the person you are trying to reach has her brains elsewhere….

Please try and reach her another time. She’s busy.

Well, at least, that’s how I feel currently. I am on the last leg of my vacay and it feels that it is so short. I have been away from work, from school and my daily routine since 09 June… Oh, and my brains went ahead before I actually hopped on the plane and flew to the very hot city of Indio, California.

Normal temperature ranges from 95~110 F. The city itself is a very good reminder of the Spanish heritage that the community is proud of. I actually felt that I was not in the US, but rather some Spanish-speaking country elsewhere. You’d see very few blond people… only blond moments are plenty.

The family my aunt stays with have kids who are graduating from high school and middle school. I was given a chance to witness the ceremony and I found that it is a lot different from where I came from. In my country, when you say it is “graduation”, families come dressed “con todo”. The proud parents of the graduate beaming in their best clothes. The diploma or graduation certificates are presented as part of a mass being celebrated for those who are present. Some schools would separate the Baccalaureate mass from the presentation of the certificates, too… but there would always be something that would get the graduates and the families to mingle after or before the presentation. While here, people arrive the stadium watch the kids parade then the families say hi and bye, nothing more. Maybe, It’s just in this one I witnessed here, since the community is mostly made of Mexicans who migrated.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess…

After a few days, I went to Fullerton to meet my best friend since grade school. We were supposed to meet another friend, but he bailed out the last minute. He said that they had inventory and won’t be able to drive from LA to Buena Park as planned. When you grow older, schedules become more important, as evidenced by this incident. I didn’t know he was also in Cali. I could have told him I was arriving. It has been a very long time since I last saw him. There would be other times other than this, I hope.

Saturday noon, I was at the John Wayne airport en route to Houston. The main reason why I am in the US is to attend the reception for my cousin who got married in Cancun last June 07. I was supposed to attend the wedding itself, but by some crooked twist of fate, work demanded more attention and document inflow became really nasty, which got me to work until 10 pm everyday until my re-planned schedule arrived.

I left and I got in touch with those people who are left behind at work. They are telling me that there is not much information being sent over. I guess I could be happy that I was able to get them to stop sending information that needs to be reconfirmed from my end, but it sorta’ annoys me that just because I am away, there’s not much work being sent over.

Well anyway, I am in the last leg of my break and I am having fun spending some time with my cousins here in Houston. We’ll have dinner over at the newlyweds’ house on Thursday.

On Friday, the actual reception will be held at my aunt’s house with a Hawaiian theme then the in-laws’ parents will also be hosting another reception for the newlyweds.

Chinese tradition calls for the elders to approve or recognize the union before it becomes official. I may be out of touch from my Chinese roots, but it is so nice of my cousin-in-law’s family to observe the tea ceremony. This is when the Bride is formally introduced to the Groom’s family. I am looking forward to see how they would go about with it.

The day after the ceremony, I will be on my way back home. It kinda makes me feel sad… It was only 2 years ago when I saw them again after almost 10 years when they visited us. The lady who got married was only in high school back then and the younger one is only about 8. Now she is starting a new phase in her life and the kid is in college. He’s all grown now and I can not seem to associate the little boy I used to pick on with this handsome young man I see before my very eyes.

I will be back to work on Tuesday… I have to start putting my mindset back to where it is supposed to be.

In case you guys dropped by recently to check if I had a new entry, I’m really sorry… I was so busy having fun.