Surprise Sunday Night

Woke up on Sunday after having a pretty quiet weekend with monkey and sort of laid in bed wondering what to do on a three day weekend. Neither of us had plans and wanted to really do anything. I was on the porch enjoying a nice hot cup of cocoa, complete with mini marshmellows when my cell phone rang. "what, you've been in town all week and are just calling me now, F you!" sums up my response. Monique Chebat is my best friend, I love her honestly however about two years ago she moved to Las Vegas to live with her charming as hell, handsome too!, boyfriend Fernando. I adore them both.



After chatting for awhile and catching up Monique informed me that she and her mother wanted to go to Pechanga- a fine Indian gaming establishment. She asked if I would like to come and also ask my grandma to come since my grandma lives close by and is also the same age as Moniques mom. I thought about it.....tic toc tic toc. I thought my grandma would turn down the idea, as she usually stays home and doesn't do much of anything other then sit quietly in her home. I called her, no answer.

I drove down to Anaheim and thought, I am just going to drive by GG's to make sure she is ok, as she is usually home and with my mom in Hawaii just wanted to check on her. I pulled up and my grandmother was literally sitting in a parked car in her garage. I walked up next to the door and stuck my head through the window- she didn't even look surprised she just looked at me. I said Grandma what are you doing and casually she replied 'trying to come up with enough energy to get out of the car'. That's it I said, you're coming with me!

Three hours later behold Pechanga!



Now by this time you're probably asking yourself what is the point of this post- so what she went to gamble with her grandma. I pretend people read this so I am going to tell you why. My grandma doesn't do anything, she really only has a couple of friends left- none of which live by her, and she doesn't really talk to anyone. She has been urged to attend events and also linked with older adult community centers however she doesn't even want to go thinking she won't enjoy herself- so she stays home. Well it just so happens that Monique's mom, who is 80- yup she had Mo when she was 46, and my grandma hit it off big time! big time! Before we even got to the casino they had swapped phone numbers in order to hook up at hometown buffet for stuffed cabbage night- don't ask- and they only live about a mile apart!

So the four of us enjoyed ourselves and had somewhat of a competition playing in teams!


Team Chebat


Team Ansel

The winner....

My Grandma!!!!!! woot woot!

Anyway- it was so good, so good and fun in fact that when Monkey called me worried at 1:30AM cause I wasn't home yet we were all surprised at how late it was. I also had the great fortune of buying my grandma a foot long ruben hot dog- don't ask.

However- for your pleasure- HERE ARE SOME FACTS I learned from my grandma
1. My Kansas uncle was circumcised as an adult - ouch!
2. My grandma lost most of her placenta with her son and was forced to stay in bed for 5 months of the pregnancy
3. My grandma smoked for over twenty years

Weird... and I am so happy I had this time with her- it's the little things!

October has Arrived

good evening rain.

as the rain falls outside and monkey sits beside me on the couch studying i thought i would log in and write. i have spent the last two days sleeping and sleeping, with lapses to sip tea and watch the tellie. i am one of those people who doesn't like using sick time for sick time but i felt it necessary and tonight i feel much better. i feel slightly more nauseated due to the governor ads on tv and if i have to hear or see meg's voice one more time i am going to cancel my ebay account. how can someone dump $140 million on a political race then tell me that california belongs to everyone. eh.


scary pirate?

over the past weekend i had the honor of spending time with my little family, grandma bozo and pax. in preparation for halloween grandma and i took them to a pumpkin patch and a costume store. hilarious. pax couldn't stop staring at jason from friday the XIII who greeted us by the door yielding a machete; ironically bodhi tried to calm him down however it was bodhi who had trouble falling asleep as the man haunted his dreams;pax snored below him.




