shops and jewelry stores in Bacolod. At the end of the harvest season, the farmers were issued certifcates A, B, and C. A for Export, B for local, and C for whatever, according to her. The C certifcates were almost always given to the wives of the landowners, who would proceed to purchase jewelry from Tita Chita. The thing was, at the beginning of each season, the husbands would demand that the wives pawn their jewelry so they can begin a new crop, so Chita put on her pawn shop hat and would proceed to purchase the jewelry that she sold them at the end of theseason for half of what she sold it to them, give or take. The cycle went on and on for years until Chita was involved in a holdup at the jewelry store that I believe killed her father. Not sure if that is true or not though. That was in the 70s, so her mom packed up the kids and moved them to the States.

It was quite an interesting story that she told me, because I really enjoyed hearing it. I enjoy hearing all kinds of stories about the Philippines, especially ones that discuss the history of sorts. Chita told me just her little part of the sugar history of bacolod. I only wish that I could have heard more stories from her like that.

In a FUNK

I've been in a funk ever since I got back from our trip to the Philippines. I can't really put my finger on it but for some reason, I have been feeling funky, and not in the good sense. I don't really know what it is, but for some reason, it has to do with the trip. Emotions. ;( The last time I went to the Philippines, in 1989, I came back in bitter disappointment. A lot of things went down in my life back then, and I had vowed then that I wouldn't go back. There was no real reason to. I had made some interesting decisions then with regard to my life and that of others that were wakeup calls to change the way I had wantonly did things to myself and to others. Young and Dumb. It was a roller coaster that fortunately for those involved, stopped, at least I hope, fairly quickly. I got off. Not my Cup of tea, as was always said.

I guess the trip brought back a lot of that history that I had gotten over years ago. I mean when I smelled that Philippine air, it was really different from those days of long ago. I expected the sweaty, sweet, pungent smell of Manila, but got a blast of nothingness. I didn't get a whiff of that third world air that I was expecting. Maybe it is a lost sense. Now it is really just that, the history of the whole affair. The good, and it was good, the bad, which was at its best, real bad, and the freakin fubugly, which was a lot of nastiness. Chock it up to inexperience, indifference or both, the feelings came back when I stepped off that plane and spent the last day of our trip to the Philippines in Manila, walking around Greenbelt, an old haunt that really struck a cord.

Usually I get blue like this around the Holidays, but fuck, it isn't even Halloween YET! I am not really looking forward to the crass commercialism of Christmas. I do though want to send stuff to my new found brother and sister ins-law and their family in Bacolod. I had the best time with them in the Philippines, so much so that we are planning to bring the boys back with us when we visit again this summer. I guess my boys will be getting a bit less, Shit they already have everything they need. Motorcycles, ATVs, a boat, all the material things teenagers could want. They don't need anything else but a good sermon from God himself.

Jovi was even open to the idea of living in Bacolod for a few years. Although I really like Tagaytay. I heard they are putting subdivisions up there like crazy. My job affords me to live pretty much anywhere in the world there is an Internet connection, and I was sorta shocked when she said that, because, I could move there yesterday. I just like the sweetness and the hospitality of the people in the Philippines. It truly is incredible how friendly they can be. Illongos, and especially those from Bacolod are very easygoing and friendly folks.

I think perhaps I need to go surfing, get into it again.

Feeling OLD

I am feeling old today. I just turned 38, so I don't feel like writing anything.

School kids

Beauty abounds in the Philippines






I volunteered to take a shot with this girl.








I was shooting from the car and these school children flagged me down, asking to take their pictures. So I did.

Ay Philippines

We returned home after our last day in Manila. didn't expect to go but at the last minute, we decided to take the noon flight out of Bacolod and spend the day in Manila, My how things have changed. We spent almost six hours just walking around Greenbelt. . . 1 2 3 and Four. Last time I was there I think it was only Greenbelt 1. I had no idea how big that place has grown. We stayed near the fountain and Jovi's girlfriend spent several hours catching up as I wandered aimlessly through the various Greenbelts that have sprouted over the last 15 years. The place is really nice and well kept. There are guards at virtually every entrance to keep out the riff raff. We dined at a place called Recipes, which serves Filipino food. It was a really nice place. Clean and the food was good. We had lechon Kawali with I forget the vegetable, Generals Chicken, and another vegetable that was quite good. Service was really nice, and the folks were friendly. We then went to a place called Cafe Bretone, right next to the Cafe Havana, right next to the Starbucks for coffee and crepes. IMagine that, French, Cuban and American coffee houses right next to each other. Outside cafes are cool. Outside cafes in Greenbelt are even more interesting.

We checked out the shopping stores and I bought a book at the National Bookstore, (Hagedorn's The Gangster of Love) but for the most part we were all shopped out, so I just wandered aimlessly about trying real hard to remember the place as jovi and her girldfriend caught up on chismis. I ambled over to Greenbelt 1, which is now totally different than what it was 16 years ago. I don't remember any of the shops. I rented some time at the internet cafe there and cruised the net and just did next to nothing, Then I decided to people watch, so I sat on a bench for a while, checking out all the women walking by, texting on their cell phones and just looking like typical pretty Manila girls. One even smiled when I smiled at her. Ay how hard it is to smile in the States.

