Great Escape!

yes, its memorial day but no steve mcqueen or a prison camp are around. this great escape didn't include a television, cell phones, radio, or anything battery operated. we were in yosemite national park...the part where no one goes, the part where its still pristine, the part where you aren't awaken by bustling tour groups, generators running tents, and cars.

highsmith was in town, and the boys were together again! things have changed and things will change even more after...but we grabbed what time we could to escape our lovely significant others and enjoyed what it was like.

it was nice to hang out with the boys, and just the boys. we played pine cone baseball, captured the flag, hiked, jumped in the water, capped on each other, be inconsiderate, ate sausage and cheese without a knife; later we ate peanut buter, cream cheese, bacon and drank coffee with only one fork and one spoon. we smelled, we were dirty, we were drunk, we were competitive, we were giddy remembering what it was like just hanging with the boys, and we thought we could do everything. as an aside, we couldn't have done it without tortillas! you can use them to wrap your food and wipe everything else like a napkin. i'm sure if we ran out of toilet paper, we could have used tortillas for that as well.

it was a nice weekend.

Bay to Breakers

bay to breakers is one fun party! i bet there are people in the bay area thinking nothing but what they are going to wear (or not wear) for the next year already! i really dropped the ball this year. i had planned on wearing my palestinian head gear that you often see yassir arafat adorns...... classic! my parents bought one for me when they traveled to israel a few months ago. unfortunately, i left it at my parents house. yes, i would wear it for bay to breakers and be comfortable with it. i would couple it with stunnaz' and a jogging suit! man....great idea short on the execution. so leyla and i decided to wear regular jogging outfit.

favorites:
1. accessory: a forty, a beer can, a plastic cup full of beer
2. gilligan, skipper and the crew with a little boat full of beer cans...
3. biting a bull's balls
4. running around downtown on the way home looking for a place to take a piss....ending up in carls jr. pleading to use their service bathroom....(thank goodness she let me use it)

actually, everything else weren't special enough to pierce the hazy cloud that draped my memory when i'm drunk

The Da Vinci Code: The Movie

i don't know but tom hanks was so good in forrest gump! in fact, i thought he was even better in bachelor party....(if you know this reference, you are damn old!) ayways, there was no surprise that the book was a lot better. the book was really moving or compelling. the movie didn't hold the mystery and awe that the book accomplished.

i don't know who produced this film....but i'm sure the city of paris loved it. it was pretty much an advertisement for paris and the louvre!

Lupe Aguirre

i love this woman and i think she is an incredible person. there are a lot of newcomer students, teachers, and parents in east san jose who just lost an advocate. there are many newcomers that don't quite grasp the difficulty in ascending in this society, and it just got super hard! she cared with abundance and without prejudice. she wasn't afraid to shout, but with a lot of love! she was a great vp...who was overworked. yet she still kept a great smile.

its hard to be a teacher because it is very easy to be vindictive toward your students. but she taught me to forgive and feel good about it. i mean....i knew it is very important to forgive....but damn, she taught me to hug the biggest dipshits.

she fought through leukemia for over a year and she beat it. who would have thought a freak innocent accident with a child would be fatal. now gantt, varlet, lung and i were in her wake. i was pretty incredible in keeping my tears in. i didn't dare go and see her housed in the coffin. i knew i wouldn't be able to control myself if i saw her. and i wasn't sure why it mattered. all of the sudden i thought being stoic would serve everyone. or maybe the wannabe hells angels outside intimidated me. after all, i did think i felt like i was the dude in charle's angels as three cute women and me walked toward the church.

finally i saw lupe's grandson. he was about two...maybe three. he had no idea what was going on. he was really cute and had a great smile. he ran around all over the church and i don't think he still could figure out why all of the people that care for him, that has hugged and kissed him all his life, were crying. all i could think about is that he will never really appreciate how wonderful his grandmother was. its unfair. then i looked at all the kids that i taught before. they were very difficult and yet they endured. all i could think of is that they wouldn't have had a chance without lupe.

then i broke down in tears.

