Traffic on the freeway - Don't drive, fly!

We've flown on small planes before, but mainly abroad.
The last time we experienced flying on a small plane in the U.S.
was when we flew over the Grand Canyon.
The pilot was so cool that he broke all rules
and flew lower than what regular rules & regulations would allow.
It was an awesome way to see this majestic place!
So when our friends Patrick & Michele invited us to fly
from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara for lunch,
we immediately jumped on the opportunity.
Who needs to deal with the traffic on the freeways
when you can fly?... LOL.
We flew up and down the gorgeous Pacific coast,
flying low enough to almost see some celebrities
getting rid of their tan lines out on their oceanfront Malibu mansions.
It was such a beautiful day and
a fabulous way to see our hometown from a different perspective.
Thanks Patrick & Michele!
Next time, I want to fly over the Hollywood sign.








Flying from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara for lunch

Koko - In Memoriam

Please click on the title or HERE for the posting.

Sean of a Beach and his Bitches

Please click HERE for our day at the beach.

Pride & Groom - Party A & Party B

Today is a landmark event in history!
California ban on same-sex marriage was struck down by the California Supreme Court!
Yehey! I already gave up on this ever happening.
Especially happy for all that believe in equality and that it happened in the state in which I live.
Not that Bill and I will immediately jump on it ...
we've only been together for almost 13 years ... LOL.
We've already filled out most of the necessary precautionary paper work to protect each other, so we never felt the need to file for domestic partnership or get civil unionized.
Not sure if we will take advantage of this next step and be part of history.
Unfortunately, current federal law prohibits the federal government from recognizing marriages of same-sex couples. This means that even if we got married, we currently will not have any of the rights, benefits, or protections that federal law gives to married heterosexual couples, such as the ability to file joint federal income taxes or receive federal spousal benefits through social security or other federal programs as a surviving spouse. Being excluded from these federal protections, and often state protections as well, is a serious hardship and can cause significant legal problems.
Perhaps we will just wait for that magic day when it becomes national and includes federal.

For more info, please click on:
CNN, Bloomberg, SFGate, Equality for All

Civil Union vs. Marriage

Some of my super-religious family members and "born-again" Christian friends, who are against the concept of same-sex marriage, because their faith pushes them to firmly believe that marriage is only a heterosexual right as opposed to a human right, would eventually try to sort of give in out of "love" for me, and say, "OK, I'm for a civil union but not for a marriage.". Why can't they see that what "we" are fighting for is not the right to march down the aisle of a Catholic Church, but for equality of civil/secular rights?
I find it hard to further engage in an intellectual discussion with them to demonstrate that civil unions look nice on paper, but don't work in the real world.
Political blog Blue Jersey recently launched the "Think Equal" media campaign to support marriage equality for all couples based on Apple’s “I’m a Mac / I’m a PC” ad campaign. The video ads and grassroots lobbying campaign focuses on the differences between civil unions and marriage.
If you have an open mind and would like to be educated, enlightened, and humored, please click on the following videos:

Think Equal


Check Equal


Barring Equal


Counsel Equal

Happy 10th Birthday Birdie!

Please click on the title or HERE to be directed to the posting.

The day I left my balls with the angels

I can't believe it's been 5 years,
since the day I thought we were going to die! ... LOL

"If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving is not for you!"

HOME

A-stigma-tism

Well after 4 years since having to wear glasses for the first time for being nearsighted,
I have been advised by my eye doctor that my nearsightedness has improved but unfortunately I now have astigmatism. F+_)(*&^%$#@K!
I get queasy just thinking about putting contact lenses in my eyes and still scared to death about Lasik, so I got myself a new pair of glasses.

Rock the Vote!

Now that I am a U.S. citizen of 18 years of age (and slightly older),
I am eligible to exercise my right to vote on this very crucial U.S. Presidential elections this coming November.
Unfortunately, I was not able to cast my vote during the California primary,
since I apparently had yet to register. Duh!
So in checking some things off from my New Year's To Do List ...
(It's already April!) ...
I finally got to register to vote!
In case you have not, click on the widget below and register today:

Happy Easter 2008!

