1231 knott's

My sister, Judi, called me in the morning and said that she and her husband, Mike, were taking their three kids (my one niece and two nephews) to Knott’s Berry Farm for the day, and asked if I wanted to join them. I answered in the affirmative and we made arrangements for them to pick me up in about an hour.

My niece called back about ten minutes later, and told me to wear navy blue and white, Penn State’s colors. I kind of figured I wouldn’t wear USC’s colors, since my sister is a UCLA grad.

On the way to the park, my sister mentioned that Knott’s had a special ticket price for anyone who wore the team colors of this season’s Rose Bowl (USC vs. Penn State).

Mike dropped us off at the front and parked the minivan while my sister and the three kids went to the ticket booth. The kids had different pricing, based on their age, so it was just the three of us (my sister, my brother-in-law, me) who tried for the Rose Bowl special. My sister had on a white top and blue jeans, but the ticket attendant had to get special approval to accept it. I had on a navy sweatshirt, a dark blue shirt, and white shoes, so the attendant said it was acceptable. But Mike was still parking the minivan and could not be seen. The attendant said it was okay and gave the three of us the special pricing.

Judi was a bit miffed by it, as they would accept Mike without seeing him, yet had to get special approval for her, who was right in front of them.

We started out in Camp Snoopy and it was just fun watching the kids running around from ride to ride. I mused to my sister, asking her if we were ever that young. I didn’t expect an answer but I got one anyways.

I watched them pan for gold and dress-up for an old-style portrait. The last time I did that, I looked like an American Indian. It must have been the long hair hanging on my shoulders.

Knott’s really hasn’t changed that much over the years, but I saw a Panda Express and a TGI Fridays. My sister and I both remembered the mission displays along the El Camino Real. It’s not there anymore.

At the end of the day, on the way to the parking lot, Judi commented that I didn’t go on any rides. I said that it was okay, because it was nice to spend time with my niece and nephews. Plus, having my wheelchair pushed and steered by the two boys (ages 5 and 9) was exciting enough. The youngest one only pushed once, saying, “Boy, you’re heavy!”

Even when Mike used the chair for discipline. “Do you want to get hit by the wheelchair again?” He didn’t ask me, even though I was in the chair at the time.

They got me home before 6pm.

1230 food, jazz and friends

Ching picked me up from home and we headed for Downtown Disney, for an annual dinner with friends. The location was the Jazz Kitchen and I was looking forward to seeing an old friend from Fresno, Ken, along with meeting some friends of Ching’s that I haven’t met before.

We arrived about an hour early so we looked at some of the shops, like the pins, and the fragrance of fresh caramel popcorn filled the air. Ching has been doing this for the last nine years.

We ran into Susan and Pat, and sat down to wait in front of the Jazz Kitchen, for our 7:30pm reservation. Ken arrived a few minutes later, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him clean-shaven before. We caught up on what’s been going on, when our table was ready and we went in.

A few minutes after being seated, we were joined by Kari and Chris, and our group was complete. We chatted about a lot of things over the next few hours. Time flew by fast and we soon realized that we were among the last patrons of the restaurant.

For dinner, I had the Creole Onion Soup, the Lobster and Shrimp Ravioli, and a side of Garlic Mashed Potatoes. It was really good! For dessert, I had the Double Chocolate Bread Pudding, complete with White and Dark Chocolate Ganaches. I’m still enjoying the aftertaste, so don’t mind me.

The others made arrangements to meet for a whole day at Disneyland, from about 7:30am Wednesday to 3:00am Thursday, thus being in the park for the New Year’s celebration. I wasn’t ready to resume that activity, so I bowed out until next year.

When the dinner was over, we went our separate ways. Ken and Ching went to the ticket booth to buy their passes for the next day. I made it home around 11:30pm, but not before promising to travel again with Ching in 2012. Someday, let me tell you about Cancun in 2003.

1226 bless you

A recent study released by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine links thoughts of sex with sneezing, which could be caused by triggers within the body’s subconscious nervous system.

Which means that you now have another thing to think about.

When someone sneezes, your options are:
1) maybe they’re coming down with a cold
2) maybe they’re allergic to something
3) maybe something is irritating their sinus
4) maybe they’re thinking about sex.

This offers an explanation as to why there’s so much sneezing going on during Victoria’s Secret runway shows.

Gesundheit.

