Today, the Sun

Oh, the sun is really bright. And it’s only 9:03 a.m.

They say June 21 is the longest day of the year.

At the moment, self is in the backyard, having coffee. Bella, self’s older beagle, is inside, unable to do much more than sleep and eat now. She is 15 years old, which makes her as old as Methuselah. The younger one lies next to self on the deck. Dogs are God’s creatures, through and through.

The weekend just ended was such a good weekend. Not only did self get to go to the Mountain View Farmers Market, yesterday she saw no less than three movies.

Yup, you read right, dear blog readers. First, there was the 11 a.m. show of “Get Him to the Greek.” My, the chemistry between Russell Brand and Jonah Hill was really quite touching. And self can’t remember laughing this much during a movie, ever. Four stars.

After dinner, she

Huf’n Puf (Oh, the Vagaries of Weather!)

Now that self has only two watering days before leaving for NYC, it has turned hot.  Searing hot.  Sahara hot.  Self has spent most of the afternoon in a mad scramble, lugging around buckets of water.

Hubby will not be accompanying self to NYC, as he professes that traveling is too “tiring.” And furthermore, he has too much fun pretending that he hates New York.  And while he will be home on the weekend, self knows he will not water, as he so enjoys looking at self watering

More Irrelevant Thoughts

There was only one possible way for “Lost” the series to end, Letterman said.  And that was with someone tapping Matthew Fox on the shoulder and saying, “Sir, we’ve arrived.  Wake up.”  But–  the producers found another way!  Which actually made sense!  Self confesses that she never had the patience to sit through a whole episode (except, she liked the fact that a lot of nerd-y looking guys had parts on the show:  the guys who were not Sawyer or the doctor or the Indian hunk or the Korean hunk), but last night she watched intermittently and hubby watched till the end and then self found the ending rather sad.

“MacGruber” is not a bad movie, dear blog readers.  At least, it kept self chuckling (And Ryan Philippe:  who knew he had the makings of such a stellar straight man?  And when did Val Kilmer get so faaat?)

Self has the best house-cleaner in the world.  And his name is Mauricio.  Yes, you guessed right:  he was here again today.

Son is planning a fab four-night vacation in Las  Vegas with seven or eight other friends.  They are staying at Caesar’s.  On some other parents’ dime.  How self

Oh, the Excitement! The Anticipation!

It is raining! And cold!

Self also looked up the weather in New York City. She found out today, when she called home, that Dearest Mum will be in the San Francisco Bay Area for two nights, on the 22nd and 23rd of May. She will then spend the rest of her time on the East Coast, and will return to San Francisco for only one night before returning home to Manila, sometime mid-June.

Self tells herself: Calm down! Even though, the last time you called Dearest Mum, less than a week ago,

Zeitgeist, May 2010: Favreau, Gwyneth, Popcorn, Dancing Elvis and so forth

It is the second successive weekend of hot weather!

Self saw the 10:30 a.m. screening of “Ironman 2” with hubby, and you really know it is summer when the theater is packed, even at that hour!  And when everyone laughs, even during previews (“The A-Team,” “Grown-Ups,” and “The Last Airbender”)  Heck, even self laughed!

OK, here’s self’s take on the movie: The beginning 10 – 20 minutes of this movie were fan-TA-bulous (Among other things, self very partial to AC/DC), and she thinks Jon Favreau is really good at framing shots (which is something she noticed in the first “Ironman”). She liked the really shiny surfaces of

Brain Cloud, 1st Thursday of May (2010): Ash Cloud, 80s New York, Last Day at Writing Ctr

There is an ash cloud over Ireland.

Ireland is quite close to Scotland.

Scotland is where self will be in a few months.

The ash cloud is so big, it has shut down airports all over Europe.

Ash clouds can lead to asthma. Also, lung cancer.

Self is already quite old.

Sometimes self thinks she is young, then she reads other people’s blogs and gets reminded that she is old enough to remember

Rainy April Wednesday: Perusing RUELLE ELECTRIQUE

Who cares about the unseasonably heavy rain?

Who cares about Florida Governor Charlie Crist deciding to run as an Independent?

Who cares about Tiger and Jesse James? (Though self finds herself caring very much about Kim Kardashian and the revelations that she was a domestic abuse victim).