World Cup Tournament! ....IRAN?!?!

yes...that's right...the world cup is upon us again. this time it's free! HELL YEAH! i hate having to freakin pay twenty bucks to watch soccer games in a bar. actually, i used to stand outside...hehehehe but not anymore....thank you abc, espn, espn 2....i love you always!

my adopted team this year....IRAN! yes, iran...and they are playing against mexico on the first round! of course, the only uniform you can't find in any of the stores is iran. i wonder why? or maybe i am not looking hard enough!

i'm sure you know why iran is my team...momeny would kill me if i pick someone else! so who the hell does iran have? only the best player in asia...ali karimi! just hope he is healthy enough to play what he is capable of playing.

actually, the soccer pundits have been claiming mexico and portugal are the toughest teams in their group and they think they are moving on to the second round. i like the underdog role and i think iran will pull it out. now if someone can just tell me where i can get a shirt.

Afterschool Basketball...ELD Style!

how lucky can i be? i am working at a middle school that has not just one....but two indoor basketball courts! and what really sucked is that i haven't used the court until the second semester. in fact, i have just recently started using it with my ELD kids. my eld 8th graders decided to learn how to play basketball. i told them i am more than happy to show them how to play the game, but i wanted them to commit to it. so far, they have been very good about showing up. unfortunately, the afternoon session is uncanningly like the morning session of eld language arts/ reading!

i mean i can't assume anything WHATSOEVER! i have to teach them the rules, how to make a layup, how to shoot correctly, how to pass, how to walk, run, breathe.....ahhhhhhh! its so frustrating! but i really love them and i really like the fact that they are learning quickly.

anyways, today a few of the basketball players wanted to play with us. i knew my kids weren't ready but they had to have a taste of real competition. i let them play with us and they gave my boys an ass whooping! i haven't told my kids defensive concepts, and it really showed. i really felt sorry for mikias. he is so competitive and he doesn't want to lose at anything. he was no different in basketball, but he doesn't have the skills nor the experience to even compete! hell, he didn't even know those guys were mocking him!

they are so unnatural at the game...but what do you expect, they know soccer not basketball. plus, they were really intimidated. so i stepped in there and preceded to reciprocate the ass whoopin! well, i added a little trash talking too....but just enough for my kids to gain some confidence in themselves.

the only thing i found redeeming about my kids today is that they want to play with those guys again. not all my eld kids are that way, but i have a good lot that love to compete....and that's why i like to teach ELD!

Dirty Thirty is Really Diverse!

where can you go and take a gritty bus that is occupied by a prissy blonde with gucci sunglasses, white levis lean jacket, reading a book; sitting between two scruffy middle aged chinese construction workers just getting off work? the dirty thirty....

now you are probably asking yourself,"why the hell am i still taking the dirty thirty when i know that the first case of the bird flu will more likely occur in the dirty thirty?"

cuz i was too tired to stand around for another few minutes and wait for the 15 to come!

International Day Launched!

alright! international day was presented and everybody loved it. they all want to bring a dish from their culture. some even wanted to bring traditional clothing from their culture. they're totally all for it and all i really want to do is eat. i told my kids today that they have an opportunity to eat all these different kinds of food for free. they don't have to go to a restaurant and pay ridiculous amounts of money to eat half-ass, less than quality home cooked meal.

i can't wait to eat food from burma, mongolia, india, vietnam, china, venezuela, ukraine, guatemala, mexico, nicaragua, el salvador and even the philippines. and guess what i'm providing.....soda! maybe i'll dress up with the traditional barong from the philippines....this is so cool!

Wedding Vision Getting Out of Control

oh my goodness....my mom just called me and told me that it will cost roughly six bucks for each pillow she makes. of course, we figured she will have to slave herself and make over seventy pillows! i haven't even included the fabric! this will probably cost us over four hundred bucks! this sucks....this was suppose to be an inexpensive, unconventional, tight-knit, red, little celebration.... and its becoming a monster! we should have just eloped, and hit a restaurant that night. leyla's dad said he will pitch in and make the tables! phew...[wiping the sweat off my forehead]

summer school pay sounds great right now!