Welcome to My Mind

Today I took Kimberly to Cafe Envie for some coffee and pastries for a sorta breakfast. We were still hungry so I took her to the Mongolian Grill. She wanted a grilled cheese and I had the buffet while sitting outside watching people walk around the French Market. After we ate, we she wanted to walked the French Market. While we were in the French Market I bought this.

Ok, so I might have been influenced by living in Louisiana. It is a real alligator preserved. Looks pretty cool and is now living with my stuffed animals that I caught during the Mardi Gras parades last year.

I then took her to see the New Orleans cemetery. Many of the mausoleums are from the 1800′s. Stop at her hotel restaurant for some soda and then took her to the airport. It was great to see her and hangout again.

I had an amazing time with one of my best friends Kimberly in New Orleans. She was here
for a conference on Wednesday and was finished on Friday. So I came yesterday
to her hotel and had dinner at the hotel. Today I wanted her to experience the
food of New Orleans. For lunch I took her to The Gumbo Shop. We each had a cup
of gumbo. We shared the crab cakes and the crawfish étouffée. She really like
them. Then took her to Cafe de Monde for coffee (she had the coffee which she
said is was smooth) and a beignet and ate it on a bench watching the
Mississippi River. We then walked around the French Quarter and down Bourbon Street.
We then ate dinner at Murial’s. Kimberly had the duck and I had the fish
Pompano. She had to have the creme brûlée. So we shared one. She really
liked it. She really like the dinner. Then back to the hotel for sleep.

Thus begins the 12 hour 3 different flights day. Did not sleep well last night
(went to bed at about 1a and got up at 6a) so I am very tired. Even though DD
is going to LA and I to Lafayette, the first leg of our flight happened to be on
the same plane, each sitting on an isle seat, next to each other flying to
Portland.

We found a place to ear breakfast together near his gate. I had a cheese omelet.

Then is was time to say bye to DD and make my way to my gate.

Then landed in Dallas. Near my next gate I found a Cousin’s BBQ. It has been awhile since I have had Texas BBQ. This is good. I forgot how much I miss it.

Then finally made it home to the most comfortable bed in the world.

We all went to the Country buffet for breakfast-lunch. It is one of the few
places we can eat with Oryn because we can get our food right away. I even got
to feed Oryn strawberry bananas. Then back home to copy all our pictures for
each other. Pictures from my phone and my camera, pictures from DD’s phone and
camera and pictures from AD’s phone. We also hung out and talked. It has been
a fun and relaxing.

I am also a different person than I was when I arrived here. I see the world
with new possibilities and living in the present. Not the past or the future.
Because when you live in either one of those you miss the present.

The other thing that I have learned is to be happy or at least content with the
present. For too long I have been saying that I am currently in transition
mode or survival mode. Look to the future but enjoy the present. Time goes by
really quickly and I want to be able to look back and say I did all I could and
I enjoyed everything I could. I enjoyed my vacation here. Tomorrow it is time
for me to make other memories back home and to live in the moment because all we
really have control over is the present.

We all went to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. Saw Native American
clothes and tools, some modern art and some impressionistic paintings. We also
self toured the 1898 Campell house with period furniture. A big house with lots
of rooms. It was really nice.

Then home to drop off Oryn and Mom. The rest of us went to eat at the Red
Robin. Then back home to hang out.

“And so it begins”

The day began as it has every day here with a short drive to AD and JK’s house
to hang out. Had some food and then, as Oryn says, went “bye bye” (went out) to
an area where there are trails, trees, a waterfall and a river. Well, no water
coming off the waterfall because everything is frozen. We did all enjoy the
trail anyway.

DD and I also took a short trail to see the river.

Then back home to get ready to perform at 1st night. We arrived
sometime before 5p to be part of the parade. AD and I led the parade while
playing our djembes next to the big pink dragon.

JK and DD each held
a lighted palm tree during the parade.

AD and JK went to see a dance company performance while DD and I went to see the
belly dancing-burlesque performance. It ended with a feather dance.

