Flynn's Paws: My Thoughts, My Gripes

Tag: food

  • 20060525-Broken Bird

    TechCu seemed to have injured her left leg for quite some time because she would place most of the weight on her right leg with the left one barely tucked under her feathers while resting. She sleeps more with ruffled feathers to indicate we do something to ease her pain.

    Earlier tonight, I had observed that she would go down below with the rest of the fatter brood and pretend to eat. She would poke around the bottom of the white tray and swallow nothing. I threw minuscule amounts of tiny activated charcoal to encourage her to eat something smaller.

    Maw and I decided that she needed to be separated from the rest because the fatter ones tend to poke her out of the way whenever we try to offer TC some food in a separate container. BooBoo and YeYo are especially food aggressive and we think that is why TC is thinner.

    Surprisingly, she still had strength to wiggle within my grasp as I moved her to the new isolation unit, a small white, wired cage with a purple plastic container below to catch her poop. This is the same cage that Bugsy was transported into our home.

    I placed the pink sanded perch with various sized width from the bigger cage into her new home. There are the food and water containers of pink and yellow color, respectively. A nice multi-colored cover with butterflies left over from another cage.

    Birds like TC are enduring and they do have memories that are still intact. We have a photo of Persimmon that looked straight into the camera. Every time we hold up that photo she would peer closer as if to kiss her mate and look behind to see were he was located.

    TC misses her former mate Persimmon, who was also from the wild. I could tell both the Fat Budgie and her were disappointed when Bugsy came into their lives. Both were simply not interested in the new bird and would poke him away.

    Bugsy is a light purple bird instead the dark olive color of Persimmon. And of course, BooBoo, who is a light blue one, immediately befriended her new playmate. Both are actively interested in each other by kissing, feeding and bobbing their heads up and down simultaneously.

    When these birds bob their heads up and down, that signals to us that they are happy birds. When they talk even louder during dinner time, this means they have much to contribute to our conversation. TC did not sing much recently.

    I am wondering if she is older than we expected. Her arrival was from the wild when Brat captured her outside the parking lot of his work almost three years ago. Her age is unknown but she seems younger than Fat Budge.

    Having parakeets as part of the bio-unit does have its moments. Daily maintenance of cleaning the tray, vacuuming the carpet and playing with feather friends is necessary to make everyone happy. This keeps the bio-unit together and us busy with creatures that have feelings too.

    I am feeling that she is indeed hurt both physically from an unknown injury, which is probably during some nights of panic attacks inside the cage and emotionally from her lost mate, who left the same way he came into our lives via the Persimmon tree.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Link to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Thursday May 25, 2006 – 09:11pm (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060520-Friendly Brat

    Today has been mostly gray clouds over the whole Bay Area and not a single drop of rain fell. The air is cold and crispy as I looked above to see the Sun with its nice halo. There are some wispy clouds behind and that is enough to convince me that today will be another fine Saturday.

    We are frying fish outside the char broiler and the propane tank has enough fuel for many more fun filled days. The first one is catfish and the second one is tilapia, a popular Asian fish. I prefer tilapia because it’s meatier compared to the smelly catfish, which reminds me of old men with whiskers. There are three green chili peppers and a slab of meat being cooked also.

    At around 10:29AM, there were two black colored copters that flew from a southwest direction towards a northeast direction into the distance of Mt. Hamilton, CA. I do not know why they would make their presence known DIRECTLY over my home or my parents’ house.

    Yesterday and today, there were lots of light planes making their presence known in my airspace also. I never flew inside a light plane before and would assume that it’s too loud inside. Besides, I did mention in my previous blogs that my tummy doesn’t like the feeling of free falling.

    I took pictures of both copters; the gray clouds; the Sun’s halo and some birds with my CB in the background. This goes to show that my life as a novice writer and warrior, a dedicated hard worker and slave and a simple person and human, could be described as being none other than a Friendly Brat.

    My purpose in this lifetime is to observe the events unfolding in my immediate surroundings and learn all that I could and to take all the trials and errors that I could possibly encounter and make life both fun and enjoyable.

    Today should be another example of how there seems to be lots of wool being pulled over everyone’s eyes. The wool, in my opinion, could be fear, which I felt as my hand shook from excitement when I messaged Brat about the two copters flying above.

    The increase in police activities on the roads and in the skies and in spectacular headlines that seem to focus on negativity are examples of more wool that should not make us feel cold from fear like ice cold tea or lemonade but should keep us warm like sweaters knitted by loved ones.

    I would like to remind everyone that the mundane events have many positive outcomes on a daily basis that do not always make the headlines. This brat wants to make sure that the senses of new and old thinking in each and everyone are being tickled in a friendly manner.

    Once again, I would like to subscribe to the great comedy of life and allow everyone to discover that laughter is the best medicine. Besides, if we all want to one day meet our Maker, I would prefer to know that many great smiles have resulted from people who could make a difference in all that is good.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Link to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Saturday May 20, 2006 – 11:55am (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060517-Leasurely Limp

    On Wednesday, we had lots to do with Paw having his procedure done. The day started out with me being awaken at 06:30AM by Paw who was already dressed and ready to be driven to the hospital.