Then it was time to get back to the airport for our return flight home. The traffic was pretty incredible. Very busy and the air seemed a lot more dirty than I remember, but with a population growth of about 20 million in the last 15 years, you'd expect that sort of thing. I really feel sorry for those who live in Forbes park and Dasma village, because even though they can hide behind their secure 15 ft walls, they are still breathing that dirty dirty air. Really lucky for those who live in Ayala Alabang or BF Pque, but then again, I didn't visit those places this time so I don't know how it is there air quality wise. The pollution is absolutely insane in Makati. Totall unacceptable. At the airport we stayed in the Mabuhay Lounge, and got a full body massage, Jove went for a neck and shoulder massage and I went for the full body massage, which was quite refreshing considering the major haul we had to embark on for the next 12 hours. I really enjoyed that airport massage and only wish I could have one everyday.

The continued Oppression of the Filipino

The Pilipino is a prisoner in his/her own country. Not really knowing much about the stratification of a country, I really feel the Philippines is a classic example of how money and the color of your skin affects your chances in the country. Perhaps this is true in other countries but in the Philippines, I think it is more pronounced. In the Gaisano mall in Bacolod, I noticed that a lot of the mall patrons had lighter skin, either with spanish or chinese blood. I didn't see the brown skinned Filipinos at any of the malls I visited. Not in Bacolod, and especially not in Greenbelt. What I am talking about are the people that keep the economic wheels turning in the Philippines. The taxi drivers, the street vendors, the people you see taking the public transportation, you don't see those types at the malls. Perhaps they can't afford to shop at the fancy malls, or perhaps the security guards screen those who are allowed in, it was really rare to see any Filipinos in the malls. Maybe I was blind to it before or naive ( I was very naive back then, really dumb) but this trip, I saw a very different Philippines than 16 years ago.

But really that is how things go in the Philippines. I just wish somehow someone in power will have the guts to start making a change. As of yet nobody in politics is interested in making life better for Filipinos. They are still more interested in enriching themselves. Ninoy Aquino was killed more than 20 years ago. Who has the werewithal, the charisma to step up and lead the land of squatter camps out of its misery? I continue my depression.

Bacolod Day 3

Today was yet again another shopping day. We went to the new Gaisano mall in town and on a shopping spree with Tita Annalie's older boys, Nico and Anton. Jovi gave them some money and we went shopping. Addidas was the first destination, and since Jeremy also plays futbol (soccer), I was able to buy him some futbol pants and a shirt. The cool thing was Anton and Nico gave Jeremy their last year's futbol jerseys and pants from their high school, LaSalle, so that was very nice of them and I am sure Jeremy will enjoy them. We also brought along Raymund's children, Luigi, LeeAnn, and Lyka. Luigi though is a very quiet kid. He is the oldest grandchild of Tito Monet, and he is very quiet, a silent Giant. I call him a giant because physically he is a very large man child, about 6ft 3 and 200+lbs. By contrast, Joshua is only 6ft and about 170lbs. Lyka is a very beautiful 11 year old and LeeAnn is a cute cute preteen, maybe 7 or 8 years old. We also brought along Annalie's younger children, Marco, and Marty. I guess that as people get closer to 40 years old, they tend to have a second set of children if they can. More on the shopping later.

Last night was the final night of Tita Chita's viewing. I met quite a few Montero's during the course of the last few days as well as most all of the political types of Bacolod. The funny thing about Bacolod, and perhaps the Philippines is the diversity of the country. It really is socially (read economically) and racially stratified. Even during the viewings of the last few nights, there was another family mourning the loss of their patriach, the Kramer family. The story (just story) is that Kramer was a very handsome German who married into the Montilla family of Bacolod. I heard it has been five generations of Kramers on Negros. They are rich and are white. The clan members that I saw during the last few nights look like Americans, yet they speak fluent Illongo and adhere to the customs of Negros and Bacolod. It appears that they don't inter marry with the local Filipinos here on Negros, but marry into other prominent Spanish or other non natives. Though they are really considered native because they've been here for so long. Its an interesting study into the culture of the country.

One thing that I realized is my lack of culture with regard to things Filipino. I witnessed some interesting culture with regard to the Montero clan and the Kramer clan. I witnessed a lot of culture that I was devoid of growing up in America. Coming to Bacolod, I was able to learn a lot of more about the Montero clan. There is a lot of Montero's and most of them are big, especially the men. I figure that because they are also Spanish, they are like that. It is also interesting to witness the Novena prayer to the dead. We did two days in Los Angeles and four days in Bacolod. I am not a midnight person, so the first couple of days was difficult as I dozed off. The last night was easier because I conversed with RJ Montero. RJ lives in BF Homes PQUE and is a software development manager in Makati. Finally I was able to converse with a fellow nerd. We spoke the same language! That made the night go very fast and soon as I knew it, it was already closed to midnight.