Then met AD and the other SCC Players at the library where we going to perform
the 3 folk stories. We did 3 performances. The last of the 3 was surprisingly
the best. (Usually you are burned out after performing 3 times in a row.) The
last also had the biggest crowd. I really had fun performing with them. After
the 3rd performance we quickly cleaned up to be able to see the fireworks at
midnight. We made it right when the countdown was at 8. While watching the
fireworks a phrase pop into my mind “this is the year everything changes, for the
better”.

We were hungry so I paid for Taco Bell and when to there home to eat it.

“And so it begins!”

Rehearsed with the SCC Players for 1st night. What AD has done is to bring
together 6 of his students that he has previously worked with in other plays he
had directed at the college to present 3 folk tales. There is no lead in these
scenes and everyone is playing multiple parts even within the same folk tale. AD,
JK and I are providing the “soundtrack” and sometimes the sound effects during
the scenes. AD and JK are also acting and I have a small part to play also.

Then we went to West Wing. a Greek place that we could smell garlic from the
parking lot. I had sevloki which was really good. Then went to Shiri’s to bring
some peanut butter chocolate pie home. We then had some pie and watched Love
Stinks (which these days I agree). It was a funny movie and I did laugh a lot.
(If only I was mean enough to pull off the things he did in that movie on the
last person I dated). Then back to Mom’s to get ready for bed
and play on my childhood piano sight reading and improvising.

Rehearsal with AD and the SCC players for 1st night. Then ate at Azteca. Not
much else besides hanging out.

More hang out time. We did go see a movie while Mom watched Oryn. We went to
go see Tintin. A good movie with action one would see in a comic.

We stayed in all day hanging out. AD and I rehearsed the percussion parts for
1st night. AD and his SCC Players are performing 3 folk tails for 1st night on
New Years Eve. I will mostly be playing percussion and adding a “soundtrack” to
the performance. I do have a small acting part also. This should be fun.

Not much to write about today. We had lunch at pancake house and walked around
the mall for a bit. Then while Mom watched Oryn, we went to see Mission
Impossible 4. It was good but not great. Then the rest of the day was spend
hanging out and eating leftovers.

Christmas Day with DD, AD, JK, Mom and Oryn. Snow is still on the ground so it
is still a white Christmas. A day of food, opening presents and laughter. Even
Oryn opened presents. Turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and stuffing. We even
passed around the Opłatek (a Christmas Wafer) in memory of Nana. We Skyped
Bonnie so she could see Oryn in action.

Thinking of Nana who we would spend Christmas Eve with. I still think of her
smile, her laugh, her yelling at the TV while watching a game and of course the
Gołabki. Since we use to have dinner at her house at Christmas Eve, it was
always the day we celebrated Christmas. So when I woke up this morning,
it was snowing! So to me I had a white Christmas.

AD, JK, DD, Mom, Oryn and I went to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. We first went to
Fernan Lake which was frozen over. So we all went to walk on the water. It was
fun. We walked to the other side of the lake. To us Californians this was
cool.

Then to downtown Coeur d’Alene and had hot chocolate next to the fire place at
the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Oh, since we do not to have enough room in the fridge, our Christmas dinner is
currently outside under some snow staying cold.

AD, JK, DD, Mom, Oryn and I went to downtown Spokane to take a walk in the
Riverfront Park. Oryn really liked watching all the ducks and geese walking
around. There were packs of them.

We then walked around the mall with Oryn in
a stroller in a shape of a car. Oryn really liked “driving” his yellow car.

Then came home to AD and JK’s house, had pizza and watched The Muppet Christmas
Carol. AD and I have to watch it every year around Christmas.

Mom and I then went home to her house where I am staying. I played the piano
improvising around the melodies of the Christmas carols. I was reading the
melodies and chords changes out of the same book I use to read from back when I
lived in California and playing on the same piano. Feels different this time.
It was not nostalgic like is usually is. It was more like remembering that time
but with no emotional connection. I am a different person than I was when I
lived in California. I no longer look toward the past with what ifs. I now
look at the future with why not.