    Since my purpose in this lifetime has been the designated driver of the family, all three of us then went to pick up Brat at his house. We then proceeded to buy four sandwiches from the local store and two lottery tickets.

    The travel was fine and lasted only fifteen minutes as long as we stayed in the carpool lane on northbound Highway 101. We made the 08:00AM check in at the front registration and were given a map to navigate inside the building towards the Radiology department. The hospital is being renovated at the front and the walking time was longer as a result.

    The waiting room was not packed and was grateful the air was not stuffy to breathe. I took turns with Maw and Brat to get up and walk around to the bathroom or outside. There was little to do. Maw and I decided to have brunch of minestrone soup at the cafeteria around 10:00AM.

    We waited anxiously until 11:00AM when we gave our Paw quick good luck kisses and blessings. Mel, the eighty year old man, conversed with Maw and Brat about Naval life; making models and being normal. I meditated as usual with my eyes closed to relax myself and pray for the all to be well with everyone.

    Brat was hungry and wanted burgers. So we left the building around 11:30AM in search of food. I didn’t want to leave Maw alone in the waiting room but Brat was the most worried of us three. We decided to keep the parking space; leave the car and walk to the nearest burger restaurant.

    My purpose was to take a leisurely walk with Brat, enjoy the scenery; get the much needed exercise and work up an appetite before consuming my food. For whatever reason, my right knee started to hurt with a definite pinch somewhere on the outside joint.

    I requested Brat we turn back but he smiled at me; encouraged me forward and claimed that: ‘It is all in my mind’. I thought to myself that I could overcome this pain and limped onward but slowly with small steps, each one being gingerly taken.
    The tall trees providing the cool comfort of shade from the bright noontime sun, which was beating down on us through amazingly clear blue skies. The cool breeze also made the walk pleasant as I cooled down from overheating with this form of exercise – walking.

    I have noticed lady bugs and pill bugs crossing our paths. I was careful not to step on anything moving and small beneath my feet. Each step was a blessing; each step increased the pain. I continued onward for thirty minutes until we reached the corner.

    We then bought our meals; sat down in the stuffy restaurant and discussed him wanting to have a non-denominational marriage in Hawaii with only immediate family members. This sounded like a good plan and I am sure Twit would accept Brat’s proposal, if he only knew her ring size and when the good time would be to pop the question.

    Brat and I exited the restaurant and, for whatever reason, he punched a wall (probably out of frustration) and had caused an open wound injury to his right middle knuckle. So we went to two stores; found his bandages and antibiotic; and greeted Talofa, or ‘Hello’ in Samoa, to the salesclerk named Tua.

    Another thirty minutes was somewhat slower and I continued to limp behind the smiling Brat. He kept looking back at his fatter and older sister. And I tried to smile back at him in vain and complained once in a while. I noticed two ‘watchers’ along the way.

    At 01:00PM, we arrived to find Maw no longer in the waiting room. We inquired and then navigated back to the main lobby to take the elevator to the fifth floor. I was weight down with sandwiches and drinks for Maw because I knew she needed something to eat.

    Paw was on his back and apparently finished eating his meal with Maw attending nearby. I helped Paw drink almost every drop of the bottled water with much effort because the straw was bent out of shape. And I cleaned him up as bit before he drifted off to sleep from the sedatives.

    Brat was looking tired and we were all relieved that Paw was doing fine. All three of us debated that we kids should take off for another two hours before Paw could be discharged. This was enough time for his wound to heal a bit from the surgery. So we both left at around 01:30PM.

    I dropped off Brat and I did many things at home like cleaning up the house and taking a much needed shower to remove the stink of my walk. The pain in my knee was mysterious and all I could do was take over the counter medication to relieve the symptoms. Brat suggested this pain could be gout, arthritis or lack of exercise.

    At 03:15PM and after receiving two of Maws calls a few minutes earlier, we both headed back to the hospital to pick up Paw. After driving 70mph, we arrived at 03:40PM to find both parents waiting at the very front of the hospital bench and sitting together like peas in a pod.

    I limped back to the car and drove up to pick all three up at the loading zone. We went to the other doctor to pick up the prescription for Paw and then drove home on the carpool lane. The travel time took thirty minutes this time because of the rush hour.

    As a good daughter, I did as much as I could without complaining much. As a good sister, I seem to sustain some injury while enjoying times with Brat. As a tired person, I had gone to bed early at 09:00PM and did not enter my blog for the day.

    The day was worrisome but the results turned out good for all of us. Paw got another chance in life; while Maw and Brat were relieved. As for me, my lesson for the day was to improve my outlook in life by taking more leisurely walks to enjoy nature and the outdoors.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Link to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Thursday May 18, 2006 – 09:15pm (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060503-Devoted Birth

    Ah yes. It’s another Wednesday and the third of the month of May. I thought there would not be any nice weather but some fluffy white clouds came out and so did the sun. There seems to be a white mistiness hovering in the air against the green hills in recent days.

    There was a trail cloud nearby and I took a couple of pictures. Now that I have access to a faster connection I will be able to upload as many beautiful pictures of the clouds and flowers.