Bacolod Day 2

Today we went shopping for the most part throughout and then we visited with Raymund, Jovi's brother at his house. He lives outside the city on a big plot of land, almost like a farm, but it isn't the farm he works on. He lives on Jovi's mom's land, the Rodriguez side of the family. We had lunch there and met up again with his children, Lyka, LeeAnn, and Annalie's children joined us, Marco and Marty, Annalie's daughter.


At the viewing I met some more interesting cousin's of Jovi. Lilibeth is the cousin of Jovi on her dad's side, she is a Limsiaco. Her family is also part Syrian or Lebanese, so she is really pretty. Not beautiful but pretty. She is a flight attendant for Cathay Pacific, based in Hong Kong. She really has that metropolitan beauty to her. Her husband is a cousin of Jovi on her mom's side. He is a short chinese guy, really sort of ugly, but he is rich.

According to jovi's dad, he just goes around his businesses in Bacolod and collects the money. No realy work. lilibeth's sister, Lynette, is also a looker, if she toned down her makeup a little bit. you see she looks a like a cross between Michael Jackson and a man. she wears too much makeup, and she looks like perhaps she gets injections in her lips to make them puffier. Anyway, she walked in as if she were a princess.

But really Bacolod is a nice respite from all the bullshit you would experience in Manila. The people here are very friendly and they are all hard working. Even the security guard in McDonald's because it was so slow today, was cleaning up tables in his spare time. This McDonald's also has a new concept called the McCafe. Designed to better compete with Starbucks, the McCafe, is connected to McDonald's by a common wall, but it has its own separate entrance and its own goodies. The McDonald's here also has wireless access. It is provided free for up to one hour, just bring your notebook computer , and you can obtain the password at the counter. Pretty cool. This McDonald's also had an extensive toy collection, including a wall of what appeared to be every Happy Meal toy given out in various McDonald's throughout the world. The difference between the McDonald's here and in the states is the workers here are hard working. As a matter of fact, most all of the workers I've seen are hard workers.

The only thing is the way the people here drive. It is really absolutely crazy. If you have an opening in the road, you go for it, no matter if you block the road, you inch and inch your way and then you go for it. Really the traffic is crazy, buit the drivers all anticipate what it is you will do and honk to let you know they know, or let you know not to do it. They use the horn all the time, like in Manila. But I've heard the traffic in Manila is really bad. We will be stopping in Manila on Saturday and will visit Jovi's friends at Greenbelt for lunch before we take off for California. I wanted to visit my cousins in Cavite but my dad says the traffic really is horrendous, especially on a Saturday as everyone is going to Tagaytay. At least I can do some last minute shopping at Greenbelt, and see how that place has changed.

Bacolod Day 1

This marks the first trip to nthe Philippines without me staying in Manila other than to transfer planes. Usually, when I go to the Philippines, Manila is the final destination. That is the way it has always been. This trip, Jovi and I bypassed Manila entirely and went to Negros island to the town of Bacolod, where she was raised. Now I am in a Villa in Capitolville subdivision writing about my first trip to Negros. Bacolod was the sugar bowl of the Philippines during its heyday up until the 1980s. Sugarland produced quite a bit of wealth for the people of Bacolod, and the island of Negros, but that has all for the most part stopped. I read of times when Negros experienced the kind of lifestyle reminiscent of the Great Gatsby; huge palatial grounds, fancy cars, lavish parties, and such. And in part I can see remnants of that, mostly in the way people dress here. We are here to bury my father' in laws, wife Chita, who died Nov. 7 of cancer. And Chita has a lot of friends. I met the ex governor of Negros, Lito Coscolluela, and his wife Betsy, one of Chita's best friends from childhood, who was chosen by Chita to help arrange her burial and wake, and most all of Jovi's siblings and cousins. Now I know why Joshua is so tall! It is in Jovi's Spanish Rodriguez blood. Joshua's first cousin, Luigi, is 6ft 3 and around 215 lbs or so and he is only fourth year high school His other first cousin Nico is around 6ft 1 and second year high school, and Nico's brother Anton is 5ft9. Joshua hovers right around the middle at 6ft.
The Negrenses are different from the Pilipinos in Manila. Their dialect, Illongo, has a non confrontational intonation to it. If there resemblance to another language in terms of tone, it would have to be French. Almost every time, the sound comes out like that of a question, even though it is not. Its hard to explain, but the tone is like a singsong. Very pretty.