1224 the night before christmas

My sister and her husband dropped me off at SBCC in time for the Christmas Eve 6pm service. I had Lyle take out one of the chairs in the front row, so that my wheelchair would fit. But I changed my mind and had Mike reposition the chair, then I transferred to it.

Carol asked if I wanted to sit in the second row, but I chose to stay in the front. But when worship started, I had nothing to hold onto so I stayed seated wile the congregation stood. Next time, the second row.

Pastor Gary spoke about how the birth of Christ was prophesied in the Old Testament, much like the coming of a special one in the Star Wars saga. But while Star Wars is fictional, the birth of Christ is not. Up until this time, Pastor Gary was wearing a lightsaber on his right hip.

The service ended with a candlelight prayer. Joel performed “O Holy Night” with the candlelight. And the Hula Ministry performed a dance to “Silent Night”.

I had arranged a ride with Mike and Carol, but was kinda hungry so I joined them on a quest for food, since it was early. But we soon found out that a lot of eateries closed early.

We pulled up to an intersection and I said that I thought that Coco’s was closed. Mike said, “How can you tell? We’re still two blocks away!” That’s when I realized that we were at a different intersection than the one I thought we were at.

After trying a number of places, we ended up at Norm’s on Hawthorne Blvd. Mike said that the place seemed familiar. I commented that Norm’s was where we ended up last year after Christmas Eve service (see he blog post for 12-24-2007). We even had the same table, although the group was much smaller. It was just Mike, Carol, Janice and I.

Mike ordered one of the specials, but was drawn by the dessert. Interesting, because when the dessert came, he only had a couple of bites and the rest was consumed by Janice.

1222 christmas musical

SBCC was putting on a “Christmas Musical”, sort of a cross between the popular “High School Musical” series and the story of Christmas. It was performed by members of SBCC’s Youth Ministries, which cover both the junior high school and high school age groups.

There were four scheduled performances, but a fifth was added, due to increased demand. The fifth one was during the dress rehearsal on Sunday, December 21st.

I had tickets to the 8pm performance tonight and talked Ching into joining me. She came by and picked me up. She got there early, so we went to The Local Place for dinner beforehand.

On the way, the subject changed to music. She mentioned that today’s youth don’t know who Madonna is. I commented that Madonna is two years older than I am. Her response? She said, “But Madonna looks good!” I don’t think she knew why I was laughing.

Before the show started, some of the cast members and advisors were sitting on the stage. Ching said, “He looks older than high school,” and pointed. I told her that it was Garrick, and he was one of the advisors. He’s also a parent. She commented that he looks too young to be a parent. I laughed and she asked me to explain what was so funny.

About five years ago, SBCC had an overnight campout and fishing derby for the kids. One night, we were getting the campfire ready so that the kids could roast marshmallows. I was watching the fire, so that the kids would not play with it until it was ready. After about an hour, I got thirsty, so I asked Garrick to watch the fire so I could get a bottle of water. He said he would, so I went over to where the ice chests were.

As I was getting the water, one of the mothers came up and said, “I thought you were watching the fire. There should be an adult supervising things.”

I told her that I just came over for some water and Garrick was keeping an eye on it.

The mother looked at me and repeated, “Like I said, there should be an adult supervising things.” Suddenly, some leaves were thrown into the fire and it flared up, so I excused myself and returned to it to keep things under control. The leaf thrower? Garrick.

The performance was good, especially the choreography of the group dance numbers. Afterwards, I commented to an SBCC friend that I remember when a lot of them were little kids. It’s great (and surprising) to see how they’ve grown and developed. And it reminds me that I’ve been going to SBCC for many years now. It also reminds me of how old I am.

When the show was over, I made my way to the men’s room, but there was a short wait for the stall that my wheelchair could get into. When I was in the stall, I heard someone come into the restroom.

“Jim? Are you in here?” a voice said. It was Eddy.

“Yes, I’m here,” I answered.

“Ching wanted me to come and see if you needed help,” he said.

I responded that everything was okay and that he can tell Ching not to worry. She had done this before (see the post on October 19). I emerged a short time later. If I had taken any longer, she probably would have called 9-1-1.

We had some hot chocolate and pastries before leaving. I ran into Judy and Steve just as Judy was handing a bag to Steve. She said, “Here’s your Christmas present. Keep it upright so it doesn’t spill.”