    I no longer have to be the impatient person sitting on a hard back breaking chair. I will convince Brat to give me his old leather chair and possibly reimburse him for a new one instead.

    Today I was not in the mood to answer any personal phone call. And why should I? No one calls me on my cell phone anyways! This goes to show that my privacy is important.

    I save my brain from too much exposure to the waves emanating from the device and there is a little dot attached to it to reduce whatever could possible burn one’s ear holes.

    I did, however, had to return an important phone call and hope everything will be fine for everyone. I love processing paper works. It’s what I do for a living. My purpose is to bring hope.

    Little happened at work today with the exception of a top person was publicly humiliated. Some kid actually had the empowerment not to be stepped upon; unlike some people who smelled their way upward. I see two possible reasons why this could happen: quota and improvements.

    But I am not an expert and would rather take the backseat and watch the scenery unfold. My suspicion is that they like to work their way from the backdoor or from the bottom up to get to the real target, which could be no other than an important person like a novice writer right now.

    I will not speculate the reasons for people being treated as this individual has gone through. All I could share for today is that one’s fall is another’s rise. Paws day is to be recognized as a symbol of strength and devotion. He is stubborn but very patient as his Taurus bull sign dictates.

    He was born in a small province called Tuy, Batangas in Philippines. I do not know much about this place but there were lots of sugar canes and the popular fish sauce called Bagoong from Balayan, which is another province nearby.

    The stories of his childhood were not many. He did tell of having worms; walking without foot coverings; saving money for the bus; pooping with is next younger brother, Gigolo, underneath the house of his grandbio-units; crying for his mother because of working the fields of his grandbio-units; hearing the bird crying at the birth Gigolo; and being fed rice, soy sauce and coffee as his childhood sustenance.

    I know that Paw is a strong person. He does not say much and is always quiet, like me. I believe his rage is well hidden underneath his calm outward appearance of any Taurus sign and is rarely shown unless provoked by his wife or his son. What he does say or at least try to express is very difficult for him because English is not his first language.

    His passion is organizing, such as his recyclables and garbage. His hard work on his gardening and his paper works at his favorite wooden desk, which Maw and I bought for him on his birthday years ago, are two other main activities of his. He does get very particular with making sure his tools are well clean and put away properly in their places; just like his paper works.

    Sometimes he watches television with the sound turned very softly that I could not hear all that well. That’s not bad for someone older than me. Sports statistics are his forte. He would ramble on about people and other miscellaneous tidbits that would make me lose my train of thoughts. He does remember birthdays and anniversaries too.

    Politics is another major influence on him. He did mention that he used to go the City Hall in the Philippines and listen to the people speak of various agendas. Currently, he has to be weaned off of watching too much media driven programs regarding an administration that he totally dislikes.

    I know that Paw is devoted to his bio-units. He worked in the Navy and would be out to shore for nine months of the year as he left his bio-units and wife to cry. He would throw up because of motion sickness; get flu from Okinawa, Japan and haul gifts on his back through the same snow to get on the ship for his bio-units and friends.

    Paw is a generous guy because he did sponsor his sister to become a nurse, which was and still is a highly regard professions among Filipinos.’ He would sponsor other relatives to live and stay at his house during our growing years. During parties of those relatives, we would be the one to gift the largest amount. He did not forget Brat and me.

    Paw is a sentimental guy. Buying a simple birthday card would bring tears to his eyes. Today, I bought a card and found the same one from another year that I forgot to give! Any card that I chose has to mean something to me and the recipient. And he hugged me and said, ‘Thank you.’

    There are no days when his daily routine would not be broken. Every morning he eats one orange; one apple; two toast and warmed milk. Every afternoon he exercises. Every evening he eats his banana; sometimes does the dishes and always does the trash. Every night he takes forever in the bathroom. The pattern is very noticeable.

    This is the day Paw is born and we celebrated by going out to dinner. All five us (which included Twit) enjoyed our steaks and a desert of chocolate cake drowned in hot fudge and topped with vanilla ice cream. The night out was simple. Paw and I were the quietest; while Maw and Brat were talkative.

    I drove the Benz to and from our house because it’s the least I could do to reduce the anxiety of Brat’s already hyperactive mode. Driving at night is not too hard for me but my eyes are getting somewhat weaker and my sense of direction is getting there.

    My night is spent uploading the updates and installing other programs into my new faster computer. I’ve moved Brat’s bedroom furniture around again and my computer workstation on one side of the wall closest to the door. I could now rest in my bedroom and work at any time in the other room.

    I think I should rest now because this has been another busy day on Paws blessed day of sixty some odd years so far. I know that he will remember that we are still the bio-units he loves and he is proud to have the role of a caring father.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Wednesday May 3, 2006 – 11:59pm (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060430-Merry Moving

    Today, I’ve helped Brat move his property from this house into his new one. Twit was also there and was amazingly strong to have picked up boxes I would consider heavy for me. Both have careers in the IT departments so they are used to handling the computers at work.

    I went downstairs and greeted my bio-units but silence was forthcoming. I drank two cups of hot coffee brewed by Maw from downstairs. This silent treatment does not bother me one bit because, by nature, my personality is to say little and to stay quiet most of the time.