Capitolville
The house we are staying at is in the Capitolville subdivision in Bacolod, one of Jovi's relatives is selling the house so we have pretty much free reign of it. It is a custom home that is made of pretty much all foreign materials. The tiles that line the dinig area and the huge sala in the backyard are 17 inch Italian tiles (I thought that we had installed some big stuff in our home at 13 inches but I guess not). The wood floors are made of exotics, probably a Koa wood or perhaps mango, I am not sure. There are two huge French doors that lead to the lanai in the back, of which there is a blue pool, of which I am going to swim. The backyard features square slate pavers and huge Vigan jars accenting the mini palms and Sago Palms, those $600 plus palms that Californians have to have in their yards. The roof's fascia is also made of exotic wood. The cinder blocks that make up a lot of the walls are also of high quality, I want to say marble, but I am not positive. The second floor is wood throughout, as is the staircase. The bathroom fixtures are American Standard ( I had no idea what Philippine Standard was when it was one of my jeepney stops in Manila until I saw all the toilet bowls. It took time to equate the two) The owner spared to expense. I want to buy this place. All I'd have to do is sell my house in California, move here and join the jobless.

The people of Bacolod
So far so good. The folks that I've met so far are very nice. All Jovi's cousins are accomodating and I am truly grateful for all of it. One thing I am not quite used to is the greeting. It is done not so much with a handshake but a kiss on the cheek. In Manila, I think that this is also done with relatives, but I am not sure if they do it with friends. Perhaps it is more a family thing than anything, but I am getting used to doing it with all the relatives I am meeting.

I haven't really had a chance to get to taste some of the food that Negrenses are known for, but I will have my chance today. Bacolod is known for its chicken, and since I am privy to most all foods, as long as its chicken, that is what we'll go for today.

Journalizm

It turns out the journalists were wrong regarding the death chaos and mayhem that was reported during the days after Hurricane Katrina Struck. It now appears that there weren't any sexual assaults of children and there weren't roving gangs attacking helpless folks in Louisiana's Superdome. Chalk it up to lack of communication lines to vette stories, or whatever, the fact is that newspapers and TV reported such events, from the NY Times to FAUX News, to the LA Times. When you look back on it, it really is a non-surprise. The mainstream media has been asleep at the wheel the last five years. Really. WMD's in Iraq? Where was any journalistic investigative reporting there? It is really a pathetic time indeed to be a member of the mainstream media trying to cover today's current events. Perhaps journalists should be compelled to obtain a license to practice their craft.

Thick Fat Beast

I went surfing out at the Point in Newport yesterday. There was a thick fog and the waves were breaking well over head. The Point is a fickle left hander for the most part that breaks on a straight south swell. I never really have good luck with this left hander lately, especially how this one breaks. For the most part, my success rate with this wave is 85/20% success rate. I usually do pretty good with it. The Point though really sucks up and breaks on a sandbar, so the water is super shallow. But yesterday was one of the 20s. Although the conditions were pretty glassy, the fog was obscuring the swell, and I got a little too confident on the first two waves that came in. The third wave, I found myself in the impact zone, and on a board that was too big to punch through it so I got drilled. I don't get drilled too often but this one was a rogue that absolutely hammered me. I saw it coming out of the fog and it was just beastly, a solid 8ft wave with a thick, fat lip. It was a freighttrain. Superpowerful, nobody caught it. I paddled as hard as I could to get over it and was just at the top of the face when I tried to punch through. Didn't make it. The wave proceeded to catch me and throw me down. I didn't get thrown from the lip so it wasn't as bad as it could have been but it was pretty scary nontheless.

Since I am blind as a bat, I wear contacts and I don't open my eyes underwater, but for the most part, i can keep a good sense of which way is up relative to the position of my body. I came up and there was another wave coming in and I got thrashed again. This time though I tried to hold onto my board, which proceeded to whack me up side the head in the process. So called it a day at that spot after only 20 or so minutes out. There was a current like a river pushing toward the Newport Pier and I just really had enough of the Point. So I went and surfed 36th, which is about a mile walk down the beach. The waves were a bit more managemable but at this time I realized that I injured my back and neck. The back injury I think was a result of getting absolutely bent at Sandy's during our family trip to Oahu last month. And the neck injury I think occurred when I got whacked upside the neck. Sio today I have a stiff neck. Hurts to turn, can't look at the pretty girls anymore, just kidding. My neck is stiff and hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

Wrong man pays child support to Peterson mistress

This goes to show how promiscuous US society is.

Cnn Story

Amber Frey, the woman who had an affair with Scott Peterson during the time he was plotting his wife and unborn son's murder, announced that the father of her four year old daughter is actually not the father, even though he has been paying $400 a month for the last four years. Her Attorney, Gloria Allred had to announce to the media that Amber, in good faith, believed that the man was indeed the father of her child when in fact a DNA test proved that he was not the father of her child.

That is straight out of Maury or Jerry Springer. I mean what kind of woman would do that to a man, claim he is the father when in fact he wasn't? Could it be an honest mistake, as Frey's attorney claimed? The woman just couldn't stop jumping from one man's bed to another. She should have at least used birth control.