at an Easter celebration at our friends' house
by the Venice Canals, CA

Finding Face

It took me awhile to join social networking sites, such as MySpace, Friendster, and Facebook; since I was under the impression that it was only frequented by the peers of my nieces and nephews (teenagers to twenty-somethings). I kept out of MySpace, since I was worried that I would be easy prey to online pedophiles ... LOL.
But two months ago, I decided to join Facebook to search out old friends. Boy, am I glad I did! I finally found old friends that I have failed looking for via Google. I was able to find long lost friends that I had last touched based with ... all the way from the time I left the Philippines 13 years ago, from college, from high school. I even found my best friend during my sophomore year in the seminary, who I last saw when the priests finally kicked me out of the seminary, since they concluded that I would just be wasting my good looks if I became a priest ... LOL. My image of him was that of a 14-year old, and thus did not immediately recognize him in his picture of a man close to hitting his 40s. It feels exhilirating to even think where and how to begin to catch up on all the years that have gone by. Or who knows, perhaps friends don't really give a F+_)(*&^%$#@! about what each other has been up to... We'll see ... just elated to see "old" faces (and by no means am I referring to the wrinkles) ... LOL.

Sleep Well Roy

Bill's father, John, unexpectedly died in 1987 from an aortic aneurysm, seven years before I met Bill, thus I never had the privilege of meeting him.
By the time Bill and I met 12 1/2 years ago, his mother, Mabe, had found a new love in a man named Roy. Roy proved to be a wonderful blessing to Mabe and Bill's family. The couple was happily married for the next 13 years.
Well, one of sad days that we've been anticipating and fearing, which was one of the reasons I was kind of unexcited about this year, unfortunately has finally come to pass. Roy, Bill's step dad, passed away shortly after noon today at age 85 from bladder cancer.
Last Christmas, you couldn't tell that he had been battling cancer for the past year and half. But by Valentine's he asked to go back home to their main house in Grants Pass, Oregon, instead of finishing the winter season in Palm Desert, CA, as Mabe and he usually do every year. It was Valentine's Day and as I whispered to his ear that I love him, I knew it was the last time I would see and touch him. His local doctors later checked him again and gave him a month to live. Sadly his time came earlier, but at least he is mo longer in pain.
May he rest in peace. Please lift him up in your prayers and include Mabe and Bill's family during this difficult period. To our dear friends who have offered their condolences, "Thank you very much." Your thoughts and prayers are much appreciated. :-(

iPostcards from Chicago, IL

Please click HERE or on the title to be directed to the posting.

Turn around ... every now and then ...

Total Eclipse of the ...

Happy Valentines Day 2008!

On some special occasions of the year, I volunteer and help out a friend who owns the local neighborhood flower shop and play florist. Valentine's Day, obviously, is one of the busiest days for florists, so any assistance offered helps. So at the end of this day I am hoping that the recipients of my flower arrangements (works of art or flora disasters) will be happy and return the giver with some cookie and nookie...LOL

Whatever helps to make you happy on this day:

a job, money, roses, chocolates, love, sex...

Hope you get it this Valentine's.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love you!

Mahal na mahal kita!

Happy Chinese New Year!

To my fellow Chinky-eyed brothers, Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year!

"We're Brothers Forever!"

I had not caught up with my TiVo viewing,

so I did not get to watch this performance last night.

I started getting calls from some of my facetious

"politically incorrect" non-Asian friends,

to tease me that they saw me on American Idol.

I know "we" may all look alike in "your" eyes,

but that was not me ... that was my brother!

Damn him, I wrote that song on the boat on our way to America

and he stole it from me...LOL

Presenting Renaldo Lapuz and his audition song,

"We're Brothers Forever!":

Check out one of the several dance remix versions:

Caught Another Bug!

No, I did not start the year by getting sick.

On the first weekend of the new year,

we helped my niece, Czarina,

get a great deal on her second car.

She replaced her 2004 VW Golf GL

with a fully-loaded 2008 VW New Beetle.

This is the 4th Bug we now have had in our family.

Presenting "Bullet", the Platinum Gray Metallic Beetle!

the new kid on the block

with turbo engine, heated leather seats, and 18-inch alloy wheels

parked inside the garage for the first month only

***

Check out the interior details:

comes with a laptop

flat screen TV

mini-bar

reclinable heated leather back seats

***

Yah, right! LOL

P.S. My Bucket List

I really wasn't excited about the New Year 2008.
In some way I've been scared to "death" of it.

I'm not afraid of dying. But since we never know when that day will come, I try to live my life as if time was running out for me. Even before 9/11, we had experienced some close calls, such as almost drowning, getting lost in the woods, etc., which made Bill draw up a living trust and me write down a "bucket list" (list of all things we want to do in our lives before we kick the bucket.) Perhaps because of these experiences, I began to have this wanderlust or desire to do and see as much as I can, while I'm still young/er.