Scary?

i'm trying to figure out what else to type. the past couple of months have been busy with nonprofit planning, outreach and engagement events, and the usual work ups and downs. my sister announced she is getting married to long time best friend of the family berto, swell swell young lad, and she will be moving back down south, not pigeon forge south, but los angeles south. well its more like the oc but i dont like to call it that. i am happy, both for the marriage and for them moving! now if only my one true love, poochie, would come back down. happily i learned he got his dmv id back and is now able to rent a vehicle so i hope to see him more often. my sister is in the process of looking for homes to rent and hopefully they will chose someplace in a downtown area, with quaint old fashioned charm. i know it will be an adjustment for her after living in such as diverse and beautifully eclectic place as san francisco for so long, however i am hoping that having a crazy family around will make up for the move!

other then that all is all and that is that. stay tuned for events or the like. life is interesting, even when it's not.

Well hello there August

My life continues to pass me by, just like July, and as I sit here typing I wonder where it went. The most highlighted event recently was the Prine Annual Reunion event and vacation last month. I found my sandwich and all of us headed to Mammoth where we hiked, fish, played tripoli, ate lots of good food, panned for gold, and I am proud to also add horse back riding, which I can now cross off my bucket list!

I took nine days off work- using six vacation days- and left the city behind me. This was my first vacation in two years since Amy and I took our month long road trip two years ago. Sometimes I forget what it is like to get away and even what America looks like. You know that seemingly untouched and beautiful place that makes me happy I live here, ah the frontier- Tally ho! I feel the month long road trip may have spoiled me into ever enjoying a vacation again, or at least being able to fully relax and breath, however I was I feel I was able to do that last month. I love my family, even with all the yelling of the crazy bozopax. There is something wonderful and yes all be it odd about being around all of my family at once. It was like that Wisconsin trip all over again- no matter how old I get I will never outgrow family vacations and am thankful we all had the time to come together.



Mi Familia


This weekend the nonprofit group I formed, Recycled Resources for the Homeless, had it's first neighborhood outreach and engagement event. Together we set out in pairs to meet and greet homeless folks living in Highland Park, Glassell Park, Eagle Rock, and S Pasadena. I was so touched that people gave up their Saturday morning and afternoon to make a difference in the lives of people around them. We had a solid 28 people we outreached to, many asking for us to come back and check in with them. Most were mentally ill and many reported living in the same place for years- it's those people you see in the morning on the way to work and you wonder about. Well I am happy to say I now know their names, their stories, and they know there are people who are here to assist them. I can't describe the feeling of making contact with people and listening to them. Amazing!

You can read more about it here... www.recycledresources.org/news.

So thats where August and I have been so far. I also took some time to relax this weekend and hang with my monkey at the wineries in Temecula. Good times!



It's 9:00pm now and I am going to bed, yup I am old, however I feel pretty damn good about it.

Good night!

4th of Julio!

3...


2...


1...


Happy 5th of July to chubby pigeons everywhere! These pictures were taken in sequence from our backyard in Highland Park. I feel it urgent to point out these fireworks were not done from a park, a stadium, a school, or even while fire persons were standing by. To those who say we are in a recession I say come to East LA for the 4th of Julio and have a look. I am talkin Disneyland style fireworks above your heads! We had to go nowhere and pay nothing! It was simply beautiful and after the buzz kicked in Alex wasn't so worried the house was going to burn down.

We stayed back from family gatherings this year, sorry guys, due to the new home owners fear of our house being set ablaze, why I don't know it is the only catastrophe our insurance covers: fire. Nevertheless it was a jolly good time.



I love taking a man down! In addition to bbq and fireworks alex broke out his pellet gun and we took dead aim on the rich kids, got them in the crosshairs, and took them down! We thought we would honor the hard working people of this country by taking shots at those people we thought destroyed or are destroying America.





Target hit!! (repeatedly) In the middle of all this madness my friend David turned to me and asked- Do you like America? I looked at him and said Hell's yes man, I love America, just not most of the people who make decisions in their best interest, financial interest which is what I feel our government has become. The concept of sharing is out the window, taking care of others is out the window, and giving everyone that equal opportunity, I feel, is so far from the truth. However this is the most beautiful place in the world, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. To make my point understood I played Coming to America by Neil Diamond and completed this with a dance off! The people here are so diverse, like no other place ( keep in mind I have only been to Mexico- and on the baja side) but I feel this is so. How awesome is it that when we choose where to have dinner we chose from essentially every type and style of food- from sushi to banana wrapped enchiladas. Rad!

