My wife and stepdaughter treated me to an early Father’s Day celebration today. It was exactly what I wanted to do: spend quality time with my family.
We had all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ, chatted, and played Scrabble. The day was a perfect gift: simple and meaningful.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a game night at the house, but thanks to a visit from the kids, we had a three-hour session of Ticket to Ride and Scrabble. Even though a deluxe edition of Scrabble (with its fancy rotating board and lockable letters) has been on my wish list for years, my old board is still going strong after over a decade of use.
Another thing that’s still going strong is my love of the game; it remains fun and challenging, even if I can never remember all of the legal two-letter words. Why do I always forget “za” (slang for pizza)? It’s one of my favorite foods. It should be one of my favorite Scrabble words, too.
Boba Ave Express
We went to Boba Ave Express in Arcadia today. It’s the first drive-thru boba shop in Los Angeles County and I’m surprised it’s taken this long for this to appear. Given the lack of parking throughout much of the 626 area and the popularity of boba, this seems like a game-changer.
I remember my first experience at a Starbucks drive-thru and this feels the same way: ultra convenience for a totally unnecessary product.
I can’t wait to go again.
There’s a thing going around on Facebook about who your true soulmate is, but tonight I found a better indicator of soulmate-iness: Waiting together in an hour-long line for free pizza.
Today Blaze Pizza gave you a free pizza if you followed them on social media. It was our first visit to Blaze, but my wife and I both preferred it to Pieology. Blaze had me when I saw they offered whole roasted garlic and Kalamata olives as toppings, so we’ll be back as paying customers soon.
Metastasis
Thanks to Netflix, I’m practicing my Spanish. No, I didn’t find a streaming Spanish-language class. I’ve watched a few episodes of Metastasis, the Columbian remake of Breaking Bad. I love how close the producers stuck to the original; why ruin a good thing by remaking it?
Diego Trujillo is terrific as Walter Blanco (ha!). The scripts so far have been exact replicas of Breaking Bad, except for the language spoken. I’m surprised how riveting the series is so far, especially since I already know what’s going to happen. And while my Spanish hasn’t improved after a few episodes, hopefully that’ll change by the end of the series, or “El Fin.”
Dodgers
A great night: my brothers, our families, and I celebrated Filipino Heritage Night at Dodger Stadium. Love the free shirt commemorating the evening. Go Dodgers!
I was in the Santa Barbara area today and stopped off at one of my favorite spots in the world: Surf Dog. It’s a hot dog cart on the Carpinteria Bluffs, where owner Bill Connell has been serving up delicious and affordable hot dogs for two decades. He’s a friendly guy and will offer you some Red Vines while you decide what to eat.
Pictured above is my go-to meal: Polish sausage with chili, sweet onions, and sauerkraut. You can eat at the cart or take your food across the parking lot to enjoy the ocean view. Nothing has changed over the years, from the comfort food served from the cart to the mellow vibe shared by Bill and his customers.
JCPenney’s Jedi-Like Marketing Skills
Spotted this weekend at JCPenney: the perfect way to capture my generation’s attention and remind us that a big holiday is around the corner.
Backgammon is a game I fell in love with over the last few years. I tried to play it as a teenager, but it just didn’t click with me. It was around my 40th birthday where I taught myself how to play, thanks to the excellent GNU backgammon online game and a few books by backgammon legend Bill Robertie.
I skimmed through Robertie’s books at the library, then bought his 501 Backgammon Problems. I studied it while playing opponents via Yahoo’s free online games. However, it wasn’t until I started using GNU that my game started to improve quickly. GNU’s tutor mode is essential to learning basic moves and strategy, and I was able to hold my own against more experienced players.
My Toys R Us set pictured above is still in great shape and even though I don’t play as seriously or as often as I’d like these days, when I do, it’s a reminder of how much I love this game.
American Born Chinese
Although Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month just ended, it’s easy to experience APA arts and culture throughout the year. Professor Timothy Yu posted a terrific list of Asian Pacific American/Canadian fiction (all published pre-1990) and I’m looking forward to making my way through this list; I can personally recommend the works of Carlos Bulosan, Maxine Hong Kingston, Joy Kogawa, and Bharati Mukherjee.
Here are a five more that I would add to the list of recommended books about the Asian-Pacific Islander experience. I’ve included a few non-fiction titles as well and linked to the Goodreads pages.
1. Big Little Man Eye-opening look at the perceptions and experiences of APA men, especially Filipinos.
2. Ghost Month Murder mystery set in Taiwan’s night markets.
3. Everything I Never Told You Coming-of-age mystery set in 70s middle America.
4. The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker Thought-provoking collection of essays by former White House speechwriter Eric Liu.
5. American Born Chinese Outstanding graphic novel of the immigrant experience.