What a very long day. Started at 8a when I woke up and finished packing my
stuff for the trip to Spokane. Marcine drove DD and I to the LA airport. After
going through security, we ate at a restaurant near our gate. We had a couple
of hours before our flight so we just took our time eating lunch.

Then onto the about 3 hour flight to Seattle. A little bumpy but uneventful.
The Seattle airport is confusing and even more so now with the construction near
the B gates. Took us about an hour to eventually arrive at our B gate.

Time for food. DD had spaghetti and I had a large slice of pizza. We all then
got on the plane to our seats. Then we waited. And waited and waited for 45
minutes. It takes that long to fly to Spokane. We had been there already. No
explanation until 45 minutes later when that announced that they had to deice
the plane. It took that long to deice a plane? Pah-lease. The flight itself
was uneventful. Oh for drinks they did not have soda. Only water, juices, wine
and beer. The wine and beer were free this time. Since I have never had wine
on a plane I took advantage of that and had a glass.

Finally landed in Spokane around 8p. AD and JK came to pick DD and I up from the
airport. Man it is cold here. It is 18 degrees. Way too cold for DD and I who
were not really wearing the proper clothing to keep us warm. They took us to a
new place for all of us for dinner. We ate at Corey’s. Pretty good and I also
had the chocolate pie which was amazing. Then to their house. DD is staying
there and I went home with Mom. What a loooooong over 12 hour day.

Oh, I did say hi to the family piano that I started playing on when I was 3. I
improvised on it for a bit which was so natural it felt like I was back home
after being gone for so many years.

So tired. Time for bed.

Today DD and I went to meet Bonnie (my mom’s sister) and Jean (a friend of
Nana’s and has known me since I was born) at Souplantation for lunch. We were
there for at least 3 hours talking and eating. It was really nice to see Jean
again. I had not seen her since Nana’s funeral in 08. DD had church stuff to
do and Jean has more shopping to do so I hung out for the rest of the afternoon
hanging out with Bonnie at her house.

For dinner I drove to my friend Andrew’s house. We ended up at a fusion Asian
restaurant. I had the lemon chicken which was really good. We also has a
really nice conversation.

Today I went with DD to help pack and then deliver Meals on Wheels. DD gets up
at 7:30a and does this every day. For me, I somehow woke up (ya I know that is
really early for me, especially on vacation) got dressed and we arrive there
some time after 8a. DD got to introduce me to the people he works with there. I
then helped pack the hot food trays complete with gloves, apron and a hairnet.
DD is a floater delivery person so he takes any route that is not covered that
day. So he drove and I helped navigate and walked the food to each persons
door. DD is an amazing person volunteering his time to do this everyday.

Then a friend from my past came to visit me today. Heather and I were great
friends over 20 years ago and recently through Facebook have connected again.
In the summer I went out and drove to her place. Today she came here. She
stayed most of the afternoon and just hung out. It was great seeing her again.

DD and I were hungry by now and I was really in the mood for a Claim Jumper
chicken pot pie. So to Claim Jumper we went. Still as good as I remember it.
DD went to Mass and I took a nap. After a nap, we went to go see the new Muppet
Movie. It was really good. It kept true to the original and while updating the
pace of the movie for a modern audience. I kept laughing throughout the movie.

I woke up this morning to thoughts of people who have pass from this world,
Nana, Carlos (someone I knew from a mutual friend. He was close to my age but
younger than I) and my two friends here in Lafayette, Kim and Danielle both
lost their fathers this past year. I could not help but think that life is too
short not to enjoy the present. If you focus to much on the negative, you miss
the fun and the sparkle of possibilities. Happiness is mood not a destination.

For a late lunch, DD and I went to Souplantation. I miss this place. Lots of
wonderful and fresh food.

I then went with DD to daily mass. He was also the alter server for the mass.

Then had a wonderful dinner with my DD’s sister Marcine , her husband Mike and
their daughter (my cousin) Melissa. Melissa made the spaghetti with meat balls
knowing it was my favorite food. It was really good and had with some red
Italian vino (wine). Great conversation. I really enjoyed laughing.