Trina's page of Blogginess

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a new geek t-shirt.

Am I the only one noticing how small women's t-shirts are becoming?

I fully recognize that I am not as petite as I was, say, 20 years ago. But, considering the fact that I will soon be entering the fourth decade of my life, I think I'm still in pretty good shape. I could be totally fooling myself into thinking that I'm still fit, but I do workout regularly, and generally eat pretty well, and well, I think I look okay. :)

I usually wear a size Medium, and I'm perfectly okay knowing that I no longer fit well into a size small.

But, when I was selecting this shirt, I realized how small the medium seemed to be, so I grabbed a large instead.

Good thing I did. It fits well - exactly how I would want it to. (but it still seems a tad ridiculous to me.)

So, this is me.
Size: Large.

go figure.

I want to know who's responsible for deciding clothing sizes...

Labels: just trina

This afternoon, my Raggedy Ann and I were invited to a Tea Party, hosted by my neighbor's 3-1/2 year old Granddaughter! I brought my favorite Raggedy Ann ("Raggie") with me. She hasn't been to a tea party in decades, and was very excited! :)


posing with our Raggedy Anns

We all had a lovely afternoon. My neighbor's Granddaughter (who I'll refer to here as "A") was a wonderful hostess. She brought out her Raggedy Ann doll to meet mine, and the four of us, and "A's" Grandmother all sat down at her little table, all set up with a tiny tea set.


Tea Party!


"A" and her Raggedy Ann

Our "tea" was apple juice that "A" served to us from her tea pot. We also had heart-shaped sugar cookies that she made with her Grandmother yesterday, in preparation for the party.


Cookies

"A" really fell in love my my Raggie. After our tea party, "A" took Raggie into her bedroom, and tucked her in under a blanket on her bed. Then, she sat down next to her and read some of her favorite books to Raggie.


"A" reading to Raggie

After story time was done, and dear Raggie had rested, "A" brought her back out to play for a while with some of her toys.

My Raggie was in rag doll heaven. She hadn't been played with like this by a little girl in a very long time. :)

We had such a nice afternoon at the tea party. Hopefully, "A" and her Grandma will invite us back soon. :)


Raggie and her new friend

Labels: raggedy ann

I'm very sad to report that we've lost another furry member of our family.

Claude was my parent's kitty. He passed away today after being diagnosed with ailing kidneys about a month ago. His health diminished quickly, and he had a rough last few weeks - he was on a special diet and needed to receive fluids via an IV. Sadly, he lost his appetite over the past couple of weeks, and wasn't sleeping well. My parents made the very difficult decision that his quality of life wasn't what it should be, and that it was time to let him go.

Claude was a very special cat.

Actually, as Dick once pointed out to me, he was the original "Cat Chow".

Claude was my very first cat. Dick and I adopted him from the San Francisco SPCA on May 7, 2000 - just over a week after his 3rd birthday. Dick was the one who chose Claude - he was quite taken by him when he saw him, and told me that Claude would be a great kitty to take home.

He was right.

This was before Dick and I had moved in together, so Claude moved in with me in my Condo. He was quite shy at first - he hid on top of the cabinets in my pantry, and under the armoire in my hallway for the first few days. He eventually came more comfortable in his new environment, and was a great furry companion.


Claude, about a week after he came to live with me in May, 2000.

By the time Dick and I moved in together in 2002, we asked my parents if they would adopt Claude. Dick already had Marcel and Noe living at his house, and we were afraid that Claude wouldn't be happy moving in as a third cat after he was so happy being an only cat. He had been to my parent's house to visit a few times at this point, and we all agreed that it would be best for him...

...and what a lucky cat he was!

I always teased my parents that Claude was the most happy (spoiled) cat ever. :)
He was so well loved, and so well taken care of. My parents had never had a cat before him, and they showered him with love and attention. He was so happy with them. I used to feel guilty for giving Claude away, but that went away as soon as I saw how happy he was with my parents, and how happy he made them, too.

Claude was one-of-a-kind. He was very dog-like in some of his mannerisms: he would follow my Mom wherever she went around the house, and he would always come to her when called. He would always run down the stairs to greet her when she came home (sometimes, he remembered to greet my Dad, too). ;) My Mom and Claude had a whole song and dance routine when it was time for his supper - they trained each other well. :)


Dad, Mom & Claude, Christmas, 2004

Claude had the softest coat of fur, and very long legs. We called him our Panther Cat. After he overcame his shyness in his earlier years with us, he later became a very outgoing and friendly cat to everyone he met. He loved car rides, and would even go with my Mom to visit my Grandma at her apartment. He loved walking around my parent's backyard on his harness, and especially loved to watch his birdie-friends from his sliding glass door.


Claude, sunning himself in the garden window

It was a good life. He was a very happy cat.

We will miss you, Claude. Thank you for all of the love and joy that you brought to our family.

Labels: kitties, pets

I'm spending the night at my parent's house tonight, sleeping in my
old bedroom. It looks almost exactly as it did when I was growing up.