So I salute you America! And remember...
'Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.' - Lincoln

Ole!

June

Much has happened since my last post. I have kinda farted around and not had much to write about. I mean CVI came and went and it was grand, simply grand- however I had a shitty cold the whole time we were there and feel that I let my fellow CVI'rs down; well there is always 2011! The high point was the shuttle ride!!!



I did however win 100,000 pennies on the way back at state line. For those of you who aren't good with math Moochie Poochie will tell you. He turned to me in the middle of the payout and said, $1,000 dollars- you just won $1,000 dollars. We hugged kissed and made love! All in Buffalo Bill's, it was great. To celebrate I got myself, Fluffy Von Bottom and Moochie Del Taco- the bill $27.00, that's del taco gold!



This weekend Monk and I went to Logan's first birthday. All I can say is cute cute and more cute. I don't know which side of the coin I prefer, Lance or Logan; both! Judge for yourself.





The tradition in our family continued as he was given his own cake and had at it! The best part was when Lance came up with his fork and helped out. I have to write for a moment just how much I love Rach and Brian. Seriously love them. We are in the middle of making plans to bring over a fire pit and a cube of coors light so we can spend the night over there just talking about the world and all our wonders. More to follow here.

Monkey had a birthday too. He is now 37 years old. He hated the turn to 37 but loved his party. I guess it's just the three years to forty that bothers him, I myself am looking forward to forty. The older I get the more things just seem to make sense fall into place and the less I give a fuck about things. My anxiety has been so/so. I go into Kaiser tomorrow to meet with an anxiety specialist for an intake. I am trying to be positive. I made it through my work week without missing days, went out to lunch with alex, and also went shopping. I am trying to not hide in my home full of panic, my mind is constantly full of 'what if', well I have to change the way I think and hope tomorrow goes well.

Well that's my catch up. We all, The Prine's, go to Mammoth in two weeks. a ONE WEEK FAMILY VACATION! I AM SO EXCITED! I have ghost towns mapped out, horse rides booked, and I am going to take Pax and Bozo panning for gold. RAD!

Have a good night earth.

To tag or Bomb a Surface

Good morning.

It's sunday and the wind is chilly picking up and grey clouds are rolling in. Beautiful. Rain is on the way as I sit here now with a warm cup of coffee complete with vanilla cinnamon cream. It's been a slow moving weekend. I had a colonoscopy on Friday which was pretty amazing. To lie on a bed and watch as a camera explores 50 feet of you innards is pretty remarkable, not to mention the drugs only added to the experience. All went well and I have to go back in three years due to them finding and removing two polyps. Amazing huh?

When I woke up Saturday I painted the fence that surrounds our home. We haven't painted it since we moved in due to it being a canvas for the neighborhood artists. There are several definitions for graffiti such as a backjump which means 'A quickly executed throw up or panel piece. Backjumps are usually painted on a temporarily parked train or a running bus'. I think that is what ends up on our fence. I don't really mind it when it's a picture however when it is unreadable letters slung together it annoys me. The most recent one is this...



Interesting huh? I like boobs, who doesn't? I don't know if the family across the alley enjoyed having this as the backdrop to their bbq's but it made us laugh. Anyway we painted the fence..



I will now monitor it in the mornings to see if Santa came or not; he didn't come last night. I don't know what I would tag if I were such an artist. There is a cat that appears all over the 110 freeway, he is smiley and wears a bow tie in every picture. he makes me smile and upon spotting him monkey always makes meow noises, I like it really but will I like it if it shows up on our fence? Who knows.

After painting the fence we made use of the rental car we had gotten for my procedure on Friday- no driving home and monkey still not driving a stick- so we have the car until monday. Driving through S Pasadena we went to antique stores and low and behold there are wineries- well a couple and we stopped in to have some port. Notice the Italian grape fields behind us.