And why oh why, self, did you send that follow-up e-mail to McSweeney’s?  Even though you read on their website that they only have two editors to plow through thousands of submissions a month?  Where is your writer-ly patience, your customary savoir-faire?

Self has just returned from her usual Wednesday stint at The Writing Center. In the space of two hours, she must have looked at eight papers, on subjects ranging from philosophy to genetics (Probably why her

Good Mornin’ Sunshine!

No, scratch that.  Make that:  Good Mooorning, Rain!  Because it’s pouring right now.  Pouring!

See?  Self knew there was a reason she’s still in her pajamas at 2:48 in the afternoon!

Self just got off the phone with hubby, who gave her a most dolorous account of his career.  Then finished up by saying he was going to halve son’s allowance.  And asked if self could just pull herself together and deliver the bad news to son.  Which had self going “Ahem, er, we’ll see, uh —  Okey dokey!  G’bah!”

Self scanned the list of 2010 Guggenheim recipients (posted a few days ago; naturally, self is *not* on it —  BWAH HA HA!!!) and there actually is someone there who self met once:  Monique Truong.  She was the judge of a Hyphen short story contest a few years ago, and self has been teaching her novel in her Asian American lit classes.  Congratulations, Monique!

Let’s see, what else is blog-worthy?  Oh, self had such a fuuun time in the City on Saturday, first at the Growing Up Filipino II reading at the I-Hotel (Niece G and her friend Peter were able to make it, happy happy joy joy!), and then walking around Chinatown afterwards.  It did not rain.  Not one tiny little drop.  How wonderful.  Then niece rode back with self to Redwood City (which was a very welcome distraction from the knocking sound under her engine hood), and self introduced her to local staple Yumi Yogurt.  We each had small cups of Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Peanut Butter frozen yogurt.  (Next, self is determined to try Red Mango, which opened in San Carlos a couple of months ago.)

And tonight is Episode 6 of “Justified” !!!  (Oh, please, F/X powers-that-be, please let this show go on, for at least another season.  Because Timothy Olyphant looks just so spec-TA-cular in a white Stetson and cowboy boots!)

Finally, here is self, scanning the Wall Street Journal of last Monday (the 12th).  And, bottom of page 1 has a very interesting article about a Chinese American scientist turned stand-up comedian, named Joe Wong.  Apparently, Mr. Wong made an appearance on Letterman and just killed.  So, China Central Television, the biggest TV network in China, “deemed his success in the U.S. curious enough that it dedicated a special program to him in December.  The peg:  He’s the Chinese scientist who makes Americans laugh.  While CCTV declared that Mr. Wong’s success proves ‘humor has no boundaries,’ it concluded the program without showing any of his jokes.”

So, next, the Journal talks to Mr. Wong directly.  Apparently, Mr. Wong had  a live gig in Beijing, in late 2008, and that was just brutal.  In America, Mr. Wong said, “it’s funny to poke fun at yourself.  But in China, there’s no humor in misfortune.”  Mr. Wong “recalls looking out on the blank faces of a “polite but serious” crowd.

Yiiiikes!  You can never go home again, honey.  Never, never, never.

Stay tuned.

Good Morning. It Is Easter.

Let’s see, what has self done this weekend (aside from sleep and get over most pesky flu bug?)

Yesterday afternoon, self and hubby watched The Final Four NCAA games. The first one, between Butler and Michigan State, was very exciting. Self was initially undecided which team to root for, but coming close to the halfway mark, she began to feel Butler had more spunk. Namely, because of a skinny young man on the Butler team named Hayward. Who played the entire game — self swears, by the last two minutes, his feet must have felt like cement blocks. But Butler won! Butler won! Butler won!

Now, how do they get past those behemoths on the Duke team? Who shellacked West Virginia in their match-up?

Today, Easter Sunday, it is freeee-zing! We are going to

Mailings, GEMS TV, and Why Self Does Not Want to Leave the House Today

Today is April Fool’s Day, but self didn’t want to put that as the title for her post because dear blog readers might think this was a fake post, and self never does fake posts. What a waste of energy!

Today, self does not want to leave the house.

Does. Not. Want. To.

No. Ah-ah.

Even though, unlike yesterday, it is not raining.

Self has two stories all ready to mail out. Two, people! Then she had this wonderful intuitive vibe that struck right after she had sealed the envelopes: “These