    The twosome left unannounced to an unknown location. This is very unusual and shows how manipulative old timers could be especially when their old worlds are being undone by a couple of spoiled children of theirs, who want freedom.

    I refuse their playing victims of not being respected during the couple’s first move together. I could be wrong and maybe should have asked Brat if he requested their assistance.

    I was already wrapping the coins of Brat when he asked me in angry tone to help him move some of his boxed up property downstairs around 11:00AM. I could not understand why he glared at me for not sounding too co-operative initially.

    I should have stopped him right there and told him off with that kind of attitude. But I knew this was yet another opportunity to lose my weight and raise my heartbeat, which should flush out stagnant blood throughout my sedentary system.

    So I grumbled to myself as usual and forced myself to offer whatever time I had today. I was feeling grimy and had to take a quick shower prior to exerting my precious effort and energy to make their move smoother.

    Brat, however, did notice that I was already out of breath within five minutes after going up and down the stairs to bring down the lightest boxes. At least, I was neither seeing stars, yellow spots or sparkling dots in the front of my eyes nor feeling dizzy.

    The first trip included his boxes of clothes and other essential; while the second trip included his gadgets for hobbies. A third trip to include his two kayaks of plastic (to take) and Greenland (to leave) and his three remaining bicycles, which he will bike one for each week from here to his house, would have been nice.

    I was hoping to go back the second time immediately after unloading the first batch but had to stay to bring the rest upstairs at Brat’s request. This took another one hour or so and wasn’t feeling comfortable being there without Twits approval too.

    I had a stomach ache from eating the ice cream from the ice cream truck, which mysteriously appeared in front of their new house while the song ‘Fur Elise’ played at 11:55AM. ‘Namaste’! I said to the driver (or one of my many ‘watchers’) after Brat and I got our sweets.

    The second trip was much faster. Because I felt stronger after the initial flush of ice cream, bottled water and a carbonated drink afterward. Also, I felt little pain of exertion due to doing my simple stretches and exercises, which helps to keep the flabby skin under control and to strengthen my muscles.

    Afterward, we dropped off the extra boxes at the trash section of her condominium. We then ate at a Vietnamese restaurant. We each ate US8.00 notes worth of meal. And since I am elder sister to the couple, I offered to pay. My first credit card maxed out and had to use my second of six cards to pay a total of US43.00 notes.

    This is my expression of hard work well done. Together we could make happiness possible. Although Brat had sentiment that my bio-units were not there to help with the physical move, I mentioned that the old timers cannot be there all the time.

    That is why my role is the middle person, who would give them my blessing on behalf of these old fashioned people. I would support Brat, who seems to really want the bio-units to participate more in his new life.

    Today was a merry move for new beginnings on another clear blue sky and crispy fresh air. I am currently playing on my laptop one of Vaihi‘s album of mostly Tahitian words, which I cannot understand. The other foreign languages I could understand are Tagalog and very basic Japanese and French.

    The palm trees surrounding my neighborhood seem to sway and beacon me to come back to my past incarnate home somewhere in the Pacific and away from the place I existed for three long decades with the strong figure head of Paw and the hot headed likes of Maw.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Links to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Saturday April 29, 2006 – 12:05pm (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060414-Good Friday

    Today is the last day of a work week and it’s good to leave work early today. I left work at around 02:00PM (Pacific Time). I have my supervisor ‘CarolTwin DaZit’ and her boss ‘Lean SaladWash’ to thank for being so understanding of our need to leave early for religion. Friday’s are especially good when there are donuts and bagels freely given by our company.

    ‘Feign Hurt,’ a temporary co-worker, who at one time wore a maroon sweater printed with <em>lighthouses,</em> has a good heart. She gave me a pink colored, wire basket with plastic white pearls around the top. There were pink paper streamers that cradles the items, which included: a box of a wooden shaped, chocolate cross, two yellow marshmallow bunnies in a plastic zip lock, two small milk chocolate eggs, two more chocolate goodies and one hard boiled egg, which I ate for lunch and which she colored by herself.

    The weather for today is cloudy, gray and cold enough to open my bedroom window to allow the fresh arctic wind blow inside while I try to compose this blog before I time myself out for lack of activity online. For me, anything with fresh air either during rainy or sunny days is a blessing. ‘Fancy Soul,’ the new temporary worker for this week described the weather as looking ‘ugly.’ So both ‘LeNaval RedEyes’ and ‘Fancy Soul’ know the meaning of the word ‘ugly,’ which describes them perfectly. Both are fine but I’m not staying at the place that much longer.

    Today is another day a person is dying. He is relative of my aunt or eldest sister of Paw. Maw called me around noontime at work and later Paw came upstairs to inform me that he is currently on morphine, which means he is unconscious and probably not going to wake up. I pray for his forgiveness of past misdeeds. And I won’t miss him really.

    I do not care to see that fat and ugly person. I do not know him well. He seemed nice during our growing years. But he has this mean spirit, especially towards my paternal grandmother recently. I do not understand why my aunt, who is his wife, did not defend her own mother from that loud and obnoxious person. Old granny was instructed by my paternal grandfather after he passed on to live with Malform for awhile prior to her current residence at a local nursing home.