High school reunion

I went to my 20th high school reunion with my friend Mike Heinle and his wife. who graduated a year after me but are friends with some classmates of mine. We sat with two classmates I had went to school with since grade school and junior high. Lori Baker and Denise Ferrell. Lori looks totally different from when I knew her last. We were friends in grade school, she was the first girl I kissed, back when I was in 6th grade. but in high school we didn't hang out at all. Lori looks totally different from how I remember her. Same with Denise Ferrell. She is still a firecracker latina, all 5ft and 100 lbs of her. Both lori and her are good friends, they go to Havasu a lot and meet up with Mike and his wife.

Now on to the others I spoke briefly with last night. I spoke with Jurina Mendoza briefly last night too. Jurina was my first high school crush. We dated briefly and enjoyed a brief encounter in front of her house way back in 1981 that I wasn't really prepared for. I had a crush on her throughout high school, but I was just too dorky for her. I used to pull on a green beret that she wore in 10th grade. She is good friends with one of my best friends, Chris Panaia. Through Chris, over the years, I learned that Jurina became a hair stylist for 7 years, then she went to culinary school and served as a chef for several years, and currently, when I talked to her, she was a server at a "fine dining" restaurant, where the pay is better than that of a chef. She was smokin hot last night, though she did have a few age lines on her face. I forgot to mention that she is half filipina, her dad being a filipino and her mom being Finnish, so she is pretty hot. I remember I was at a party in the Philippines in 1985 and there was this girl who looked just like her and I thought it was her, but it turned out that she was a movie star named Mags Bonnin. I sort a felt a bit sheepish then though cause I was staring at her, thinking she was jurina when she was not. Anyway, there were others who surprised me. Without mentioning names, I talked with two other girls who really aged over the last 20 years. I think they were smokers because there skin was really aged, and I believe smoking does that to your skin. One of the girls, I thought she was the cutest girl at the school back then , and when the comment mentioning it to her husband, he said, perhaps you should tell her, as it would make her really happy. But I didn't. The other girl I spoke to only attended OVHS for two years then she moved away. She looked really old. I saw next to her in Jr high because her last name began with a T which is two from V. We were talking about her around the table and the girls at the table were really brutal. They ahd said that she definitely ahd plastic surgery. I didn'tr get into it with them.


I spoke with Kenny Reda, he is a fellow surfer who was going to make the move to Maui but decided against it, but then he moved from Laguna Niguel to Temecula, and now I think he is regreting it. Moving his family to Temecula for a bigger house I think was a mistake because now he is 40 miles from the beach instead of just a few miles. He was complaining about that.

Chris mentioned that the people we didn't talk to in high school, still didn't talk to us. The usual cliques that were around in high school were still around. Unbelievable. One funny scene was with this guy I know by face only, he was in the school plays and was a struggling actor last time I saw him hawking stuff at the swap meet. He shows up with this woman who had these huge, absolutely HUGE pointy breasts, and I am talking to Kenny and he says, Hey guys, as he walks by and smiles, with this big breated woman in tow. It sort of is fitting for the guy, but to us, it seemed like a huge charade, big breasted woman at the high school reunion.

I spoke with some woman who I never spoke with while in high school, one the city manager of Half Moon Bay and the other a friend of Jurina's who still doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, though she is taking filmmaking class. Those were some intersting conversations.

One funny thing, you'd go up to some people you had classes with and they wouldn't remember your name and the standard line was, "Hey Bro, how you been." As if they even gave a fuck what your name was.

That is the state of Ocean View High School's 20th reunion affairs. Not a lot of people showed up, and I think it was a waste of $90. But I did get to speak with some friends. I had no idea that Brian Capoccia got busted by the DEA right after high school. When he told me that I couldn't believe it. Its been a long 20 years. A lot of things have changed, yet a lot of things stay the same. A lot of girls I knew look aged 20 years while a few others I didn't know, Janet Lidberg, Rebekah Fleishman, look absolutely the same.

Convey a positive image as thousands drown in New Orleans

According to an AP report written by reporter Ted Bridis

"Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims."

"FEMA response and recovery operations are a top priority of the department and as we know, one of yours," Brown wrote Chertoff. He proposed sending 1,000 Homeland Security Department employees within 48 hours and 2,000 within seven days.

Employees required a supervisor's approval and at least 24 hours of disaster training in Maryland, Florida or Georgia. "You must be physically able to work in a disaster area without refrigeration for medications and have the ability to work in the outdoors all day," Brown wrote.

The same day Brown wrote Chertoff, Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments. Brown said it was vital to coordinate fire and rescue efforts.


Michael Brown is a good ole boy of Bush, who, prior to being given the job of director of FEMA probably due to his astute fund raising skills, was the chairman or manager of some type of Arabian Horse association. He had no disaster management skills whatsoever. Heck he probably didn't have any skills related to any form of governing. He was a Bush crony and fund raiser.

I can imagine Brown right now "We was fixin to convey a positive image so W could look good for the cameras.

Brown will be made the fall guy, even though a fall guy isn't needed in this case because his incompetence and that of Department of Homeland Security goon Chertoff has been proven.

