memorial day weekend

although weekends aren't as big a deal for me as it is for everyone who works all week, this long weekend was the first that really felt like a huge deal for me.

friday night, i made an impromptu trip out to hermosa with some girlfriends and had fun, fun, fun!!! went bar hopping, ate some after-hours pizza, and had a lovely argument with some bill-o'reilly-following college kid about "liberty." poor kid.

saturday, i went to a santa cruzan event at st. genevieve's church in which quirina was one of the flower girls. it was so touching and educational that i'm seriously considering going to the philippines for christmas 2006. gotta start saving then.

sunday, i got out of the city and spent the whole day at my sister's condo in ventura. sun, steaks and shrek 2. need i say more?

and finally today, monday, i spent the day with my parents american-style (a.k.a, checking out the sales!). after a nice lunch we walked around valencia for hours window-shopping, and my mama bought me a nice pair of wedges. thanks ma! we had a surprise visit from my bro, his girlfriend and my sister's family later in the afternoon and we all had dinner together. fun times. the only things missing from such a family-oriented weekend was not turning on the karaoke machine or my having to play the piano for everyone's entertainment.

now, my mom and dad are watching tfc (the filipino channel). my mom and dad are laughing so loudly that i bet the neighbors can hear them from their bedrooms... with the windows closed.

it's great to see the fam having a ball. i will definitely miss this (family, friends and los angeles) when i go back to nice at the end of june. my sister's already feeling the pain as she asked me a number of times this evening to call mackenzie and tell him i'm not going back. (don't worry, baby, i'll be back on june 28 at 2:30pm) but this trip makes me realize that as much as i love los angeles, i like being in eu a lot too. and i'd be pretty disappointed to find out that my time there was up already. besides, who said that i had to pick one place to stay? there's nothing wrong with wanting both the states and eu to call home equally.

building bridges.

je pense que c'est mieux...

mon homme, originally uploaded by mjane.

family night

all the cousins hung out at everette's house for dinner and the dodger game friday night. best dodger game yet. milton bradley saves. apparently dodger stadium does $2 tuesdays. i'm like, "let's go!" but my bro says $2 tuesdays is more like $2 agro tuesdays as you're placed in what he calls "ghetto" pavillion where many fights have been taking place. maybe not such a good idea. but hey, go dodgers.

during dinner we played a game called black magic. i still don't get it.

i finally got to see melissa's baby girl, mila. she is so adorable. she is the third baby to bless our fam in the last three years. and as the mature cousins we are, we love using our baby nephew and nieces as our entertainment.

not feeling the black magic, originally uploaded by mjane.

eljay's so creative, originally uploaded by mjane.

elo can't get enough of her ipod shuffle, originally uploaded by mjane.

mila and mark, the godfather (look at her cute little toes!), originally uploaded by mjane.

mila, the amazing dancing baby: after dinner entertainment, originally uploaded by mjane.

bad uncle eljay, originally uploaded by mjane.

clocking in

saturday night with mills and mia at the office, originally uploaded by mjane.

right now, mia is settling into her bungalow in miami, steps away from the atlantic ocean, getting inspired. my eyes have been opened to a whole new world: artist residency programs. if you're an artist and are looking for a space to work on your next big project, these programs are a treasure indeed.

millie and mia are the best roommates i've ever had. we used to live off of manchester and airport, right behind a 7-11 and a block away from paco's tacos. the area was technically called westchester, but if you're familiar with the area, one could say that westchester is denial for inglewood. and talk about denial: our apartment complex was called the madrid; our next door neighbor was the dean of asian-am studies at lmu; lisa leslie's boyfriend lived right above our apartment. but there would be many days when no water would come out of the faucets for hours at a time; the pipes were always flooding the parking garage (full of fancy cars); and when we did get water, we'd have to run it for a few minutes just to get it from dark brown to clear. or what we thought was clear water. there were always reports of robberies throughout the complex. and our apartment got robbed one night days before our lease was up. we had a fourth roommate. she had a cat named scout who'd shit in her bathroom sink, kick her hair brushes in it, and then take the shit and smear it on her walls. sometimes scout would chill in her closet and piss on all of her clothes. i guess the poor kitty was trying to tell her something, but i don't think she got the message.