He looked at me and said, “What’s she giving me? Gravy?”

Ching dropped me off and made a dash for home. She has a fear of driving at night during a rainstorm after a close call several years ago. She didn’t want to take the chance, even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was so clear, I could even see the stars.

1217 therapy

I had a therapy appointment this morning. It was raining, so we stayed inside. My PT, Jenn, decided to have me exercise with two poles, instead of my walker. It’s to help me concentrate on keeping my weight on my legs and to rely less on my arms and hands.

Before we got started, she sad, “Wait a minute, let me get the metrodome.” She went across the room to retrieve it.

Her assistant, Shannon, looked at me and said, “Do you think she meant metronome?”

I said, “Yes.” Either that or she found some way to get the home of the Minnesota Twins into an easy-to-carry size. I figured it was the former, since she often refers to the “Ten Meter Walk” as the “Ten Minute Walk”.

Jenn returned with a metronome in her hands.

While we were walking in the hallway, we stopped and Jenn asked why. Shannon replied, “Because Jim was swaying.”

Jenn said, “Jim was swearing? I didn’t hear anything.” Shannon and I laughed so hard, that I almost hyperventilated. I didn’t hyperventilate; the paperwork’s a pain.

Important note: Shannon's the blonde.

1214 tacos!

We met after the first service at SBCC to travel to Sam’s place for a day of soft tacos and games. Sheri gave me a ride, along with Wendi and Jerome. Jasmine and Liz were behind us.

Upon arrival at Sam’s, we found the front door was open,, but Sam was nowhere around. He had to make a last-minute run to the market, but was a little forgetful. He came back pretty quickly.

We sat at a table in the backyard and browsed thru photo albums and sipped tea, while Jerome tried to burn down the arbor with the grill. Brian came in, followed by Peter, and then Stephanie. Chris joined us soon afterwards and then there was Eric and Jennifer, who brought along the Wii and Justin.

Ed was expected, but he wasn’t able to make it because of a sailing competition in Marina del Rey. Either that or he had another mix-up with the dates (see last Sunday’s blog post). Ginnie had a hula event scheduled, so we knew she wouldn’t be there.

The soft taco lunch was soon ready, so everyone lined up to serve themselves. One of the bowls of salsa had a twist-tie on the handle, as an indicator that the contents were spicy. While I was sitting there, the twist-tie seemed to jump from bowl to bowl, but I think my eyes were playing tricks on me as no one in that group is that devious.

The group clustered to watch competitions on the TV, as the Wii Fit Pad was activated and the group took turns to compete in bowling, tennis, yoga, hula hoop, and ski racing. From where I was sitting, the TV wasn’t visible, but the Wii Fit Pad was, so it was somewhat entertaining. I shot a few videos and they’re funnier with the sound turned off.

I was recruited into playing some card games, and it’s been a few years since I last played Sequence. I can read and play the cards fine. Holding the cards, well, that’s something else. The muscles in my right fingers can grip them, but the muscles in my right wrist are challenged to keep them straight. I found this out one day the hard way, while drinking hot soup. I could pick up a spoonful out of the bowl without any problem, but before I could get to my mouth, the spoon turned and the soup went right into my lap.

Very soon, it was dark outside and we left a bit later. It was fun, it was nice, and we’ll do it again sometime soon. Thanks, Sam!

1211 reducing swelling

After therapy today, I had an evaluation with the Lymphedema section of the hospital. They took some measurements. discussed some treatments for the swelling in my right calf, and applied a compression stocking to help reduce the swelling.

After wearing it for a few hours, I have to say that I don’t know how women live with it everyday. It's kind of like wearing women’s hose.

How do I know what that feels like? Let’s just say that I do, and leave it at that.

1210 seeing john

My parents made arrangements for my brother, John, to come home for a few hours today. Long Beach Transit was having a special for point-to-point transportation of the disabled, so they took advantage of it.

If you didn’t know, John had a stroke in November 2005 (a week before Thanksgiving), and was transferred to nursing homes after his hospital stay. So this was his first time to be “at home” in over three years.

After getting dropped off at the curb, John was wheeled through the gate and was welcomed by Jett, the family black lab. You could tell that Jett remembered John, and although John couldn’t speak, he smiled and reached out to pet Jett on the head.

My father gave John a brief tour of the house, including his room, which generally remains untouched since he left. Even the dust has dust. He was parked at the kitchen table and went through the newspapers.