    ‘Allbut DePriestman’ was a former priest. And the fact that he prays loudly at home with the many parties to show off to friends leaves me to believe that he is not all that sincere with his prayers. Prayers to me should be reverent and serene but this is not expected from what I’ve heard coming from his mouth.

    Today is a Good Friday for celebrating a suffering of an ascended master from long ago. I do not understand why Christians would want to continue to remember how or why anyone had to go through that horrible episode of that time. Bio-units and friends have suffered along side with the leader, who was portrayed as a rebel and teacher. Those times were not fair for others who went through more horrendous experiences but not as spectacular as religion would allow.

    I did not attend mass today because I did not believe in the prescribed rituals of my religion. All I could do is offer my prayers in the hopes that people will awaken to the truth and stop their utter nonsense of trying to gain points or receiving blessings for their motivations to keep their perfect and upright moral images that go along with being Christian.

    Somehow I want to believe that His knowledge did not die on the cross as we Christians are lead to believe. Moreover, these deacons, ministers, preachers, priests or whomever do not make sense sometimes in our modern worlds as they further my confusion about what is real to me in the here and now and what is based on passages written and possibly re-written by many people over the centuries.

    I would rather celebrate the living and not dwell on the death and suffering of anyone. People should enjoy being human and live life to the fullest and not to believe too deeply that dying on the cross for our sins is necessary. I believe everyone is free of sin. Those without the spark of light or the willingness to love are not real and are best forgotten forever.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Link to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Friday April 14, 2006 – 03:55pm (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060401-Backyard Paradise

    The houses here were built upon land that used to be swamps and marshes and growing orchards of apples and oranges that no longer exist as part of each backyard. The main road of S!e#rr@ Rd.’ used to be quiet long before they opened up the dead end piles of dirt now noisy with the busy railway intersection at L^ndy Rd.

    Not a dull moment could ever become of our backyard. Yesterday’s overcast and high winds blew across the foot tall lawn as the green blades bends across as if being petted by a large invisible hand. There is much cleaning up of native plants and weed and of eucalyptus leaves dried up on the ground everywhere to be done by Paw when springtime permits warm weather.

    This little plot of paradise garden has been maintained mostly by Paw and he seems at peace with his surrounding. He is a quite man, who was born on May 3 and does have this down to earth Taurus patience of digging deep into ground and soil, including his obsessive compulsive to get the rubbish separated nicely from the recyclables.

    He may take longer than most people to accomplish the maintenance but that is fine for him as long as the job is done right and perfectly the way he wants. So that the fruits of his hard labor could be harvested later on with the fruit trees bearing pomelo, apricot, nectarines, plums, lemons, pears and persimmons. The backyard is his territory.

    Whenever we have too much fruits, we share what bountiful harvest with bio-units and friends. Some appreciate the kind gestures; others are meant to be ignored and left in the gutter like some forgotten walnut. All our relatives living in the East Bay are a bunch of ungrateful people. After leaving a bagful of fruits at each door on a fine day, one would think that a simple thank you to my bio-units, at least, would suffice.

    But we know they are too busy to care because they are working sixteen hours to pay off their egos. I shouldn’t sound so bitter but I did and had to drive with Maws pleadings to deliver these bags of fruits. Her logic, according to her mother, is to treat the relatives of the in-laws nicely.

    We try to make her understand that this was not her destiny to be treated nicely in return from my own cold-hearted kin folks, whose remind me of a bunch of angry, hissing nagas.

    (He-he: I don’t know much about my bloodline or ancestry but this is as close a description I could think of to explain very territorial attitudes of people from a province in Philippines called Batangas on Paw side).

    I remember as a child looking at a particular photo of a completely white snake appearing from the page of our old Encyclopaedia. Each look at the snake’s head popping out gave me heart jolting fears that I had to cross train myself to view the photo longer and eventually to touch the photo.

    Now I know better that snakes are part of the grand design. We don’t have snakes in the backyard but there used to be crickets making noise into the night now paved over with cement, monarch caterpillars eating the milkweed that used to grow in the backyard, gophers digging large holes through our lawn, hoards of flies buzzing into spider webs and a big toad that hopped away never to be seen again.

    Times have indeed changed in lifestyles, attitudes and people that I’ve met along the way. I know that someday, people would all be nicer and stop being a bunch of hard headed nuts. People should learn to enjoy their own backyard like Paw, who happens to like walking outdoors. He’d pace back and forth while bundled up in two layers of jacket with one hooded and a baseball cap to finish the image of a toasty chestnut.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Link to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Saturday April 1, 2006 – 11:12pm (PST) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060326-Eat Now!

    Maw! When’s dinner?” I holler to her as my stomach grumbled in frustration. “I’m hungry! [Let’s] eat now!” In order to avoid upsetting the cook, I eat whatever she feeds her family. This cook does painstaking work to prepare each meal made with love and from the sweat of her brow. “Come and get it!” she replies.

    This verbal stimulus causes the salivation response and we’d all come “running” to the table. Well, except Paw because he tends to do other compulsive chores around the house before eating with the family.

