Summer Bacayshon

6.19.2010

as mel said, "take it easy with the tan, kids. this is only day 1 of summer vacation!"

Champions... Nanaman

6.18.2010

proof that it pays to go to therapy.

Kinder's Done, Son!

6.17.2010

thank goodness for great teachers and for a great first year of school.

On Second Thought...

6.13.2010

it was probably a really great thing that we didn't bring the altima up to SF on that last trip. thank you, mom and dad for my b-day present of new front tires!

Just Call Me Snoopy McGee

6.12.2010

really? i can only pick ONE picture of this day?! ok, this one's it.

thank you perci, mel, chamina, edgar, jorian, marcos and all you sneaky people who pulled off my "surprise" party. LBPD didn't know what to make of us.

Agent G

6.10.2010

he's obsessed.

The Definition of "Doin Too Much"

6.9.2010

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The Question Game

6.8.2010

always makes people laugh
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Delayed

6.7.2010

the car couldn't handle, me, perci, gani, krish and all our luggage. so we were delayed in oakland while we figured out a plan. kai kept gani company while we explored our options. result: left the boys behind in sf and krish and i drove back together with only her luggage. my first thought was that i shoulda brought the altima.

Tugadi and Bautista Wedding

6.6.2010

taken at 1:00 am. yeah, the ones taken at 8:00, 10:00 and 11:00 were much classier.

Do What You Love

6.5.2010

it's my 35th birthday! and what better way to spend it than to celebrate. although they weren't my celebrations, i was happy to partake in others' landmark events. adrian's nephew amari turned 1, and it was also a "do what you love" celebration. dwyl is also an organization that adrian has invited me to sit on as a board member (the only board member as of yet). i'm excited about what new adventures this journey will bring, and i look forward to working with such a good friend. this celebration was at 330 ritch in SF, which meant that i drove from the east bay to SF to catch a couple hours of the event, and went right back to san ramon for erwin and christine's wedding. (and congratulations, kris on your engagement!!) beautiful weather in the city. good company. what more could one ask for at 35?

Spidey Defeated

me: gani, why don't you change, rest and take a nap?
gani: what?! i'll never do that when jorian's here!
3 hours later...tulog!
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20th St.

for some reason, i love this view.
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And the Party Continued...

5.30.2010

it started in riverside, and ended up in the lbc the next day.

Dr. Daus-Magbual

5.29.2010

congratulations to the newest doktora in the fil-am community!!

CSULB Graduation

5.27.2010

Graduation Season

5.26.2010

prepping for marcos' graduation tomorrow morning. the troops are making leis (for the first time) and a big old M A R C O S sign. congratulations, class of 2010!

Tigger Reincarnate

we lost the beloved tigger while watching the movie "alice in wonderland". gani was heartbroken, and i was beyond heartbroken to see my son so sad over losing his friend. after scouring the movie theater in the dark and calling every day to see if they found him, i knew tigger was gone. we told him that tigger probably decided to go with alice to wonderland, and that he was needed there. then out of the blue one day, he told us, "hey, maybe tigger turned into a butterfly like absolom." what a beautiful and fitting image. it was about that time for gani to transition from an infant toy, and also time for tigger to transition out of his life. so now, every time isagani sees an orange and black butterfly, he knows it's tigger paying him a visit.

so this morning i discover a friend in one of my plants in the kitchen. gani calls him tigger. even though he's devouring my plant, it's fun to see him grow and we can't wait to see him transform.

also, something interesting... this is the plant that i won at alejandra's bridal shower. it's now feeding a life, just like she is with her baby girl now. :)

Purple Trees

no, not those kind. these kind. all over long beach, the flowers bloom and the streets are dusted with purple and cars covered in hard to remove blooms.

also, i didn't even know our camera could do a panoramic shot. cool.

Pho-n Times

they already fight like a married couple. check out the broken heart pic. i love camryn!

Juarez Time

5.22.2010

tita armi, tio john, johnny, jackie, jill and this special gal joie so graciously took gani for the day while i was in traffic work hell in LA. it was great to come back, and finally watch jill beastin it on the field. she's tiny out there and deceptively fierce! we had so much fun, and just got home, with the lil man snoring away as i type this. thanks, fam!!

DMC

we try to bring gani to all the shows that our dancer, dj, emcee, poet friends are in. maricel, aka DJ Celskiii and mama to miles-- competed in DMC in long beach of all places. the d-bags at cohiba wouldn't let gani in, because it was "mis-printed" that it was an all-ages event. so we didn't get to watch her compete, but i'll put up the link to the video when it comes out. much love to cel and jus for visiting and catching up! we miss you guys so much!

**UPDATE... dj celskiii and dj deanndroid place 2nd! they missed 1st place by 1 point (ROBBED!). hmmm... one can only guess why? like cel said, the people KNOW who really won. keep it up pinays!! you'll take it next year for sure.

MLK Park

"At King's park in the LBC. That's where you'll find me. Hangin with my homies and my facilitator. Ms. Kimmy. Yeeea. Uh. Listen. Check it."
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Consumerism

One of the many murals on the hallway walls of Manual Arts High School.
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Ahhhh, Little Grasshopah...

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My Model

People were laughing at him as I was looking at shorts, and didn't even know he was doing this.
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Birney Jog-a-thon

thanks to all of you who supported gani in his jog-a-thon! they were adorable, running around the asphalt track, sweating in the hot sun, shoe laces untied, and begging for water at the end. he earned a pedometer, water bottle, frisby and a medal!! birney bees represent.

Heart

he's got a lot of it.

Bright St.

the view from the bottom of bright and randolph streets.

Wii love SF

4.8.2010

i had to head back to LB, but gani still continued to have endless fun with his auntie pam, lola and uncle JR. someone's coming back spoiled, and i'm gonna have to check this lil beast.

PEP Love

4.7.2010 love in the house! reconnecting with PEP (Pin@y Educational Partnerships) crew. liza, tracy, allyson, gwen and arleezy. it is absolutely amazing to see how far PEP has come since our FIRST teaching group. we started off as a group of 12, and now PEP is 44 teachers and in 5 schools in SFUSD. ethnic studies has now been institutionalized in the district because of PEP's groundbreaking work. allyson continues to be an amazing mentor and groundbreaking professor and educator. tracy's now a professor at CSUN in education. rod just completed his PhD (congrats doktor!). arlene and gwen are in the same cohort in their PhD program in education too. jonell is working at VYDC (i used to work there too!) doing case management with southeast asian youth. look out, world. PEP continues to revolutionize education.

Golden Gate Adventures

4.6.2010

more boy time with the homies miles and kahlil. we had much needed parent time with maricel, jus and krish. and papalote for lunch... adobo burritos are the best invention ever!

Retail Therapy

4.5.2010

with my boo greg. well, he had retail therapy. i had retail therapy watching.

Rainy Easter Sunday

4.4.2010

taking an easter stroll and trying to stay dry.

Riley's Birthday

4.3.2010

riley (actually not pictured) is one of perci's cousin's kids. his birthday party was at this gymnastics facilities and the kids got to play around on real gymnastics equipment. what a fun day to start our time in sf. cousins j.j. and keith (keefy) got a chance to reconnect with gani.

Off to Frisco

4.2.2010

with our two kids. gani and black lightning.

Ready for a Big Bike

3.30.2010

biking fully on his own

Catching Up

man... apologies. the trip to the bay threw me off completely. i need to find a better way to upload so as not to lag this much. ok, here we go-- 14 days of catch up.

3.29.2010

on my ride this day, my freakin pedal fell off. yes, fell off. a nice biker stopped and helped me and tried to fix it and i also got a chance to talk to the lolo that walks his dog on the river path. it turns out that he's from malbual, the town next to badian in cebu. unfortunately, the bike pedal only stayed on for another quarter of a mile, and i ended up having to walk her about a mile home. :(

West Co

maple tree. palm tree. home. rolling green hills. snowy caps. 80 degrees.