It is truly sick to learn these things, but hey, America elected Bush to a second term, and this is what we get.

Newport Beach Parking MADNESS

Sunday I went surfing at Newport. I parked in the parking lot as usual and hiked it three jetties down to find some surf, as it was pretty flat everywhere. I did find a wave breaking off the 36th St. jetty. It was a makeable left, about 2ft. so I hiked it back to the parking lot to get my board. I surfed it for maybe an hour, catching half a dozen waves and then calling it a session. Waves were pretty few and far between.

After I got back to my car and changed, I took a walk on the pier. As it is every holiday weekend these days, the pier was packed with people fishing, as was the parking lot.

As I approached my car to leave, I noticed a woman who was blocking a lane in her SUV as another woman tried to sneak her SUV into the spot. The woman closest to the spot yelled at the other woman, saying that she was saving the spot for her mother, who was winding her way through the packed parking lot to try and snag the spot. You see, the woman who was trying to save the spot drove an SUV that wouldn't fit in the spot because there was an RV parked in the next parking spot.

I was beginning to get amused at the exchange taking place.

The woman in the other SUV tried to get in and then the other woman would move forward, then back, effectively blocking her. The lot began to back up as one could only imagine, as these two grown women had an exchange of ideas. At that point, I walked up to the woman who was trying to get into the spot and told her, "I am leaving, you can have my spot." She said thanks, and as I walked to my car, she was slow to move. The woman who was blocking the spot, yelled at her, "Move it Bitch, the guy is parked all the way down there." I was really beginning to get amused. As I pulled out of my spot, the woman waved a thanks and finally parked her SUV. I didn't see how the other woman fared, or if her mother was able to wend her way through the bottleneck created by her daughter.

It was really a sad reflection on the society in which I live. Two women, probably soccer moms, arguing over a stupid parking spot in Newport Beach, CA as people still perish in New Orleans. These women were unbelievable, especially the one hoarding the spot so her mother could get it. At that point in her life, that spot was the most valuable thing to her. Pretty sad commentary on life's priorities.

Impotence

It took our government five days to send food and water to the poor folks in New Orleans. What a disgrace. Five Days with no food and water for upward of 50,000 people in the hottest, dankest, wettest city in the United States. The Mayor of New Orleans sent pleas for help and FINALLY, after going on radio blasting the federal response to this disaster, imploring the feds to "get off their asses and do something," help arrived in the form of a photo op. After five days, Help Finally Arrived. The government had been telling the people that help was on the way, but for many, it was too little, too late. What a disgrace. And on top of this lack of response in the most urgent time of need, there was a photo op. The government had known this would happen for over 100 years. Yet nothing was done to try and stop it. On the contrary, the Bush Regime diverted monies that could have shored up the levee system in New Orleans to Homeland Security and the "War on Terror." The hurricane was being tracked for days, yet there was no federal plan in place to deal with the death and destruction that might have, and did occur. WHERE WAS FEMA?

The BUSH REGIME was put to the test when Katrina came bearing down, and sadly, the BUSH REGIME has failed that test.


For five days, George Bush sat on his ass and did nothing. Rather than cut his five week vacation short by two days, BUSH extended his vacation and sat on his ass and did nothing as the worst natural disaster was happening in BUSH COUNTRY. He was sitting on his ass watching all the black folks suffer on CNN.

This so called hands-on president finally arrived in the disaster zone, five days later, and was treated to a photo op with the governors of Mississippi and Alabama, the directors of Home land security and FEMA and others, praising each other on the excellent job that they did. On National TV. What a disgrace. The president, obviously taking a cue from one of his media clowns, came off the plane with his shirt sleeves rolled up, "ready to go to work." What a disgrace.

This is the United States of America, and we aren't supposed to have AMERICAN refugees on our shores, and we certainly are not supposed to have such an impotent response to a national disaster like Hurricane Katrine.

People died. Chaos ensued. Children were raped in the Superdome, and it took Bush five days to send in the Cavalry.

WHAT THE FUCK TOOK YOU SO LONG? Not enough white people in New Orleans? Not enough Republicans? The response in Florida last year was faster. BUSH IS A DISGRACE. He is a total National Disaster.

Katrina +True Poverty=Sad times ahead

More often than not, natural disasters strike in places outside the United States, We do get the occasional hurricanes and earthquakes, but most disasters often occur in other countries, particularly the third world. But this week the US was struck by a hurricane that was massive not so much in scale, (it was a category 4 when it hit land) but in damage from the aftermath. The city of New Orleans was absolutely hammered primarily to a broken levee that let out massive amounts of water onto the city that is below sea level by about 3 to 6 feet. So that is what you are seeing on television, all that water causing death and mayhem. New Orleans is a vibrant, albeit mostly impoverished city. When I visited the city twice in the late 1990s, I found the place to be very colorful, a lot of mixtures on beautiful folks, nice titty bars, and of course a lot of poverty, not unlike what you'd see in a third world. Yes folks, we have true poverty in the United States, not some bullshit poverty claims that some hustle others with to sustain a comfortable lifestyle, but real out and out, abject poverty. I've seen it and it is really sad.

