Loneliness and Remarriage

So even though my dad came here to visit here for two weeks, I only really saw him for several days. The rest of the time he was visiting old high school friends all around California, plus had a weekend mini highschool reunion in Vegas.

He got to see Celine Dion, who he was raving about, even though he had nosebleed seats.

He was in San Diego earlier this week, visiting his best friend. I had called him while he was out there, and asked him if he was having a good time. He said he was going around town and sightseeing a lot. ‘Did you take a lot of pictures?’ I asked. He said he didn’t, because he didn’t want to take pictures of himself alone. It was a painful reminder that whenever my dad and mom would take trips together, he would come back with rolls and rolls of my mother in front of whatever thing they were seeing. My mom in front of the Grand Canyon. My mom in front of the White House, etc. And then there would be the pictures of them together. Rarely did my father take a picture alone.

I knew that he was really missing my mom during the trip. He had so much time to himself, time that was usually spent by my mom going shopping or seeing the sights she wanted to see. He also had forgotten so many things for the trip, things that usually my mom packed for their trips together.

When he came back, I asked him how his trip went. He had mentioned that many of his friends had told him that they knew people they could fix him up with. I don’t know how he reacted to it, but he seemed pretty lighthearted telling it. Me, I guess it’s all a little raw for me still. He also mentioned an old classmate who was a widow, who insisted on taking a picture with him so that he could show it to his daughters to see what they think. It was humorous to my dad, but to me, I was a bit horrified. He then said, ‘You know, you’re mom said that it was okay if I remarried, but if she didn’t like her, she would come back and tell us.’

Yeah, she said, that…I remember hearing about it…that’s my mom for you. Leave it up to her to think of my dad’s happiness after she was gone. She wouldn’t want my dad to be alone. Of course, she has the power of veto by coming back to this earthly plane if she didn’t approve.

But as for me…I think I’ll pass on having a step mom for now.

But my dad had a great time, hanging out with old friends and for the first time in a while, getting some rest and having some fun.

Quickie Weekend Recap/Schedule

Yesterday:

- Woke up late
- Headed to Hermosa Beach
- Ate at Zeppy’s, had horrible pizza
- Came home, started watching Rockstar
- Went to pick up Dan and Tall Steve, waited for YEARS since punkass didn’t pick up his phone
- Went to the Yardhouse for dinner
- It was too packed there, went to Islands instead
- Went to Rick and Lanie’s poker night

Today
- Make my special heart and star pancakes (done)
- Check out Newport Beach
- Check out Venice Beach
- Check out Santa Monica Beach and Third Street Promenade
- Eat dinner at the Yardhouse

It’s a pretty ambitious schedule, but I think we can do it!!!

You Are What You Eat

Got this from Soo’s, your personality based on your favorite foods….

You Are What You Eat

Here’s my results:

Christine,
You have confidence in your ability to get things done. You are a leader among friends, and a good one too. You are responsible and like to challenge yourself by taking up difficult tasks - and you usually succeed.

You’re very careful and circumspect in all matters but you won’t face any problems until they actually happen. Also you’re a kind and sensitive person.

Also, Christine, you think positively about the people around you and are never prejudiced. This means others see you as a kind and gentle person. They enjoy listening to what you have to say because they respect you.

You are self-centered and disagree other people’s feelings and ideas. You normally go against social rules and regulations.

I don’t know how accurate they are. Self Centered? Me!?!? NEVER! :-P

Hanging at Huntington

Took the girls out to lunch at Ruby’s on Huntington Beach today. We had a great time, and they’re loving the California weather. Marian has developed a fascination with surfer boys, she just can’t get enough of them. And Huntington had more than enough to keep her occupied. After lunch we walked around Main street for a while, checking out the surf shops and people watching.

Here’s some pics from our adventures:


Me, Shannon and Marian on the pier


For a mere $3, we rented a Rod for an hour


Marian loves those surfer boys

Word Association

Forgot to do this on Sunday….I’m only, uh, 5 days late…

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Virginia:: Madsen

  2. Soft:: Gentle
  3. Carol:: King
  4. Vanity:: Fair
  5. Feminist:: Movement
  6. Alias:: Comic
  7. Coward:: Lion
  8. Beer:: Gut
  9. Chance:: Try
  10. Honest:: Abe

Truth or Dare

So I worked pretty hard today, even though I worked at home. I’ve been so behind because I’ve been working at the ‘Oaks trying to help them out, and I haven’t been able to concentrate on my other clients. Today I was supposed to be doing a lot of testing, but got stuck on a 3 hour phone call.

