:O so I went to the Festival of Philippines Arts and Culture this past week. Honestly it was the first time going to a Filipino festival xD Was nice, I really wanted to buy some of the books though, but they cost so much.
Those books reminded me that there’s practically nothing in the chain brick and mortar stores here. I mean Filipino’s are the 2nd largest Asian demographic in the United States but there’s hardly anything in the bookstores. Anything from Rizal has to be ordered at the counter. This was when I lived in Long Beach, so maybe its different here, but I seriously doubt that. I remember staring at the Asian History section and seeing Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and no Philippines. I don’t think I have go to the counter and request anything, it should just be there, especially since Filipino’s were no minority in Long Beach >:
I know Filipino’s have been in Riverside since Riverside has been Riverside, but again, its practically Middle America. My best bet would be San Diego, if they don’t have anything I’m not sure what to think. And I don’t know if its just because Boarders and Barnes & Nobles aren’t aware how many Filipino’s there are in California, or if its just because Filipino’s tend not to buy books on the History of the Philippines (from chains at least)…
Other then that, I found my Godmothers address and phone number We’re thinking of just surprising her with Christmas gifts instead of calling first :3 I want to make a shawl since she made so many things for me, but I’m not sure what the weathers like in Hawaii, so I have no idea if it should be very lacey and light or somewhat heavy, maybe I’ll just ask Hawaiian Ravelers. I have some pattern suggestions on my other blog, but I still really need to narrow it down and get started as soon as possible.
Also quizzeh! I’m not surprised 8D
You Are Fantasy / Sci Fi
You have an amazing imagination, and in your mind, all things are possible. You are open minded, and you find the future exciting. You crave novelty and progress.
Compared to most people, you are quirky and even a bit eccentric. You have some wacky ideas. And while you may be a bit off the wall, there’s no denying how insightful and creative you are.
Cat got a bath today :3 Before you start thinking cat’s don’t need baths I’ll tell you they shed like a shag rug (???) and that wrecks havoc for someone who lover their pet and has allergies, like meh. The gross thing about someone whose allergic to animals is that they are actually allergic to the animal, they’re allergic to the dander (undercoat) and the saliva (ewwy). I start itching if I’m near my cat for too long, especially if he’s near my face, so he gets a bath once a month, poor thing~ lol
Looks so sad doesn’t he 8D? Using the shower’s a little easier because he has nowhere to go kekeke We used to give him baths in the old home and he’d claw onto the nearest thing he could in order to avoid the water, he’d hang onto the shower curtain and climb up towered the ceiling and stay there till the water drained xD We started moving the curtain away from him, so he started using the nearest arm he could sink his claws into, and start climbing, it hurts more then in sounds, people used to know when I gave him a bath because of the battle scars.
Betrayed look! He actually took it better then I thought he would, must be getting used to it. Although when I started running the water he beelined underneath the bed, I lured him out with foodage
In other news, I found out how refreshing it is to walk around wearing a swimsuit in 90°+ heat. I’ve also finished my Evangeline gloves, posted it on Crafty Chango, and starting a new fingerless glove project for the biscuit :3.
So I was born in Guam and lived there up until I was two, when we moved to Long Beach. Stories from then tend to revolve around the family friends. When Mom and Dad got engaged my dad got transferred to Hawaii about a week after (he was there for like 1 1/2 years), and Mom had to fly by herself to Guam and wait for him. The friends my Dad had in Guam took her in without any questions and treated her like one of their own. That’s just how it was on the island, either because it’s such a small island, or if its just the laid back feeling, the people tend to be very open and friendly. In fact Dad used to say that every weekend someone held a party, and practically everyone on the island is invited. Anyway, with my dad and mom being so far away from their homes, Guam became their home, and their friends became their family. In a lot of ways Guam is more of home to them then the mainland is, and in many ways those friends are closer to them then their actual family is. When they lived in Guam it was just open arms and friendships that were closer to family then family was.
In fact most of my godparents are Chamoru (yes, multiple godparents :p), except for my (official) godmother. Which brings me to why I started writing this, aside from my thoughts, thoughts, thoughts (of course). I was bored one day and started reading this guys blog (and tweets) and saw that their new video was filmed in Hawaii. Then he posted this and tweeted this. All of those things remind me of my godmother, why you ask (and what the hell does that have to do with Guam, you ask?). I mentioned before that my godmother isn’t Chamoru, her husband (my official godfather) is though, my godmother is actually ethnically Hawaiian. They moved to Hawaii soon after we moved to Long Beach, so whenever anyone, anywhere, mentions Hawaii I automatically think of them.
My parents lost touch with them (and a lot of other friends) while they started over in Cali, settling in a new home and repairing damaged family ties. They lost touch with my godparents, I’ve seen my godfather in pictures, and I still have the baby clothes my godmother crocheted for me when they brought me home from the hospital as a newborn. In fact the requisite baby blankie every child has, and makes threadbare, is a baby blankie I now use as a throw (as in blanket, not “Here, catch this ball of cotton!”). It’s just a simple quilt blanket, the perfect size for a baby born on a little South Pacific Island, but it’s special enough that my mother put it in storage before I got so attached to it to the point where I would have made it threadbare. She knew what it would have meant for me to have it when I was older, because she knew what it meant to the person who made it, see my godmother hand stitched every single square. Something, in a society where we tend to take things like blankets for granted, most people don’t really understand what it means to make something like that by hand.