"I know where you got your shoes," is a pretty good scam that occurs everyday on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. A man, almost always a black man will come up to you and bet you $5 that he knows where you got your shoes, and when you take that bet, the standard reply is "you got those shoes right here on Bourbon Street." In a sense it is true because them there shoes you got on your feet are right there, in the now, in New Orleans. So you gotta pay up, because if you don't the man usually has some muscle to threaten you to pay up. Its a pretty good hustle, and it works more often than not.

The hustle going on right now is that of mayhem and what looks like bits of anarchy, as looters have started to rear their ugly heads. But, in the fluid situation that is happening right now, do the cops focus on saving those who need to be saved, or focus on protecting property? Some police are breaking into some of the convenience stores and handing out needed food and water to those in immediate need and they should be applauded, because based on the looks of what is being seen just on the TV alone, it is going to be a long time before New Orleans and the other affected cities in the south return to normal.

One thing leaves me wondering, which countries will come to our aid? Where is the "coalition of the willing?"

Test Results

I received the results my bloodwork yesterday and they are much improved over the last two. My cholesterol is at 190, which is pretty normal for the most part. It was at 278. My triglicerides are still high, at 221, but it definitely beats the 800 or so that it was in May. So my food choice and the meds I was on have made a difference. I am grateful that I have somewhat normal readings, and will work to get the trigs down to a more acceptable level. I am sure more meds are on the horizon but I am hoping that I won't have to take them indefinitely. I don't like meds, not even tylenols, but in this case, the walking ticking time bomb had to be defused.

The good news is the South beach Diet is working. It really is more of a lifestyle choice in what you eat and how you take care of yourself. And for me, it is working. I am going to stick with it. I don't want to lose any more weight, but rather I'd like to maintain my body weight at what it is given my small stature. So I am going to work on getting the body that I had when I finished high school. Surfing will do a lot of the upper body work, I am not worried about that. I need to focus on the cardiovascular and leg work, that is where the tennis comes in. We'll see. Josh and Jeremy are leaving for Hawaii Aug.1, so it'l be just me and Jovi, and of course Kimo until the 12 when we take off and meet up with them in Kona. Jac seems to be pretty excited. My tita Andeng and my tita lillian will be attending the wedding as well. tita lillian is like Jac's mom or at least like her older sister. I think that is why she invited her to attend as well. But she is getting old and traveling from the Philippines solo has got to be hard. Perhaps she should start thinking about bringing a companion along as well, somebody more mobile and younger to help her out.

Surf the web

It has been about a week since I last went surfing, mostly due to the fact that it has been flat, which pretty much sucks. When there is a swell you ride it, but when there is no swell what can you do?

Anyway, the US Open of Surfing is going on down in Huntington Beach this week. I went down today and will probably get press credentials so I can write a story on the streaming technology they are using to stream the event over the Internet.

Isn't the Internet cool? Everyday it really makes me be thankful that such an invention enables a lot of folks to do a lot of things. It brings people together in some respects, while for others, it makes folks money. It is truly a commerce machine. You can communicate with people all over the world, email pics and even watch porn straight from your computer.

One of the coolest sites on the Internet is Surfline.com. Yep, it is a site set up with webcams at some prime surf spots in the United States and select spots around the world. You can check the surf to see if its any good at your local break, and you can check it in a place like South Shore Hawaii, which streams video of Bowls, my former stomping ground when I lived there back in 2000. I've seen Bowls absolutely going off and just wished that we didn't move back to California. Surfline.com is one of the few subscription based sites that might be worth the money. It was free back in 2000 but today they charge a fee to see the live streams. But they do offer a written report and a still image of your favorite surf spot, as well as a wealth of information regarding surf, weather buoys, swell direction, tides, etc.

I should have become a marine biologist, that way I could be in the water all the time. I remember back in the early 1980s, there was a story in Surfer magazine written by a marine biologist who had a job studying the reefs of the Philippines. Pollution impacts as well as dynamite fishing, that sort of thing I think. The guy got to travel all over the Phils for two years or so, and he happened to be a surfer. Imagine, being able to have a job like that. I could travel all over the country and surf some of the killer breaks they write about in the surf magazines. I had one of my friend's over for dinner the opther night. He has surfed all over the place, Panama, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Tahiti, but he wants to surf Cloud 9 in Catanduanes. He is married to a half Filipina/half German American girl who was my former co-worker. We were talking about Cloud 9, and I was telling him how the break was named after a Philippine chocolate bar. Those candy bars are surprisingly good for Philippine candy, actually, that is one of the things that I ask my aunt to bring me when she visits, that and Bench and FHM Philippines. The thing is the last FHM mag that she brought had Halle Berry on the cover, and Halle just doesn't do it for me. I really wanted to see a filipina on the cover, but WTF. No worries. I'd trade a box of Nestle Whites for a box of Cloud 9's any day.

