Friday, June 20, 2014

Sports


Sports.

That's whats on my mind. Sports. Soccer to be specific. The World Cup. I'm not a soccer fan. But every time the World Cup comes around, I'm there watching. Talking futbol to people. A co-worker asked if I talk futbol too or I just talk baseball.

The fun thing about the World Cup is the passion that oozes out of the teams. The pride of representing their countries is palpable through the tv screen. I root for teams without knowing a single player. I root for teams who live and breathe futbol.

This is why despite the obvious reason to root for team USA at the back of my mind I thought they should not/could not be successful at this sport. A sport that the majority of its residents don't care for. That is why I was really torn when they beat Ghana. They deserve to win this year after being beaten by the same team for two consecutive World Cups. However, a win in this tournament means so much more to the Ghanians (?) than it does to the Americans.

I don't know the rules of soccer. I'm learning slowly. But even to a casual observer, I can appreciate all the drama of these games. It's fun!

In other topic, a few hours ago I was contemplating on writing here since I haven't been regular in posting lately. I remember the name of this blog - Whatever Comes To Mind - and thought why not write whatever comes to mind right there and then. That's what I would like to do with this blog. Of course I wouldn't completely dismiss writing recaps of my daily/weekly happenings.




Tuesday, June 10, 2014

I was going to post this on Monday, but I got lazy.


As the heat(wave) was descending upon the valley by the bay this weekend , I was having another whinefest. It did not help that days prior I learned for the first time that we were having another cook-out with the neighbors on Sunday afternoon. Not that I don't like the neighbors. In fact I like them very much. They have been very welcoming when we first moved in 5 years ago and we have maintained a very good neighborly relationship since then. It's not even the entertaining and the things one needs to do before the said day - like cleaning the house for instance - for the record it's the fact that I wasn't even consulted. Yes, not consulted. I overheard the phone conversation between my husband and the neighbor about what they're bringing and what my husband is grilling.

My husband is wonderful but sometimes his timeline and time table don't coincide mine. Is it too much to ask for a quiet Sunday? The cook out turned out wonderful by the way. We ate slowly and savored every juicy bite of the chicken and the ribs and the sides and the chatter was continuous throughout the afternoon and evening. While that was really enjoyable, by the time the thing wrapped up it was nearly 8 pm. Yes I know there's plenty of light outside at that time still; however, my "chill" time on the weekend was considerably cut very very short.

The neighbors came after 3 pm. Before that I was at church having a meeting. I have probably mentioned once or twice that I am a member of the church "governing group" like a student body officer in school. Anyhow, it was one of those long quarterly meetings. One of the things that I took from that meeting was nothing to do with taking care of business at hand, but one of the sharings that happen before every meeting. Since yesterday was Pentecost Sunday and how the Holy Spirit inspires us, we were sharing our passions and inspirations to do what God calls us to do. I shared how this year I have been uninspired to do anything. I feel rushed, I feel burdened, burnt out. And so I have no inspiration to do anything. This by the way was seconded by a guy in the group, who felt that there's too many thing on the plates right now that taking on another thing is not doable. Cannot blame him, he got two kids under 13 years.

However what was inspiring to me was another lady who shared that while most of us are hellbent on helping other people (the needy, the hopeless, the homeless, the hungry), she doesn't care for all that. Her passion is calling her to help the birds. And so she volunteers to take care of birds.

I thought that's wonderful. I have a similar passion with cats, feral cats. Although unlike her my passion is limited to feeding those that frequent my backyard or those that once in a while find their way in my backyard. I hope I could do more and I vow to do more in the future.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Some random updates


How can I let this blog lay idle for three weeks? Was I that busy? That uninspired?

Anyway, some of the things that happen between the last post and today:

We had another bbq at home with friends from church. There were 12 people who came, 10 adults and 2 kids. We are getting so good at this, because at the end of the day there was only a little bit of food leftover. Usually we prepare way too much food for grilling and no matter how much people eat, we always end up with so much food to freeze. And I'm not one to enjoy eating leftovers from 6 months ago.

After months of toying with the idea of having girls night out, we finally did it. I organized a women's happy hour at Chevy's. Four of us gathered after work on a Friday and chatted our way through margaritas and chips and dips, quesadillas and tacos, chili rellenos and tamales. By 10:00 pm, my phone was ringing. The hubby was inquiring what's taking me so long. This was my first night out with the girls since I got married.....7 years ago!!!!

Speaking of 7 years, we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary by taking a road trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. Until this trip, I didn't realize that all I know of Lake Tahoe was the Southern part. This time we stayed in North Lake Tahoe and enjoyed the pleasant weather and blue skies. We stayed in a charming little cabin, watched sunset by the pier, walked the private beach, ate late dinner at a kitschy restaurant, grabbed snacks and beer at a local brewing company restaurant and drove around the lake stopping at different points. It was a wonderful vacation.

Two days in Lake Tahoe, then we retraced our 2008 road trip to scenic Highway 395. The difference this time we stopped at the south Mono Lake site where we saw the larger tufas, such a joy to see.

In addition, we took Tioga Pass to Yosemite. Compared to 2008 (we also visited on Memorial Day weekend)there was less snow on the mountaintops, which was quite disappointing but did not detract from the overall beauty of Yosemite. Took a day trip to Yosemite stopping at Toulumne River, Tuolumne Meadow, Olmstead Point, etc.

For the night we stayed at a friend's cabin in Groveland. They invited us to stay over so we can assess the cabin's rental worthiness. They are planning on putting it up for rental when they don't use it. According to them, they get plenty of usage, sometimes driving up there (3+ hours from bay area) 2 weekends a month. What we saw was more of a second home. It was set up as a home, not a cabin that is rarely used. It's big and the location is perfect, about 30 minutes from Yosemite. It has 2 br 2ba and a huge deck that is shaded by oak and pine trees. Deers roam around freely.

Lastly, I got to see the new X-men movie. I thought it was good, I enjoyed it fully.

So there, I think that's all that has happened since the last time I signed in here. Hopefully I will find something interesting to write about and share.

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