It was nice to be the passenger and Monkey took great care of me. I am now going to make him pancakes as a thank you with whipped cream and the one strawberry that has grown in our garden.

Enjoy your fleeting weekend guys!

B-I-N-G-O!

On saturday my family- well part of them- came up to Nolden for cocktails and snacks then as the sky opened up and a heavy downpour of chubby rain descended we headed to south pasadena high school to play bingo!

Discovered in 2010, this bingo hall is conveniently located about a mile from our home, has a $15 buy in for 22 games- each paying out $250 to the winner!, and for some strange reason is fun- although it's not quite Vegas fun! My family had asked if I knew what I wanted to do for my birthday and I thought this would be grand.


In corner number one we had my aunt Jan, next to the queen herself my grandma, next to the original queen my mother, and a lady who often wishes she was a queen- a drag queen- Monique.

In corner number two we had the men- thats the corner I was in!


My dad, seated next to me, seated next to monkey. I guess it made it easier for all the drinkers to pass booze to each other underneath the table!- something I really need to work on.

Did anyone win some people have asked. No, no we did not. However it was fun. Unbeknown to us this night had a jackpot raffle prize of $5000, therefore every seat in the house was filled so we didn't really get to sit in a bingo circle, as its known however glad we went. Also note, they ran out of tri-tip sandwiches... we'll have to go back! Go back too because Monique and I got a free game card for playing bingo in the month of our birthdays! a $25 value! And I just must write that I like it when I get to spend time with me mom and dad- not enough of that lately.


Monkey gives up! I don't think Monkey will be going back as he surrendered somewhere between I 23 and O 71. Ironic for someone who enjoyed math more than he thought he would however could not keep up with the bombardment of numbers!


BINGO!

Among Friends

Chef Monkey in Training. On saturday we had our friends over to warm up our house yet again however this time we were fortunate enough to have borrowed a canopy and broke in the new firepit given to us by my LOVELY family.

The morning began with alex making sushi- entirely from scratch- I think about 100 pieces in all. Then he made canapes! As I watched him I thought about how much we have gotten our shit together and just how far we had come in life. Good thoughts.



Each invitation we sent out had a clue within saloon doors that led our friends to find individual bottles we had made for them.


Complete with pictures of us drinking together and poetry about alcohol, it was the thing to get people feeling right at home! On Moniques bottle it read 'To always doing sober what you say you'll do drunk' as our plans are quite elaborate at most times bar side. The back of the bottle had a label which read:

Established in 2010 La Chateau Nolden
has become known for it’s fine wine, fine food,
and finer folks. All grapes are hand picked for
freshness and stomped on by only the
finest millipedes.

Government Warning: Consuming alcoholic
beverages may cause pregnancy or blood
stains on floor. Objects in rear view mirror
may be sexier than they appear.

I also made brownies- which appeared to be a favorite- as one of the guests exclaimed- I want to have sex with these brownies! Sadly I did not capture that on film.



I was most impressed and felt loved by everyone as everyone made it- well with the exception of Ashley who had to help her cousin move. We chilled by the fire all night until the wee hours of morning and I feel the party was a success! Music screamed in the backyard which gave way to a small 80's dance club...complete with friends wrapping around the bars on the canopy strip style!


The guys!

It isn't often we all get to be together anymore as we are all busy and doing our own things in life however for one brief moment we all set schedules aside and it felt like old times.

Thanks Nolden for making our friends comfortable and I now feel somewhat whole after having our family and friends over. It will be a long week now as this has past and I am thinking who will visit next?????? Will it be you?

I love the people in my life!

:)

Vagina Weekend 2010

Us!

Ok my internet has not been my best friend lately and as my sister says to me, when are you going to just give in and pay for internet- NEVER! I answer. The beginning of this month I was honored to host our annual Vagina Weekend. Seeing as how I am 1. Broke 2. Anxiety prone as of late and 3. in a new House! I thought it be good to have my beautiful family here. It turned out to be a very relaxing time. The weekend look something like Victorian Home Tour, Followed by Wine Tour, Followed by Bingo, Followed by a MASSIVE flea market, followed by more shopping, followed by eating, followed by relaxing, followed by bonding. I was happy, yes yes I was. I love the idea of spending the weekend with me mom and sisters, Love it!