I went to the airport to pick up Marian and Shannon. I was antsy all day waiting for them to come in! Their flight came in late so I hung out at the 7-11 where all the cool airport workers hang out.

After getting the girls, I took them to In-n-Out to get some grub for dinner - I hadn’t eaten all day and the girls were starving. Of course, Marian totally looked like a tourist when she walked in there and exclaimed ‘That’s all that’s on the menu?’ And she wonders why people were staring!

After dropping their stuff off at the pad, we headed over to Huntington Beach with our food to watch the sunset. For some weird reason, there wasn’t anyone on the beach. I guess it’s too cold for the other Californians to come out and see the sunset. I thought we were going to get kicked out or something. So were were there on this huge beach with our beach blankets with no one around us, eating burgers, laughing our asses off, watching for surfer boys and watching the sun go down.

Then we went back to the apartment to watch ‘Friends’, and later went to Cha for Tea, the tea bar where all the local cool kids hang out at night. We sat around sipping our boba tea drinks, and played a round of Jenga Truth or Dare, which was pretty hilarious. I’m sure the rest of the place was entertained watching Marian do the hula and me and Shannon rubbing noses. We had some pretty good laughs!

Then back to the pad, to wait for Dan and Tall Steve to get in. Once he got on, he told his horror story of having the wrong assignment on the plane, therefore getting smooshed into a small seat. Then at the airport, it took 40 minutes for him to get a shuttle to his rental car place. And when he was trying to get on the 405, all the entrance ramps were closed, so he had to drive a couple miles to find one, and it was going North so he had to get off and turn around.

Woe be to Dan when he gets to his hotel/motel with no windows. Sorry dude.

By the way, that’s Dan in the webcam on the right. Doesn’t he look like the guy who just won’t get voted off American Idol?

Ok, the girlies are sleeping. I shall stop my clickety clacking on the keyboard now.

Junk

Photo Friday: Junk


Knick Knack Drawer: Long Beach, CA - April 2004

I actually had to take this picture, because I have no pics of junk anywhere. This is our ‘I don’t know what else to do with this stuff’ drawer. I’m sure everyone has one!

Hanging Out in Hollywood

Yesterday I went to a comic book signing at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood. It was Michael Turner’s birthday, so I got him a little seahorse and a card, which he loved. It was great to see everyone again, Liz, Lauren, Koi, Mike, Jason, Talent and Frank…but too bad Peter wasn’t there!

It was my first time driving around Hollywood since I’ve moved here, and I have to say it was pretty crazy. I was half driving and half/sightseeing. I should go there one of these days to walk around and check out the sights.

Since I didn’t have any comics for them to sign, I just hung out for a bit, watching Tal draw an upcoming GI Joe cover and just chatting it up with other comic book geeks. I told Tal I didn’t bring any books with me to sign, so he just signed my hand. Funny guy. He’s a lot of fun to talk to! We had a nice discussion on his extremely popular European erotica (Eurotica) series called ‘Gangbang’. We were just fooling around, but this guy thought we were serious and was pretty interested in knowing more about it. :-P It was hard to break the news that we were only kidding.

Mike was awesome enough to draw this sweet picture of Psylocke in my sketchbook for me. I asked him if it was a drag to be signing autographs on his birthday, but he said that he was happy to do it, since he was having a good time and he was surrounded by friends. (A lot of other comic creators stopped by the signing to with Mike Happy Birthday).

Sadly, this will probably be the last time I see the crew for a while, since I’ll be moving back to Chicago in a couple months. But then they’ll be at the Chicago con, so I have something to look forward to!

Shrek Gets Sheared

This sheep is a whole lotta sheep…No need to wonder what a sheep looks like if it hasn’t had it’s hair cut in 6 years. Makes one curious as to what sheep did before humans started cutting their hair…did they just walk around with little sheep dreadlocks?

Looks like Shrek the Sheep has been avoiding shearers for some time now and has accumlated quite a heavy coat of wool. He looks like a walking carpet! He’s become something of a local celebrity and hides out in the mountains, his heavy coat the perfect camouflage to evade people.

Shrek the sheep faces his shearers

Pulling the wool over his eyes

Owner fears for safety of world-famous wether



UPDATE - Because I know that not knowing was keeping you up at night…

NZ’s famous sheep gets TV haircut

This is almost as good as when Bartie the Baseball got blown up on TV.

Just wanted to give you the before/after pics…

Before

After

Curves

Phototime Tuesday: Curves


The Metro: Washington DC, December 2002