2008 Year in Review

In one of my favorite Christmas movies, Bing Crosby advises Rosemary Clooney in song: "If you're worried and you can't sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep and you'll fall asleep counting your blessings." Like many song lyrics, it sounds a little less redundant and nonsensical in song. But I like the sentiment. It's not only appropriate just for when you're worried, but for just about any other time, including year end reviews, bad moods, stuck in traffic and tightrope walking while juggling flaming torches (though you may need the advanced class to do that last part).


Things I'm thankful for:
- My health: Probably the easiest to take for granted until it all goes wrong. All it takes is a split second accident or having genetics fail you. My grandmother on my dad's side of the family is still going strong at 95. On the other hand, I have no idea what sort of health issues are on my mother's side of the family - it could be the health roulette for all I know.
- My loved ones, friends and family: It's the gift of their presence in my life that keeps life rich and rewarding. Whether I've known them since I first took breath or only developed a friendship in the last year, it's those relationships I cherish. I don't make friends easily, being the shy type. And no matter what they tell you in the fairy tales and sitcoms, relationships take work to maintain. It could be as simple as keeping in touch or as difficult as going to therapy to work out stuck points in communication, but it's all effort. And the reward is the connection and closeness that makes a world of difference.
- This year I stayed employed: Given the world economy meltdown, this one is worth celebrating.
- We bought a new house: It's bigger than the previous house. We can have family and friends come over to visit. So far we can afford it.
- We have Ka and Zaia: I've already written a few times about this. But having them as part of the family and household has brought chaos and comedy, responsibility and a whole new set of things to pay attention to like which breakable objects in the house could be seen as potential cat toys.
- We traveled to Bali: It was a wonderful trip (which I promise to write about in more depth next year). It took a long time to get there and really felt like we got a glimpse of a different world. At the same time, it reminded me of growing up in the Philippines.

Things I'm proud of:
- I wrote another book: Again, it's only a first draft of a novel, but it's a complete story and may turn into something worth sending around at some point. I'm glad to have some potential projects to work on in the future. For now, I think I'll go back to my first novel from last year and see if I can make something of it.
- I progressed to purple belt in karate: The belt progression from here goes purple, brown, then black. It gets harder from here with a higher chance of my breaking something, I'm sure.
- Winning first prize at DNA Lounge's Halloween costume contest: See my previous post on this.
- Paying attention to and participating (somewhat) to the 2008 presidential election: Never done that before. I learned lots about how our government works (or doesn't).

There are many more things I'm thankful for and probably a shorter list of things I'm proud of, but for the sake of actually submitting this post before the end of the year, I'll decline from enumerating them further. I'm very happy for the blessings I have.

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Cirque of Ka and Zaia

We haven't gotten very far with new tricks. Ka and Zaia get so enthusiastic about receiving the treats that my fingers bear battle scars. So I guess we need to work on some kitty zen with them - that clawing and biting don't get them the treats any sooner. The trouble with learning that rule is that it involves more battle scars before they get it. I have to space it out and let my fingers heal in between lessons.

But they do have the following trick down pat:



Ka is a much more linear and impatient student than Zaia. Once he figures out what will get him the treats, he'll repeat it over and over and over and over. He does experiment now and then but gets frustrated easily. Zaia loves the treats too, but perhaps not with the passion of burning suns that Ka has. So she tends to be much more random. I think she picks up tricks by watching Ka do something and then she follows. However she is more willing to do random things to try and figure out what I'm trying to get them to do. Except that without Ka's powers of retention, it remains somewhat random until Ka learns it and repeats it (over and over and over).

We're working on getting Ka to High-Five sans claws. Right now, I put a hand up, he puts a paw out with claws to bring it closer and see if there's a treat in it. But when we leave the house, he has taken to sitting on his cat tree next to the window and putting a paw up to wave goodbye against our hand on the other side of the window.

Then there's Fetch. I've seen them both pick up things and carry them around so we just need to get them to bring those things to us. Right now, they tend to carry it off to their favorite spot (i.e. under the Christmas tree) to play with it there. It's a hit or miss endeavor.

As for the Litter Robot, it's like it's always been their litterbox. (And there was much rejoicing in the household.) They still go to the bathroom together. And they both find they have to go right when we're adding new litter to it or otherwise tending to it. There's no longer any flinching and looking nervously towards the upstairs bathroom when it starts cycling. So we'll call this a win-win.