Bingo! Obsessed older ladies fighting for some confusing form of connecting the dots- not at all like the bingo you remember!


Mt Rushmore Flask... Best find!


Authentic Knights of Columbus Hat- say what $50 bucks?!

Good times Ladies! Good Times.

Slow Cook Weekend

I set out to do more when I moved and I feel this weekend was good for it, well today anyway. I busted out the slow cooker and the slow cooker recipe book I got about ten years ago from me mom and actually used it. The trouble was- well two things really. I could never use the cooker because well frankly I was lazy and it took the food too long to cook but mostly because I had a dog who liked to eat everything and I was always afraid she would jump onto the counter to eat the stew! I wish she would have- I miss her terribly in a neighborhood so full of dogs. I met a puppy from across the way today, a small black rot mix of 12 weeks old. The woman who owned him didn't speak English that well and I know my Spanish sucks so I guess I got off lucky otherwise I would have figured out where she got him and gotten myself one. He ran around our house for awhile and pee'd on the floor and both Alex and I thought, maybe we should puppy proof the house a little more first.



Anyway, so now my chowder it's in it's finally stage- I give you corn crab chowder, damn this house smells good. I also did a bit of gardening this weekend, well I guess I call it that. I half assly pulled up the weeds in the front garden and laid down potting soil, wet it, and threw wild flower seeds on it. I hope something grows. Who knows. I got that specific mix because the package boasts it invites animals and hummingbirds, bring it!



And alex helped me put these up tonight. To give our little home on the prairie some more pizazz we got gingerbread wood cut outs for the porch. Cute! Now I can follow up my monday off with a mint julip on the porch.

Hello.

Ready Set Go - 2010

It's been awhile since I posted on here as much has been going on. The holidays are over and as I sit on the couch in backyard with the warm sun on my back it feels good. I finally broke in Nolden having all my family up here at once. Now it feels more like a home than a house and my nausea is slowly subsiding.



The house warming began with a Mexican feast we felt fitting since we now live in Highland Park which is, I'm guessing, about 90% Latino families. For Christmas my dads mother in San Diego gave me the china set she purchased in the 1950's when she got married so Monkey and I used this to feed to fam. You know the house wasn't as small as we thought, everybody fit!!! It was cold and raining outside so the patio was off limits but we threw some extra chairs in the front room and boom- party!



Bodhi and Zoey were right at home going through all my pirate treasures and I taught them how to load and shoot flint lock pistols and though they were only props they didn't know it! Suckas! It was just so nice to look around at everyone here and a feeling of calm and happiness came over me as we played games in the front room- it kinda made up for all the bullshit and stress it took getting into this place.



New Years was held at the Prine house- the place I still call home- and that was also nice. When everyone is here- San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Davis, and we pile into Agnes I get a feeling of calm and togetherness..sure it could have been the liquor however I opt to believe it was family! We had karaoke lobster steak and nasty joke telling fire side in the backyard till 3:30am, yeah I'm proud! Good times! Yes it is true that as we are related to each other we sometimes cross the line however it's great to no 'that's not concerned off limits!'.



When I think about 2010 I think about taking a vacation- my road trip partner pictured above. I didn't take a vacation in 2009 and sometimes that in itself I find amazing. The plan is to route an adventure up to South Dakota and stay in Deadwood for a few days, stopping by the brothels in Nevada, ghost towns, Corn Palace, and also hitting up Casa Bonita in Colorado - a monkey request- on the way back down. Maybe June or May?

Well I am now off to research what types of plants to get from Lowes so I can start working on the front lawn- currently it is my ashtray but I know we have to step it up! It's currently 63 degrees at 10am and a high of 80 is scheduled, ah California winters!

Welcome 2010 and thanks to family that helped me get here-- you know who you are!

cheers!