    We are trained to eat together as a family unit. Each unit member had to assume the normal position and as it stands with Maw at the ‘head’ of the table and Paw to her right, with Brat and myself to his right and front, respectively. The Filipino culture is a matriarchal society, which allows the women free reign in decision-making especially around the house.

    Most Filipino dishes are meaty flavored drowned in tasty sauce. We seldom eat fresh salad and vegetables because the logic of Maw is to have the meals well cooked. There are some Filipino dishes that are similar to Vietnamese and Chinese cooking, such as bitter melon and fried rice, respectively. I guess I grow tired of eating Filipino food and am already too familiar with the American continental variety.

    All the food I seem to eat taste the same and bland, like tofu which I love. Anything too hot or spicy burns my tongue and mouth, including Indian food, which I could tolerate to a point. I’ve tried the exotic Ethiopian food, which is good to eat. However, it’s time for me to explore more tantalizing tastes out there.

    Our eating habits have been the normal three course meals, which I do not understand since today’s nuclear family unit of being on the go and eating out has replaced the traditional farming household of working the fields by pa and kids while attending the cooking and indoor activities by ma and kids.

    I often wonder why we need to eat in the first place. Eating is necessary to feed the metabolism of us warm-blooded mammals; while eating a well balance diet promotes a healthy human body. I wouldn’t miss a day without eating my favorites of all sorts, especially the kinds that would clog the arteries. I am not a picky eater.

    Since we have been blessed with all this abundance in foodstuff, the idea of bullying ourselves from the pleasures of feeding our emotional appetites is simply denial. I should not be this selfish and should share my scout cookies I bought with my hard earned pennies.

    My opinions on different cuisines are very limited and I do not offer any personal advice on which taste better from the other. Moreover, my sense of smell is limited and I cannot fully enjoy what more sensitive people experience when tasting broccoli or spinach. I happen to like both vegetables by the way.

    I figured I’d save some of what’s left of my money by staying at home and personally do not cook. That’s because, like I said in my prior blog somewhere, eating tastes much better when prepared by someone else with a more discerning palate.

    Besides, Maw cooks almost everyday and one doesn’t not argue with the cook. Maybe when and if I ever move from this house, I may actually cook what I like and lose the weight I’ve gained, which is understandingly from Maws cooking.

    She knows it’s not her cooking that makes me a bit thick today, it’s my hearty appetite. Both Paw and I happen to have inherited this trait from Lola Loose, who originally came from Bicol, one of thousands of provinces in the Philippines. This means there are several thousands of dialects as well as the types of food cooked by people there. The island is too diverse.

    This current arrangement does not help my evolving eating attitudes of avoiding any and everything the smells good from Maws kitchen. If I could stop eating altogether, I may have more time either to blog or to watch television. And yes, Shrimpsei, there is a television located near the dinner table.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Link to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Sunday March 26, 2006 – 03:48pm (PST) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060326-Blogger Cares

    Why should I care what my readers think about my platitudes of blogs?

    The reasons for my blogs are: allow the readers to figure out if what I compose are either fictitious stories or real events; save much needed energy for chewing my food instead of becoming long winded and out of breath from flapping my lips too much and avoid embarrassing moments like stammering or pausing in the middle of thinking while trying to find the rights words to say.

    If you care enough to read further, I care about improving my self image and shortening my blogs. If you notice in my previous blogs, I gained the ability to take at least one word, make it my entry title and compose approximately one hour’s worth of platitudes.

    I care to blog about important factors that affect me but still have a difficult time trying to define all the available words found an ordinary English dictionary. How could my beautiful mind possibly utilize the many English words in the proper context effectively? I am my own editor and my best critic.

    I care to express my thoughts with the right words and in the right order to my readers. You will find edited versions of current and older blogs due to grammatical and spelling errors, long and fragmented sentences, of course, proper word usage. So it is better to check back every other day to make sure you got the updated ones to compare with the old blogs.

    I care about being perfect to a certain point to find myself a bit anal retentive. Everything has to have a place or else be lost in the clutter that may get in the way for the bumping of toes.

    My work area, for example, is so organized and quite dull due to lack of any creative eye candy for the co-workers. A new employee could figure out what areas could be taken over at my desk.

    I could leave work at any time without having to pack my personal effects because there is the same fan that blows the bad odor away from my cubicle and a mirror to remind me to always put on that happy-smiley, crazed-grin sunshine on my beautiful face for the world to see.

    My weakness has been in communicating verbally due to this karma of not asserting myself openly, not being heard clearly and being misunderstood mostly. People don’t hear me well either because I tend speak softly and haven’t yet learned to project my voice in the right amount of volume.

    That is why I avoid communicating over my cell phone that hardly rings, the home phone that is used for faxes and the work phone that never gets answered no matter how urgent. And answering my phone and emails at work in a timely manner doesn’t count as urgent because no one could possibly die from missing A/R payments. I may be a mean person at times but that is my attitude. Hello, can you hear me?

    My strength, however, is being able to compose blogs almost everyday and in longer durations because it is almost like playing piano. Over the years, my fingers and hands have been trained with arpeggio exercises on the piano and as a result increased in strength and endurance to keep up the fast pace of typing at work. Up and down went my fingers for an hour or so every week for a few years during my childhood.