On the wall next to my bed hangs my old telephone. It has big, huge
buttons that always made dailing quickly easy. I won many a radio
contest calling in from this phone - and that was long before the days
of speed-dailing! ;)

I just noticed a switch on the side of the phone that I had forgotten
about: it lets you choose between "pulse" or "tone".

How's that for old-school?

I doubt I could find anyone under the age of 35 who would know what a
pulse dial is.

This was my status on Facebook about an hour ago:

crazy schizophrenic weather in SF today: it's cold. it's sunny! it's raining. it's sunny! it's windy. it's cloudy. it's raining. it's sunny! it's pouring..... waiting for the hail to wrap it all up.

Then, wouldn't you know it... within 20 minutes or so, we had a hail storm!

I took this photo of our back deck. The size of some of the hail was almost pea-sized!


Hail on the Deck!

Then, we had a pretty rainbow!


The Rainbow Connection...

Another 15 minutes or so later, and we had yet another hail storm!

This one seemed to last longer than the first.

I took another photo - this one is of our putting green in our backyard.
(yes, we have a putting green in our backyard... ;) )


Our putting green, covered in white...

What strange weather we've had today. It's about 30 minutes later, and the sun is out again...

Maybe it'll all repeat the pattern again. :)

Labels: A day in the life, san francisco

Today would have been my Grandpa Chow's 88th Birthday.

Our family met today at the Memorial Park where he was interred. (we've been back on several occasions already, so this wasn't the first time.)

My Grandma is so good about following the traditions passed to her by her ancestors, and she has done such a good job of teaching and passing these traditions down to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

I hesitated asking if I could take this photo, but Grandma said it was okay. I thought it would be good to document what it is that we do for these occasions. I know the symbolism of some of the items, and am still learning what other things mean.

We always present the basics: incense, a chicken, roasted pork, three bowls of rice, and three small cups filled with whiskey. I should look up the meaning behind each of these items, but I do know that the three bowls of rice and cups of whiskey are offerings to the gods. The oranges and tangerines symbolize luck and wealth. The other items - the dim-sum and bao were some of Grandpa's favorites. We also had cookies (with birthday candles!) for his birthday. The tradition of presenting all of this food is so that the deceased can enjoy their favorite foods.

I learned about another specific part of the tradition today. I've always known that the chicken head should face forward - towards the grave. I learned today that you also pull off the bottom part of the beak of the chicken and break off the tips of the wings. My Auntie told me today that the reason why you break off the bottom of the beak is so the chicken cannot talk badly about your family. :)

After we offer the food, we burn (fake) money (so we can send them money in the afterlife), and more incense.

I really value the traditions that my Grandma has passed along to our family. I've learned that these are Old-World traditions, which are still regularly practiced in the rural Southern Villages in China where our family is from. As people move to more urban areas, they stop following many of these traditions, which I think is a shame. It seems like such an important tie to one's culture and heritage.

Labels: family

I had a really fantastic afternoon/evening today in Union City. Today was the local WGI Regional, held at Logan High School, where I helped teach the color guard many moons ago.

I saw so many old friends - some of whom I see once a year or so, but some that I hadn't seen in over 20 years, and only recently reconnected with over Facebook!

Here are a few photos:


Esther, Trina & Aki

This reunion was most amazing - I haven't seen either of these girls (women? ladies?!) since 1985. That's almost 25 years! Esther and Aki marched in an Elementary School Prep guard that my friend, Milton, and my sister used to teach. They were in 5th grade (or so) back then! We got reacquainted last year on Facebook, which has been wonderful. When I mentioned on my Facebook status recently that I was planning to go to the regional, they decided to come - neither of them had been to a guard show since the mid-90s, or earlier. So wonderful to see these two again!

update
I just found a photo of when Esther and Aki marched. I think it's from 1985. They are the first two on the left side. Look how cute!


Vinci Park Pirates Color Guard, 1985


Chad, Nikki, Scott & Trina

Here's a photo of most of the Logan HS Color Guard staff from '94-'95. I don't think the 4 of us have been back together since then. Wow. 15 years.


Chad, Trina, Josie and Teri

Josie and Teri were in the guard while we taught at Logan. They both started at Alvarado Middle School in the early 90s when Scott and Nikki first started the program there. Amazingly, Teri's oldest daughter is in her second year in Alvarado's guard!


Philip & Chad

Two of my dear friends. They haven't seen each other in years. We all live in San Francisco. Hopefully, we can all get together more often.


Diana & Chad

Diana - my "oldest" color guard friend. (and when I say old, of course, I mean in the number of years that we've known each other - not our age!) Diana and I met when I was 14 and she was 15. We met at "try-outs" for Sparks - the color guard that we both marched in the mid-80s. Diana is a dear, dear friend.

I'm so fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life. It's quite remarkable to me how long our friendships have lasted, and how we still are in each others lives. Who knew so many great friendships would develop from learning how to spin a flag. :)

Labels: color guard, friends