Day 7: Quality Time with Mom and Siblings
I planned to spend the day bringing my mom to places that she wouldn’t have gone to otherwise. We started out by heading to Fisherman’s Wharf to have lunch at Joe’s Crab Shack. I really wanted whole crab from the vendors on the street but it was raining and we both just wanted to sit down and relax away from the rain. She also told me that she always wanted to go to Joe’s so I wanted to make her happy. It was pretty damn good. We got the Steampot for 2. It came with 2 clusters of dungeness crab, 2 clusters of snow crab, 10 pieces of shrimp, new potatoes, and two pieces of corn for $44.99. Not bad for that much crab at a sit down restaurant.
Mom Getting Ready to Grub
Steampot
Joe's Lights
Out Joe's Window
Joe's Chairs
After Joe’s, we went to the newly renovated Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. We got there at about 2PM and the second we stepped on the first step (after the 10 minute walk from the car in the rain) an announcement came on saying that tickets were sold out for the day. This really sucked because it pretty much ended our day. The new Academy of Sciences is supposed to be state of the art. It has a new Planetarium, a living roof, and a multi-story rain forest. The planetarium is supposed to be the best part. I guess I will plan another trip with my mom when I go back for Christmas. I will just buy my tickets online next time.
Later that night, I went back to Dee and Mike’s house to eat, drink, & chill with them and my brother James. But James never ended up coming through, which sucks. Instead Mike’s homies, Lil’ John and Gil came through to kick it. We had ribs and rice for dinner which was pretty satisfying and cost only about $5 to feed everybody. After dinner, we went to the ghetto store (they call it the yellow store because if the sign, but it is really called Quick Pic Market). I tried to get a six pack of Negra Modelo and Anchor Steam and they were charging $23. We decided to just get a twelve pack of Tecate (Budweiser of Mexican Beers). Lil’ John brought his own 40 oz of 2-11. I had a bad experience with a 40 oz of 2-11 back in high school. It involved a pretty girl, a lot of vomit, friends laughing at me, and passing out in the back alley. I guess the shit hit me that hard. When Gil came through later on in the night, we went back to the yellow store to get some real liquor. We picked up 375 mL of Johnnie Walker Black Label. We each had two glasses on the rocks and it wasn’t bad for a cheap whiskey. We also listened to the new San Quinn album that our sister Carol’s boyfriend Dex produced some tracks on. His beats were pretty good and me and Mike decided to try to check out his studio before I headed back to LA.
2-11, Taken by Dorothy Moyrong
Johnnie Walker Black Label, Taken by Dorothy Moyrong
Mike Having a Taste, Taken by Dorothy Moyrong
Gil Drinkin and Chillin, Taken by Dorothy Laughlin
San Quinn Album, Taken by Gil
Lil' John & Mike
On the way home, I tried to get some late night grub at McDonald’s or Taco Bell/KFC by the house but they were closed. The next closest was Jack in the Box on Bayshore in Hunter’s Point but the lines usually get really long over there so I decided to just try to sleep off my hunger.
Day 8: Thanksgiving Day
I woke up this morning feeling dizzy and with a huge headache. I needed to get out quick to go see Mike and his brothers and friends play football. They called their game the Turkey Bowl since it was Thanksgiving. They were playing at Alta Loma Park in San Bruno so I could get some breakfast at Jack in the Box to fill that need from the night before. I felt hella better after getting something in my stomach and I was ready to snap some shots of the game. These guys play football every week and sometimes they play tackle but that was not an option this time around. They ended up playing with a half dozen Polynesians who were huge and were looking to crush some bones. They ended up playing flag football and the yellow team won.
Pre-Game, Filipinos in the Front, Polynesians in the Back
Pre-Game, Mike
Pre-Game, Marvick
After the Snap
Running the Sideline
This Shot Was So Funny, Dude Looked Hella Scared
Capture the Flag
Marvick After the Catch
Head to Head
Wide Receiver
Nice Catch
Moving the Ball
Block and Move
Those are Some Big Dudes Coming at You
Those Polynesians Were Huge
Swatted
Hike
Marvick Getting His Flag Taken
Waiting
After going home and getting ready, my mom and I headed to Marie Calendar’s at Serramonte (Serramanila to all the Filipinos) to get some pies. We tried to get custard and pumpkin but they ran out of custard so we got french apple instead. We headed to Pacifica and picked up a bottle of Crown Royal and a six pack of Newcastle.
We got to the Pacifica family house early and had to eat a little before the meal. When my grandma was dropped off my ready-wheels we put out the ramp that Marshal built so that we could get my grandma in the house. When everyone got there they asked us to take some pictures of the food and with our grandma in front of the food. When we were done taking pictures, my grandma managed to grab a lumpia from the table before she was wheeled away. She hates the food at the nursing home so I guess she couldn’t wait. The lumpias were extra good for some reason too. There was a good mix of Filipino and traditional Thanksgiving food. I pretty much stuck to the Filipino food cause my Tita Lu makes some good ass Filipino food. After dinner, me and my cousins Kris, Jojo, and Ian finished the Newcastles and half of the Crown Royal.