    As long as I’m interested and able, I care about blogging until my fingers no longer work in unison with my brain. I care too much about my blogs that I’ve edited my original blog of ‘20060308-Platitudes Care’ and took its contents to create this new blog.

    Copyright © 2007 by Fluffy von der Flynn. All rights reserved.

  • 20060312-Sun Dried

    Laundry is being done on this Sunday, the day of rest. Rest is not practical in today’s working class suburban. There are chores to do, bills to pay and blogging to compose. Outside is a blistery cold and blue sky peeking from behind the puffy clouds that seem more frequent in the past year. The mockingbirds sound their mating calls in the morning and late at nights.

    The day is quite relaxing as I try to digest Maw’s overly big version of hamburger patties, which she mashed with her bare hands last night to get the seasonings well blended. The taste did not jive with my diminishing lack of smell. And I had to eat my chewable papaya enzyme tables to aid in the digestion of this foodstuff.

    Paw did a good job cooking and not burning the meat outside on the char broiler, which still has enough propane left in the still somewhat heavy tank. Paw is now enjoying his afternoon walk around back after meticulously cleaning up the grill and placing the equipment back under the open, wooden patio attached as part of the main house.

    His healthy lifestyle has been to eat apples and oranges every morning with at least one toast or plain bagel and warmed milk from the microwave. Then he takes his medication and vitamins religiously and on the designated hours. And though he has a large appetite, he still manages to maintain his medium build.

    It’s us women that tend to pack on the pounds and don’t know why this seems to be the case. We love to eat, hardly exercise but do take our vitamin supplements whenever we choose to remember. Walking is what we do around the house, outside the backyard and within the newly interior decorated shopping mall of the Great Mall in Milpitas, CA. We used to walk around parks and our neighborhood but that aggravated our allergies.

    Allergies have been in our lives. Brat and Maw have breathing ailments and coughing spells that don’t seem to go away. I get skin ailments that don’t want to heal and Paw seems to not get affected by anything at all except the occasional sniffles in the morning from being awaken too early. I wonder if Paw daily regime for physical fitness is an area we have overlooked.

    I’d look over the pages to find the answers of many health articles and still am curious as to why people would go to such extreme means to stay fit by working out at gyms, look years younger by getting plastic surgery and to live longer by jumping into the band wagons of various advertised products and services.

    Sure, I’ve struggled to fit into those tight jeans cutting off the circulations to my legs, the light blue eye shadows clashing with my dark brown eyes and feathered hair cuts sprayed upwards in hair-bear fashion.

    Working out at gyms made me sick inhaling these stinky smelly people who look like they rather date and eat meat that happen to be friendly enough to talk. Exercising at home didn’t do much to motivate my already blogging habit. And taking breaks and lunches at work wouldn’t make working any less enjoyable.

    It’s worth having a life knowing that the simple activities such as doing the laundry is exercise enough. Unloading the basketful of damp clothes and hanging outside to dry under the radiant Sun is almost like doing a workout. Bending down repeatedly to pick up the clothes and standing on the toes to reach the clothes line takes but a few minutes.

    Plus I get a farmer’s tan with my hairy forearms being darker than the rest of my paleness due in part for being a mixed breed of Asian, European and aboriginal Filipino of all sorts. So I don’t need to go to the tanning parlor, which I’ve done in the past with no success other than getting a red face.

    I feel more Asian and this is from the looks of my epicanthic fold of the eye and overall yellow toned paleness of the skin, European from my strong and wide, militaristic jaw line (of Paw’s side) and testy and suspicious nature (of both sides) bred from years under the Jesuit inquisition and Filipino from my somewhat kinky, hairy darkness, lack of a high bridged nose (with the exception of the males on Maw’s side) and attunement to nature.

    Nature is where I would find my niche. I’d take pictures of flowers and animals, walk among the tall grasses and weeds and drink the rays of the Sun behind my dark shades as I sit on a reclining plastic chair. Here is where I’d eat my sun dried tomato pizza while hanging the clothes to dry under the Sun. I love the smell of freshly sun dried laundry. It’s paradise where money doesn’t get washed or interferes with my blogs.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Link to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Sunday March 12, 2006 – 12:40pm (PST) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060301-Soup’s On

    Soup is by far my favorite. It’s easy to mix in ingredients and boil for a few minutes. It’s like drinking flavored water, only better. I could eat Vietnamese ‘pho’ soup everyday because it’s light and the Russian ‘borsch’ soup will always be my number one.

    I’ll have to admit that the blocks of dried ramen with those flavored soup packs count as a good enough soup eaten by me. It’s what I ate during the growing years of a tight budget from parents that did not have much help from younger relatives.

    Well, maybe the next younger brother of Paw has been there for us in the beginning. These two brothers grew up together while the six siblings currently living here in the Bay Area still bicker at each other in a somewhat civil manner once in awhile.

    And the cooking happens to be done mostly by the in-laws. Soup for my dad and his mom should be served at almost every meal for that what I notice in myself, the preference for soup above all others.