We “communicated” with John, although it was kind of limited to “one finger means yes, two fingers means no.” We found out then that my father didn’t know, when he asked us what we were doing. My mother explained, but then asked, “How do you ask John if he wants to go outside when you visit?”

My father replied, “I just wheel him outside because it’s a nice day and better than staying indoors.” So when Dad visits, John goes outside whether he wants to or not.

My father took John outside for a look at the yard. We wanted him to stay longer, but he needed to get back to the nursing home for medications. LB Transit picked him up shortly afterwards. It was nice to see him.

1209 stratego

Ching and I had an interesting discussion on Facebook about a “strategically-placed” pillow in one of my photos. Just so you’ll be informed, I’ll post the photo below.

I could understand it if the pillow was the size of a bag of chips, but this is a BIG bed pillow. I guess I should be thankful that someone thinks I need to “strategically place” such a large pillow.

By the way, I’m wearing shorts behind that pillow. I was sleeping peacefully in my single room in Cancun when Ching stopped by for a visit at 4am. She had been out all night and was returning to her own room.

But she had to tell someone about the guy she had met and I was the lucky one. They had “talked” on the beach, underneath the star-filled sky. Every time she moved, she spilled some sand on my hotel room floor. It’s been six years and I think she’s still spilling sand.

As you can see, I’m very attentive, but she snapped the photo while we were talking.

And now she claims that the pillow is “strategically-placed”. LOL!

Your comments are welcomed!

1207 membership christmas

The SBCC Membership Christmas Party/Fellowship was tonight and it was very well put together. Members were greeted at the front, relieved of the sodas and desserts they were bringing, and told to go in to the Worship Center, where they were assigned to teams by color of the ink pen used on their nametags. I say “assigned” since each person was told which colors were available, and couples were intentionally split up.

The colors also told them what room they were assigned to for dinner upstairs. For the first time, they kept the people with limited mobility on the first floor and brought food to them. There were only two of us, but it also meant that we wouldn’t have to participate in the “game”. We were sort of disappointed by the news (I hope our cheers weren’t too loud).

After a hearty dinner (from Ladybug, provided by SBCC), the membership congregated in the Worship Center, where each team was called up to play the “game”. Jim Y was serving as Gamemaster, in Pastor Ken’s absence.

Each team had six people as letter-holders, while the rest of the team directed them on unscrambling the word. Teams were graded on how fast they worked, so the audience, made up of the other teams, remained silent during the competition.

After the winning team was decided, they got first pick of the “gifts” brought for the exchange. I had Sheri pick out a gift for me, and it was a snow globe with a nativity scene in it. I found out afterwards that it was brought by Ayako.

Thanks to Steve T for giving me a ride home that night, to Carol for picking up a dessert for me, and to Sheri for picking up a gift from me for the exchange and for getting me the gift during the exchange.

1207 too early for tacos

After second service at SBCC, I ran into Ed and Christine. I asked him how he was feeling, since he had a sore throat last week and couldn’t talk. He smiled and replied, “I’m feeling better and my throat is up for handling tacos.”

I told him that it was good, considering that Koinonia is having a taco luncheon at Sam’s next week.

He said, “Next week? I thought it was this week.”

I confirmed it and told him that it was on the 14th.

He turned to his right and smiled at Christine. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s next week.”

She just smiled back and asked him if it was okay if she could kick him later.

1206 the set-up

My Revelation study group met after the service at SBCC tonight. Our guests were Anjie and Deborah, and maybe they’ll be back. Gary H was making his second appearance with us and I think he’s here to stay. Kiyomi made a great curry dish for dinner.

Tonight we were discussing the verses in Revelation 15, which dealt with the seven angels and the seven plagues. During one question, Carol was asked what she got, so she read her answer. All of the eyes around the table looked at her and someone asked, “Harps? I don’t remember any harps.”

Carol read her sheet and said, “Yeah, it didn’t make any sense to me either. But I was spending all my time with my mother, so I just copied Mike’s answers.” Mike is her husband.

We all turned to look at Mike, and he had the biggest grin on his face. He said, “I got bored, so I wrote down something that sounded good. I didn’t know Carol would copy it.”

Someone said, “So you set her up.”

Mike answered, “Not intentionally.” I don’t think the smile ever left his face. Fortunately, the rest of the study was uneventful.