Later, me and my cousins, Kris, Ian, Jojo, Adrienne, Kim, Kelsie, Bianca, and Elanie went to the park next door to throw the football and some frisbees around. I couldn’t really throw the frisbee for shit. I got the hang of it later on though.
After burning off some calories, we headed back into the house and finished the Crown Royal. I was pretty gone at that point and we were going through my laptop to find hip hop samples. We were singing along the new lyrics to the old songs. My cousin Jonathan, who is usually really quiet, got really chatty when it came to talking about music. He is really musical and he plays three instruments (guitar, drums, and something else). I thought he was a straight rocker but he knew about raock, hip hop, old soul/funk, and even electro and B’More. When he was younger, we brought him to some gigs and just let him get on the turntables to move the record back and forth at the end of the night cause the girls thought it was cute. He didn’t know what he was doing but it was still to the beat and you could tell he had the music in him.
At the end of the night, Ian and his mom, Tita Irma, dropped us off on the way back to Oakley.
Deep Fried Turkey from the Chinese Restaurant, Didn't Like It
Lumpias and Some Other Stuff
Day 9: Last Day in San Francisco
This day started off real late and with a huge headache, again. I was hungry so me and my mom walked to Taco Bell/KFC. On the way there we passed by the Cow Palace, which is a indoor event building. It used to be the premier place in San Francisco for events like WWF, Ringling Brothers, car shows, and concerts. The problem was that its entrance was a block from the entrance of the projects with two liquor stores in between. People would make the mistake of parking in the neighborhood instead of the venue and you guys only know what happened next. Nowadays, the Cow Palace doesn’t hold much and is comparable to the Los Angeles Sports Arena. You may have wrestling there but with luchadores, instead of concerts you may see Christian healing events, a bunch of liquidation sales, and motivational speakers.
Before getting to Taco Bell/KFC we passed by a new multi-story apartment building that used to be “El Rancho Market” and was the place we always used to go for groceries. When you look around at all the businesses, they are changing to Chinese establishments. Just in the seven and a half years that I’ve been gone, my neighborhood, Visitacion Valley, changed from predominately Filipino, Black, and Samoan to Chinese and Hispanic. Filipinos and Blacks are moving to Fairfield, Suisun City, Oakley and beyond. Samoans are still there in the same numbers but most of them live in the Sunnydale projects and will be displaced when they are shut down in the next five years. There was a “South Pacific Islands” restaurant next to Taco Bell/KFC that I wanted to try but I didn’t have cash. I will make sure to try it before all the Samoans are gone.
After we ate, I went home and slept for a long time after taking some allergy and headache medicine. I got picked up later by Mike and Dee and we headed to Dee’s mom’s house before heading to Dex’s studio. I had some mongo and rice while I waited for Dee’s mom, Betty, to get home. Mongo is a mix of lentils, meat, bitter melon, and ginger and is really good. When Betty got home the first thing she said to me was “Wow, Paul you gained some weight.” That sucked but she said she liked it and it looked good so I guess that wasn’t a bad thing.
Mongo and Rice
At Dex’s studio, we listened to some unreleased tracks that didn;t make the cut for San Quinn’s new album that were pretty good. There were also some tracks on there with Krondon, CNN, and Killer Mike. The Krondon track was pretty good too. Dex’s workspace was pretty nice. He had a lobby, office, and and recording studio. In the studio, he had a shit load of keyboards, a DJ set up, a sound proof recording booth, and everything else needed to produce beats and record music. His weapon of choice was Sony Acid but he also had Reason and Pro Tools if needed. I got on the turntables (1 Numark cd/turntable hybrid, 1 1200, and a Vestax 06) but didn’t really get to shine that much. The turntables were just not up to par. The needle on the 1200 just wouldn’t hold.
Dex, Mikey, and Carol, Taken by Dorothy Moyrong
At Dex's Studio, Taken by Dorothy Moyrong
Me on the Turntables at Dex's Studio, Taken by Dorothy Moyrong
My Niece/God Daughter Keilani Messing With the Turntables
Mikey at Dex's Studio, Taken by Dorothy Moyrong
After the studio, Mike and Dee dropped me off at the airport and I headed back to LA on Virgin America. Virgin’s planes are dope and you get free cable while you are on your way to your destination. I got back to LA to a hectic arrival area. I got on the 9:30PM LAX flyaway bus to Union Station at 10:00PM. When I got Union Station, my girlfriend Trisha picked me up and we headed home, finally.
Sleep…zZZZZZZ…zZZZZZZZ