    What I like about soup is the mixture that goes into it. The primary ingredient is always water. Without water, there can be no soup. Have you ever had dried soup? That does not exist. I see several basic kinds that could be part of the soup: meat, vegetable, vitamins, minerals and don’t forget the prayer of thanks over food.

    The cook is the creative force behind in this end result. I bet the cook is his only critic and he could only blame himself for not making his soup the best. This cook, in this case, is the best in his own mind. Nothing matters because it’s all the same to him anyway. He makes soup with much love and care.

    Each ingredient in this soup, grand or microscopic, offers it’s best to make the cook’s soup perfect. Without the cook to make the soup, who else? There is no such thing as ingredients making its own soup. That is unheard of.

    Like the ingredients in our soup, each team has a purpose to fulfill. This goal for all is to nourish the creative force for more soup making endeavors. Is this getting through you thick heads people? Nothing in this soup could be any better or no less than what is already in the soup pot.

    Then again, doesn’t this pot smell good already with everything ever mixed into this beautiful work of cooking art and burning up from trying to be better than the rest? The cook is going to taste his soup at any time and hopefully all the ingredients have done its job to make that first spoonful a lasting one.

    And for those ingredients which end up taking the worse of the heat, won’t you please stop sticking to the bottom of the pot? It is very hard to scrape the bottom clean, after all. So far I would rate this soup recipe a perfect ten at the moment. At the moment, this one tastes very good, very good indeed.

    What is next? We could all try harder for another eternity of this delicious soup. But next time only we should try for something more different and better for the cook’s sake. Perhaps we could add more of the aromatic scent of garlic and the pungent smell of onions to the soup mixture, eh. Yummy!

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Link to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Wednesday March 1, 2006 – 10:30pm (PST) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

  • 20060228-Milk Box

    I’m stuck in a rut and living this flat-lining existence of comfort and bliss with no worry or care in the world. I’m stuck in a writer’s block that creeps upon me now as I try fruitlessly to think of useful words to describe the event. I’m stuck in a dream world that seems too good to be true and that nothing could get any better than being here alone with my thoughts and by me.

    Honestly, I could do myself a ‘real’ favor and go outside to the ‘real’ world and meet other people with ‘real’ experiences of riding the peaks and troughs that seem similar to ripples created by a pebble dropped into a pond. But first I must finish my soy milk. (Personally, I do not like the unsweetened version because the nasty taste reminds me of Play-Doh).

    I drink my soy milk diluted with bottled water for ease of swallowing. This should provide my mind the nourishment it needs to think better. My hope, furthermore, is for a clearer perception of where I’m going with this blog. Ah! I feel the half fullness of my stomach (or half empty glass for the pessimists out there) of soy milk permeating into the creative portion of my being.

    Yum! There we go-another swallow of this slightly sweetened formula that reminds me of mother’s milk. I feel like a baby once again thinking about those younger years of being pampered by my mommy and powered by my daddy. Oh, swallowing is only for food and liquid, right? And that’s how I should keep my blog: nice and clean like a baby’s bottom.

    Another swig of this stuff and I’m almost to the bottom of the glass. I hope I have enough space in my stomach to keep the flow of words going in this blog. My mind is now in creative thinking mode. The boost from this liquid proves to be helpful for me.

    And now I have a blog in mind since my original topic seemed to have changed after finishing the foodstuff. For whatever reason, I now see an avenue on better days. All this introverted activity has gotten me nowhere except to prove to myself that I may have a creative edge in writing. I guess practice is all I needed.

    I wonder if being indoors is paradise all the same with me and no one else and with the scary prospect of no parole (a pun, please). This sounds like a normal deal for any secure minded individual to stay locked up in a box containing other boxes to provide a lifetime of enjoyment.

    My favorite boxes are the musical ones that hold my jewelries and silent ones that hold smaller trinkets. There are my drawers (of white with gold-colored trimmed furniture that my parent bought for me as a child) for keepsakes and other articles of clothing.

    My computers (one primary and the other a laptop) provide very informative data when I could log online with my freaking inexpensive, dial-up service, which seemed to have disconnected earlier tonight and a few weeks ago.

    In my closet, there are many old types of clothing on old hangers and other containers of old stuffed animal toys and object of arts that Brat (with an ‘old soul’ of Atlantean wisdom) has gifted me over the years.

    I used to listen to my stereo system, which I moved downstairs to replace Paw’s larger stereo system, which he bought from Okinawa, Japan back in 1976 and which has been recently donated to a local charity.

    I used to watch televised programming, which did nothing but hook me into this humorous drooling stupor of watching only the best and informative truths provided to ~sheeple~.

    I read books, articles online and periodicals once handled by patients waiting in doctor’s offices. I find that reading is a good source of information because the readers create the images and sounds in their own minds.

    The greatest box that one could ever have is a beautiful mind. The contents of one’s mind are infinite and the possibility to create a new world by composing my blog is like the milk box and its liquid contents. Sharing my blog to my readers is as good as drinking a tall glass of soy milk. Cheers.

    Copyright © FVDF. All rights reserved.

    Link to Flynn’s Daily Blogs

    Tuesday February 28, 2006 – 09:30pm (PST) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments