Sunday, May 22, 2011

Pacific Rim Street Festival

I love the annual Pacific Rim Street Festival in Sacramento.  It is a celebration of Asian and Pacific Islander culture that has been going on for almost 20 years!  I used to perform in it when I used to dance hula/otea.  Today, I went to see my lovely sister.  Here are some pics:










I had a great weekend visiting with my bf.  This next week is gonna be really crazy with trying to get stuff situated and preparing for my trip to Italy and France with my family.  Tomorrow, I will finally get to visit L&D again.  Wish me luck!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Family Time Is The Best Time

I had a wonderful time in Campo visiting my grandma and grandpa this last week.  (This is not the grandma who recently had the mini-stroke).  Here are some pictures to recap:





















Sunday, May 15, 2011

Peace Be With You

Some of you might already know this, but I have recently been on a sort of "spiritual quest", trying to figure out what I believe in and if there is a religion that I feel at home with. So far, I haven't made any major headway. I still just don't feel at home with what I was raised as: Catholic. I have nothing wrong with the religion, I just don't feel like it fits me. I still have respect and appreciation for it though because I went to Catholic school for 6 years and half of my family is Catholic.

Anyway, today I went to my cousin's Confirmation. Mass was the same as usual, with lots of mumbling from the masses and drab music with no feeling. Today, however, I realized which part of mass I actually like, which is the part where you turn to people sitting by you (friend, family, or stranger) and wish them "peace be with you". There is just something so special about being able to connect with others, if only for a short second, and say something heartfelt. Also, I think this is my favorite part of mass because it is the one time where most people smile. Well, that is all I have to say about that.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, May 13, 2011

Where Do We Step In?

When my mom told me on the phone that my grandma was having trouble remembering the last 24 hours, that she didn't know how she got to where she was, that she may have had a stroke, I felt nothing. I knew she was talking about my Nan, but it felt like she was talking about some stranger. Even when my cousin called me, and was absolutely hysterical about the whole thing, I still felt numb and disturbingly calm. Then, all at once the grief swept over me and overtook me. I couldn't breathe and felt myself gasping for air between sobs and tears.

Luckily Nan ended up being okay - no permanent damage. But when I called her the day after to see if she was okay, my grief turned into anger as soon as she started explaining that she had just "overdone it" and was "just dehydrated", even though the doctors told her she had experienced a mini-stroke. I just about lost it when I told her she needed to lower her cholesterol and she stubbornly responded "oh, I don't subscribe to that school of thought".

So what do you do when someone is so out of touch with reality? Is it my job as her granddaughter to somehow convince my western-medicine hating grandma that she has to change her life? Is it even possible? Sadly, I don't think I'll ever get through to her.

So the next question is do I continue to worry that she will have another (more devastating) stroke in the future? I think for my own sanity I can't. Ultimately it's her choice if she chooses to believe in aliens, psychics, teleporting and "natural" medicine. (and when I say "natural" medicine in the sense that my grandma believes in it, I mean basically anything that she reads in quack magazines that goes against main-stream western medicine). I have come to the realization that - for my own sanity - I simply must separate myself from all of it and accept the consequences of her lifestyle choices.

If anything, it's good practice for difficult patients later on, because I don't think it gets much more difficult than good ol' Nanny.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Tumblr

I decided to use Tumblr for just photography and keep my blog for bloggin.  I haven't yet decided if I am gonna keep posting pictures on this blog, and just keep my favorites on my Tumblr?  We'll just see what happens.  Here is my Tumblr in case you are interested!