My auntie Jacqueline is finally getting married. She has been dating her fiance for more than 10 years, and finally they are getting married. The guy is 50 and according to my mom, he has asked her to marry him many times over the years and she had said no too many times. I wonder what spurred her to say yes. My mom didn't approve of him when she first met him (long hair in a pontytail, leather jacket), and Jacq I think took it personally so she never brought him around. ver the last 10+ years they have been dating, Anthony has probably been to a handful of family gatherings. Seriously. Jacq is the half sister of my mom, and I guess she didn't want to disappoint her. Me? I always did my own thing, regardless of what my mother said. I was always opposed to her "meddling" but that is my mom, and her "meddling" didn't change Jacq's mind, she is marrying him. The wedding will take place on the Big Island, at the Hilton Waikaloa Village in August. So I am happy we are going back to Hawaii, if at least for a vacation. After the Big Island, we are going to O'ahu and will stay in our house in Manoa for a week. Jodi is worried about the tenant who rents my portion of the house, but WTF, he is a tenant, and if he wants to move out, he can. Then we can double the rent. I am fully looking forward to Hawaii. I just hope there is a swell when I am there. I have a couple of boards there. I've got like four boards there, five boards in my garage, and I've got another board (hopefully) at my aunt's house in the Philippines. That thing is ancient. But the last time I rode it, it worked. I just didn't get barreled.

Pollutted Waters

yesterday I was sick with a flu. I went surfing early in the morning and I noticed the water was dirty. It was Red Tide, which is a condition in the water when microorgranizms, dinoflagellates, die off, leaving the water a dirty brownish red color. Stupid of me, I surfed and inadvertently swallowed some water. When I came home to finish a story I was working on, I started to get the chills. I had a glass of lemonade that Jeremy made for me and proceeded to lay down on my bed, pulling the covers over and just shivering for the rest of the day.

By evening, I was feeling a bit better but not quite 100 percent. Later that night I had a serious bout of number 2, which wa as if a faucet was turned on it was so bad. But today, I came out of it Ok and feel a bit better, maybe 80 percent. Which brings me to some assumptions. How did I get sick with stomach flu? I am betting it was from the water, becauser I can't think of anything else that would have caused me to have a fever of 101 for such a short duration. The water off Newport was iffy and I went for it anyway. Big mistake. If anything is iffy, be it the food, the water, or a potential lover, forget it. Don't do it. I seriously think the water was polluted and I ingested some seriously foul water that caused me to get sick. What else could it have been? The lemonade? The lemons jeremy used were off our tree in the back yard and they might have been over ripe, but do over ripe lemons pose a risk that could cause me to get as sick as I was?

South Beach

Finally something good comes out of Florida! Since I've been on this modified South Beach Diet, I've gone from a weight of 167 to 155 lbs, and a waist size from 32 to 30. I've lost a considerable amount of weight and have lost the cravings that I had previously. I don't pine for the chocolate bars and all the sugary sodas anymore, though I did eat some strawberry and banana cream pie from marie Callender's over the 4th of July weekend. I am going to stick to the diet, which the author of the book calls a lifestyle. Jovi has also lost a considerable amount of weight in her support of me. She is really the catalyst that provides for all the cooking of the food. Rather than the creamy fattening tasty stuff she has been cooking over the last 15 years, she is now cooking up low fat, low carb stuff that is equally as tasty, albeit without all the artery clogging fat and cholesterol that makes food taste so good. I now understand that eating too much sugar conditions the body to crave yet more food, and what do you do but eat more, even when your body doesn't need all that sugar. The pancreas works over time to process all the sugar which can lead to dangerous things.That is exactly how it has been with me. I'd eat a late breakfast, and couple that with a late lunch and a lot of candy bars and sodas in between. pretty undisciplined.

The book provides for a lot of recipes and she has made good use of it. It is funny though because the book lists all the stuff that'l make you gain weight, and I am surprised that a lot of the stuff I enjoyed previously, fruit juices, bread, and the like are really supposed to taken in moderation. I used to drink a half gallon of OJ every two days, but the sugar content is unacceptably high, and I was under the impression that OJ is a good natural drink, a safe bet is what I always assumed. But the sugar is often as much as you'd get in a can of Coke, so that habit has been quelled. Thank god I never got to learn how to drink coffee, or I would really be in trouble.

Coupled with exercise, I think I am doing pretty good. The proof'l be in the pudding when I go for my next blood test next week. I've been doing a bit of exercise, surfing, and Tae Bo. I can see an outline of stomach muscles that disappeared 15 years ago when I got married. I've been doing abs and cardio work with Tae bo and have been playing tennis as well. So I've gotten off my lazy ass and have formulated an exercise regimen that I think is beginning to show results, which is a good thing, because I don't want to be a diabetic at 40.