i've got some real estate here in my bag

zen, originally uploaded by mjane.

i've been in l.a. for a week, and i think it's a sign that i'm down with the flu. luckily my mom carries antibiotics in her purse. anyways, the sign being that i need to just go with the flow here. since i flew in, i've been a bit over-stimulated by nothing, everything, anything... i'm sleeping in this weekend.

allow me to be a bit pensive. i'm back home, yet i'm living out of my suitcase. i'm now about to put my suitcase in the car and sleep somewhere else for the third time. it doesn't matter though, because in the last ten years, i'm not sure that i've ever unpacked. beit l.a. or france. i dream of places to call my own, but i'm simultaneously content with not knowing where yet.

after the fixins meeting last night, i took the long way back to toluca lake and drove through the old neighborhood. there are new buildings on either side of 1306. the el pollo inca has sadly been replaced by the house of ribs. there's a cabo cantina or something sharky's-like next to q's now. and i don't know where i'm going with this.

you never knew

The originals, originally uploaded by mjane.

5 years ago, I got a job at this website called Antix.com. Before Dean, mentor-extraordinair, hired me, he sat me down in the middle of his office with two chairs facing each other. The chair I was sitting in was facing the wall on which hung a bus-shelter-sized poster of this blonde porn star in a bent-over pose wearing nothing but black patent-leather stiletto heels. Was she sucking on a lollipop, too? I don't remember... and I forget her name now... but at the time I thought that knowing a little info on her was the "trick" part of the interview. Luckily, I was familiar with her work and mentioned a couple tidbits nonchalantly, hoping that it would score me points with the company. Anyway, I interviewed with Dean, Mackenzie, and Jeff - they all took turns sitting in the chair facing me (Pat was out with a broken collar bone at the time). They were asking me all sorts of typical job-interview questions and as I answered them, in my head all I was thinking about was how impressive the porn star's tummy looked in the tucked position - you know, no flab, no rolls, nothing.

Anyway, I got the job. And long story short, or should I say, point being: Donny Miller, there are reasons why respected gossip columnists are hard to come by in the states, moreso in L.A. But you, my friend, have got the formula down. After all, it is your Universe. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get a holla for approving Ollie's hot selection for Mack's birthday surprise at the old office - who, by the way, also rode you and your associate, a generous impromptu gesture of appreciation from the birthday boy for lending your support. But, what's news to me is that you say that you couldn't get it up. Hey, don't get me wrong, Donny, it happens, man. C'est normale, as they say. But even a teeny tiny little "thank you" of any sort would've been cool.

It's all good, Donny. We can always count on you to keep the crowd laughing. Don't stop what you're doing. In my book, that's finesse.

Mac. Man, what a fucking piece of work. He's on my top ten most uptight people I've ever met in my life list., originally uploaded by mjane.

ground control

seeking: interim models in l.a. area for orientedgirl as face-of 05 holds it down a cote d'azur, originally uploaded by mjane.

jane's little body is screaming, "jet lag." yet, i haven't been able to do the sleep thing yet. oh how lovely it would be if i could just sleep straight through tonight.

fam from PI came in on saturday morning. and then the coincidences commence.

mark took me to the new active boardshop that opened in my parents' hood, my hometown, to check out the biz at some demo that chocolate was doing. and above mass craziness of crowds and cars on the ground, i see my boys one at a time going up and down in the air, comme flying, glowing beings. nice to see them skating, in all places, of all weekends, my first weekend back in good ol' santa clarita valley. even better, it was great to see everyone smiling. it's a belated greeting, but fuck y'all, vraiment, here's to an amazing 2005. smiling faces - it's been a long time since i've seen the homies' teeth shinin'. except for meza, who somehow always graces me with the presence of his pretty grill every time we see each other. i swear, aaron, you wear that smile like a tie.

it's all good.

i'm so tired. got a long way to go still, but i feel as if my time here is already slipping. for real though. in yellow submarine fashion, "it's time for time." and so it is. en autre mots, c'est chill... non angoisse... pas probleme... juste tout amour.

"who do you ride for?"
"chocolate."
"can you sign my shirt?"
(jane witnessing a moment b/ roberts and a fan) (too cute)