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Christmas Card Writing

Tonight, I put some Christmas music on (Harry Connick Jr., Charlie Brown Christmas, The Carpenters and Diana Krall on iTunes party shuffle), printed out our Christmas card address list, gathered this year's card selection, address labels and stamps and sat at the coffee table near the Christmas tree to start our annual ritual. I didn't always enjoy this process. When we first started this tradition, it had the scent of obligation. We would receive warm holiday wishes in the form of cards from the mailbox. It was such a nice feeling to actually receive mail that didn't suggest or demand an extraction of money from us, that we figured it would be nice if we provided a source of that feeling to our friends and family too. Prior to that year, I had written plenty of Christmas cards, but it was generally delivered to my family on Christmas Day in person. This ritual, this tradition was different. Family was now in different corners of the country and we wouldn't always see each and every one of them over the holidays. I poured the foundation on the ritual when I opened up Microsoft Word and generated the matrix of names and addresses (in alphabetic order of course).

Our Christmas card list includes both family and friends. Some friends we have come to treat as family. Other friends have drifted away such that the Christmas correspondence has become our sole communication. I have argued with myself that maybe those folks should be dropped off the list. But every year that I have received cards from them, I enjoyed hearing from them. Whether it's their holiday newsletter, telling us what their family has been up to in the past year, or a simple signature on the inside of the card. It has me thinking about them, the times we'd shared in the past, the gratitude that we were on their Christmas card list. The same thing happens when I pick up my Pilot G-2 fine point gel pen to write out their card. Whether it's fond memories of the last barbecue we had with them or wondering what they're up to now, we're sending our best wishes out to them at this time of year.

It's a process that goes well with Christmas lights and Vince Guaraldi Trio's jazzy O Tannenbaum. I guess it's just another way to count the blessings we have in friendship and kinship.

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Electric Mayhem Movie-watching

It's that time of year again. Time for the Christmas specials, that is. More specifically, time for the Muppet Christmas Carol. Ali found that it was playing at the El Campanil Theatre in Antioch. She called to let the owner, Rick, know that the Mayhem wanted to show up for the movie. While it is customary to show up in costume in San Francisco on the opening night of highly anticipated movies, it's probably less prevalent with even time-honored classics like the Muppet Christmas Carol. Thankfully, Rick didn't think us too crazy and allowed us out in public at his theatre. Where children would be! And with free tickets!


There was even press about the event ahead of time.


The movie started at 2pm, but Rick asked us to show up at 1pm to greet our fellow movie-goers and get pictures taken, if anyone were so inclined. It was a little quiet early on, but we did get our first posed picture with a little girl. Her brother declined the photo-op. We waved at a few cars that slowed down as they passed by. Then we went inside the lobby to greet the guests there, after we took a brief tour of the beautifully renovated, eighty-year old theatre. After becoming incorporated as a non-profit organization, it went through a face-lift to reopen in 2004. In the lobby, we stood next to the Christmas tree and a mechanized Santa and Mrs. Claus making out their list. I noticed that Animal was distinctly not on that list. It must have been the 'Naughty' list.


We had a few brave children that came forward to shake hands and introduce themselves at their parents' encouragement. Animal's head got petted several times and some even posed for pictures holding onto Animal's chain. Most were shy though, intimidated by 7-foot tall Muppets. It was fun and fascinating to wonder what the little ones thought of large, stuffed-animal looking creatures. On the one hand, we looked like cuddly Muppets. On the other hand, we were two, three, maybe four times their size. I guess it's akin to the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the first Ghostbusters movie without the whole world destroying rampage. One little girl didn't make it into the lobby. She took one look at us through the glass, screamed, and took off running down the street. We thought that was a good time to retire from greeting duty and wave to the people in the theatre.

The movie, for those unfamiliar, was Dickens' Scrooge tale with Michael Caine playing Ebenezer Scrooge. Kermit was Bob Cratchit and Gonzo narrated as Charles Dickens himself. But the most important part of the movie came during the ghost of Christmas past's lesson where the Electric Mayhem, clad in Victorian garb, rocked out Mr. Fozziwig's Christmas party. Highlight of the movie, I tell you.

Afterwards, some of the previously shy kids shed their reluctance to come say hi. Or maybe we looked smaller sitting down. At any rate, we got hugs and escorts and high fives as we all filed back out of the theatre. Having kids standing that closely to us was a bit of a hazard as none of us had visibility directly downwards (blocked by our huge jaws). As a result, I had to make sure to tilt my head down as much as I could before taking a step. Outside, we posed for more pictures and waited until the younger kids were gone before decapitating ourselves and revealing our true identities. Rick invited us back sans costumes for a future show and judging from the line-up coming up, I know we're sure to have a good time then too.

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