Peace 4 LB

call time, 6:30 am. it's been months organizing this campaign, and it's finally here.

this is me with narong. narong is not only a fun and overall wonderful young woman, but a selfless and committed volunteer for our work. she was also a friend of melody ross, who was a wilson high school student who was shot and killed in alleged gang gunfire at a football game. narong was so deeply affected by the loss of her friend, that she chose to start a campaign to "do something". i remember the morning narong texted me, asking for my help in doing something to address this. i committed at that point to support in any way i could.

narong's dream of creating that "something" to address her friend's death inspired so many of us to get involved. her project quickly engaged the city of long beach's human dignity program, the long beach police department, the long beach unified school district and pta, peace builders and us, ccej. with the input of volunteer youth from each school and community members who just wanted to dedicate their time and energy, the peace 4 lb campaign was born.

as a committee, we acknowledged the real crisis at hand. melody ross was indeed a tragedy,

and she she received an extraordinary amount of attention (her story and family were featured on the front page of the press telegram for an entire week straight). we wanted to bring awareness and attention to ALL the families, community members and friends who lost a young person to violence, something that happens all too often in long beach. ironically, and horribly, a young woman mikayla who was on the peace 4 lb planning committee from the start, lost her brother in a shooting in january, in the middle of planning. this event was meant to happen, and it we absolutely needed to honor every youth we have lost as a community.

on this beautiful day, we did it. narong's dream came to fruition, and we brought together over 300 people on a saturday morning. after it was done, i hugged narong and told her "you did this!" and she just sobbed. i cried with her, of course. it's amazing- the power of a 19 year old khmer girl in long beach.

The Leo

3.26.2010

the birney circus was the most adorable circus on earth. our leo very fittingly played a lion in the circus, and his tricks earned him *gesture two arches here*.

Ridin' Diiirty

3.25.2010

this was taken about 5 minutes after i straight rode through a big horse $hit on my ride this morning. ugh. ruined it.

i ride the 710 river path north for about 4 miles and back. it's a smooth ride, and i find the combination of natural elements coexisting with urban elements very beautiful. there are horses, pelicans, ducks, beautiful flowers blooming right up with the freeway, the blue line and graffiti. it's great sightseeing. but distracting, apparently.

Pico Union

3.24.2010

twenty nine 6th and 7th graders. in the end, they made the 5:00 am alarm worth it.

Isagani Agassi

3.23.2010

tennis lessons. it took everything in papa to not jump on the court and take over like he does in soccer. it's a little embarrassing, but perci does do this for a living. he put it really well. he said, "imagine if you had to sit through half an hour of watching someone else teaching gani about race relations. and you paid $95 for it." crystal clear.

Buddy Bot

3.22.2010

go to www.love-llc.com and support artists like my boy rob.

That time again!

3.21.2010

we were pushing it. it was actually kind of cold, but we couldn't resist. the swimming skills in this jacuzzi are getting really good too! i predict all four will be in the deep end (aka "defense" as gani calls it) by the end of summer.

The newest recruit

look who's riding without training wheels!

Lunch lines cause conflict

3.18.2010

today i learned what "butt cut" means. and how it can resolve a conflict.

Glee-less

3.17.2010

i have no picture today. you know why? i was too chicken to step up and take the picture i soooo wanted to take.

i pull up to cabrillo hs. the production trucks had been there since monday, so i knew filming was happening. today, there were multiple trucks, trailers and security. i park my car and who's about 20 feet away from me? finn. just chillin, talking in parking lot. i pull out my curriculum box and reach for my camera. he's still talking to his security escort, wearing a turquois button up, looking oh so adorable (and surprisingly skinny!). i'm fumbling around in my trunk-- snack, back to the camera. flip chart paper, back to the camera. look over to see if he's still there, put down the camera. pick it back up. close the trunk and start to walk over, aaaaand he walk away. boooo!!!! i stand there and just watch him walk away into the distance. puck suddenly appears on his skateboard and rides alongside him. they talk and laugh and disappear into the trailers. i stand there like a 34 year old stalker with an oversized flip chart in my hand and a camera in the other. i can't believe i missed that opportunity.

that was at 2:30. at 5:15, program ends, and i start walking back to my car. i see the majority of them walking in a group on the way to the gym. quinn's super blond hair stands out and artie's glasses and smile are so noticeable. i'm trippin out. but alas, my hands are full and camera deep in my purse. i get to the curb and who goes speeding by clumsily on his skateboard? yes, it is puck in all his gorgeousness. then i get to my car and tina jogs by with her purple streaks, trying to catch up. her security escort eyes me as if i'm about to ambush her for a picture. i shoulda!!!!

Team Edward

this was at a teacher's desk. hy-ste-ri-cal.

Dr. Office

3.15.2010

waiting patiently for the doctor to look in his ears.
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