What I'm afraid of is people I love dying on me.
Sorry to sound so morbid, but in 2007, we were surrounded by several health scares and
were constantly reminded to value the concept of "health is wealth":

The day after Christmas 2007, I got some scary news that my father, who is in the Philippines, was rushed to the ER. He had suffered from vertigo caused by an atrial flutter. Thankfully, after a few days the doctors let him go back home and with medication is now doing better.
As the youngest child born to parents who were already in their 40's when I came into their lives, I somehow always worried that I would not have the privilege of enjoying them as long as my older siblings. As I child, I would often lay awake at night waiting for my Dad to come home (which was almost always pretty late at night due to his work). Since social drinking was an inevitable part of these late nights, I would always pray that nothing bad would happen to him on his drive home. My paternal grandparents lived close to their 100th birthdays, so longevity, fortunately, does run in my veins. But my dad still drinks whisky, smokes cigarettes, and eats fried oily food. He is an anomaly, since he has outlived most of his peers who lived healthier lifestyles.

Bill's Mom, Mabel and Stepdad, Roy (just like my Dad), are in their mid-80's and are not at the peak of good health. Roy battled bladder cancer by undergoing extensive chemotherapy and Mabel is suffering from a leaking heart valve.

Mike Pohjola, our good friend, who we have been watching over, has Parkinson's Disease. All his treatments have not had promising results.

Besi, our Yellow Labrador had been diagnosed last July with Degenerative Myelopathy and was given a few weeks/months to live. Somehow she has temporarily overcome this hurdle and is still with us.

All our plans for out of town/country trips are on hold due to the fear that something bad may occur while we are away. I know death is inevitable, but here is to keeping strong until those sad days comes and hopefully beyond.

Just by chance, the first two movies we saw during the first weekend of the year were, "The Bucket List" and "P.S. I Love You". Both films were marketed as light comedy/love story films and I almost forgot about the "death" aspect. I guess with what I was feeling, both films hit a nerve and I found myself breaking down in tears inside the theater restroom.

Part of my Old Bucket List (*as also shown in the movie):
*Go skydiving - checked
*Go on an African safari - checked
*See the rest of the New 7 Wonders and other exotic/ancient places - checking
*Learn to drive an 18-wheeler truck (in lieu of race car driving) - unchecked
(don't ask me why, 'cuz I don't know the answer myself...LOL)
Run a marathon - unchecked
....etc.

Added to my Bucket List:
Visit Mike more often in the nursing home.
Spoil Besi even more.
Spend more quality time with Mabe & Roy, as often as we can.
Call my Dad & Mom more often and visit them in the Philippines at the end of the year.

P.S. I love you!

Happy Holiday Greetings 2007-2008

Sean & Bill

Birdie, Besi, & Sean

From my family to yours,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon!
Feliz Navidad y un Próspero Año Nuevo!
Joyeux Noël et Une Bonne Année!
Have a Nelly little X'mas and a Happy New Queer!...

Make the Yuletide Gay!
Happy Hanukkah!
Happy Kwanzaa!
Happy Boxing Day!
Advanced Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Philippine Idol

Forget American Idol, check this out!
For the sake of my non-Filipino friends and/or for those who were not aware of this,
I wanted to share two talented Filipino singers who have recently been discovered by America via Youtube:

Presenting Arnel Pineda! As the lead singer of The Zoo, a cover band from the Philippines, he was discovered by Journey's guitarist, Neal Schon in YouTube. Journey was in search of a new lead singer and flew Arnel to the U.S. to audition. In early December, the band announced that the talented Filipino is the new front man for the New Journey.
You'll be amazed at how he sounds so much like Steve Perry.
For more info, click on the band's website and here and here.
Here is one of their videos that helped Arnel be discovered:



Presenting Charice Pempengco, a 15-year old girl from the Philippines
performing at "The Ellen DeGeneres Show":

London Calling - Missed Call/Bad Connection

Please click on the title to be directed to the posting.

Saba - The Unspoiled Queen

Please click on the title to be directed to the posting.

iPostcards from Saint Martin/Sint Maarten

We're back!

Had a fabulous time!

Please click on the following destinations to be directed to the specific posting:

La Samanna, Saint Martin, French West Indies

Isle Pinel, French West Indies

Marigot, Saint Martin, French West Indies

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

Paparazzo of the Caribbean

iPostcards from New York, NY - Winter 2007

Please click on the title or HERE to be directed to the posting.