Knitters, crocheters, and sewers have a saying that “I knit/crochet/sew every single stitch with love”, as someone who does all three, and as corny as that that saying is, I understand what it means. So even though I never grew up knowing what she looked like, or knowing the sound of her voice, I still know who my godmother is. Because I have her hand stitched baby blanket she made, her hand crocheted baby clothes she made, her hand crocheted “baby’s first x-mas ornament” she made, and because of all those stories my father tells me about Guam and my ‘Aunts and Uncles’. All those things tell me what kind of people my godparents are, and why they became my godparents in the first place.
About two years ago, a couple months after my abuela died, I started wanting to contact them. A couple months after that my dad found a number and he called to find out if they were the same person, and they were. Unfortunately we never really could find the right time to call or answer and we kept missing each other. This was around the same time when we moved, a hectic time in and of itself, and some other stuff happened causing us to lose the number in the chaos. Reading that guys stuff, and watching the video, reminded me that I had someone who celebrated my birth, someone who was probably waiting to know what kind of adult that little baby became.
I think I’ll start searching for their address and/or phone number again :3
tl;dr Waaaah, its that “overly emotional” time of the month for meh and I wanna find out where teh godparents are~ … also that guy
Because I have nothing else to write about, I will announce that my cat is secretly plotting to kill me. I think it was all that talking about having Roasted Cosmo for Thanksgiving >_> he must have heard…
Exhibit A:
Look at those eyes, o_o he’s watching me… it’s like he’s just daring me to grab my yarn back, but nooo, I’m not falling for that trick >: I know what those claws can do.
Exhibit B:
Look! LOOK!! D: its a subtle threat I say! Like he’s anticipating what yummy delicious meat I’m going to taste like *cries* And he’s taunting me with yarn *sobs*
Exhibit C:
>: solid (what?) proof! And… and… sometimes he just sits outside my bedroom door staring at me! Staring at me with those adorable slightly cross eyed blue eyes, they’re calculating something I tell you! Like he’s measuring the distance between the door and my bed, and taking notes on when everyone else in the house goes to sleep so there will be no witnesses. Dear God it’s going to be death by pet *sobs uncontrollably*
>_> ahem, I. Am. SO. Broke. D: You’d think a convention center full of middle aged and elderly crafty/Christmas fanatics would mean I’d come away pretty much unscathed, but alas, no, not me, >_> I have weird taste in all things so I am now in the hole \o/
First off on the way to the Harvest Festival we stopped off at Little Tokyo since I rarely get to buy manga from Kino. Mom got off with me because she was craving some coffee >_> and I decided to get a honeydew boba smoothie <3 yummeh. Bought manga at Kinokuniya spent way too much and would have spent more but I couldn’t find volume 2 of Otona Pink (Sato Zakuri), volume 1 of Dengeki Daisy (Motomi Kyousuke), and none of Eden no Trill (Fujita Maki) so I did spend as much as I could have. But I did spend the most I have ever spent on manga o_o and that’s including the American publishing companies. >_> I spent a couple cents over $75 on 12 mangas. I got volumes 1-5 of Black Bird (Sakurakouji Kanako), volume 6 of Full House Kiss (Yuwa Shiori), volumes 2 and 3 of Dengeki Daisy, volumes 10 and 11 of Shiawase Kissa San Choume (Matsuzuki Kou), and volume 1 of Kyou mo Ashita mo (Emura) and Kamisama Hajimemashita (Suzuki Julietta).
After Little Tokyo we went to the Harvest Festival. :3 Its kind of become a tradition since I’ve been going to it with my grandmother since I was 8. I went with my mom again this year >_> and since she didn’t have any cash on her I spent a lot more then I expected to. The most expensive buy was a print from a painting by Tanya Doskova that my mom wanted. I also bought two more prints by her (a painting and a monoprint) she and her husband were super nice ^_^ I wanted to buy some of her other stuff but no money and all. I also saw the guy who I bought a bracelet from last time, he makes jewelry from old silverware, last year I got a spoon (1920’s) bracelet (just the handle part) with a pink pearl in the middle, this year I got a fork (1940’s) . He had stretched the tines out to kind of intertwine them into a heart shape :3 its cute.
Since I was low on any kind of chapstick/lib balm I bought some all natural beeswax balm made from lavender (since it was a lavender seller XD), sweet almond oil, comfrey, rose geranium, and lemon \o/ smells so nice~ It’s a balm so I can use it on cuts and stuff but I’ll probably be using it on my lips mostly :3 Being a lavender place they had a whole bunch sachets and stuff, but then I saw a lavender wand o_o; and I was kind of like, “why the hell would anyone want a lavender wand?” because of course in my mind I’m picturing freakin’ wannabe wiccans waving around a wand in the local parks of Long Beach… So I asked the lady who was working there that the lavender farm guy told her it was used to freshen up clothes and linens back when people never took baths, so of course I had to buy one. I’ll put it in my linen drawer :3 since lavender is said to help with sleep. Too bad there aren’t any large parks where I live, I could have run around with a dark cloak and my wand :< oh well, there’s always the hills…
I also bought some other stuff, food of course and mom wanted some things for the house, and I finished my Christmas shopping while I was at it XD thought I’m still probably going to make something for mom and dad. I’m actually feeling alot more relaxed about about all my buys then I was Saturday night and Sunday o_o; since I was freaking out about the amount of money I spent lol. Of course the fact that my mom actually owes me half of what I spent makes me feel a lot better
We’re thinking of just surprising her with Christmas gifts instead of calling first :3 I want to make a shawl since she made so many things for me, but I’m not sure what the weathers like in Hawaii, so I have no idea if it should be very lacey and light or somewhat heavy, maybe I’ll just ask Hawaiian Ravelers. I have some pattern suggestions on my other blog, but I still really need to narrow it down and get started as soon as possible.
You have an amazing imagination, and in your mind, all things are possible. 
