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.