Previously Written December 12th
I went back to Cali for Thanksgiving, which was the first Thanksgiving in California since I moved to Chicago. I didn’t have any plans except NOT to shop on black Friday and to see the Takeshi Murakami and Giant Robot exhibits in LA. The MOCA was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, all I did was catch up with sleep and food in my body.

I actually just slept, ate, and slept four days in a row. Exhausted from all the pushin’ I’ve been doing with school, work, and freelance stuff it felt great to catch up to it. Although the eating I could have brought it down a notch. Eating three huge meals a day with snacks in between isn’t healthy. Now I’m paying for it with a fat belly in the morning; something I never had.

My grandfather was in the hospital and I visited him every day. I swore my whole family from the Philippines worked there because all the nurses were Filipino. The whole setting of the hospital made me sick and not want to be there, but for my grandfather’s sake, I stayed and kept going.

Back in July, my mom bought a turkey deep fryer for really cheap and I’ve been waiting to cook the turkey in it. Unfortunately we didn’t get peanut oil like we were suppose to, but the turkey was so good and moist, I didn’t think it mattered.

My family didn’t make a big deal of Thanksgiving this year because they had been preparing for my dad’s Filipino food x Mexicans hybrid party. My aunt cooked the food for them and my dad hired a native DJ to get the festivities going. He only played Mexican music. It was confusing the neighborhood as well as my sister Joellen, who didn’t recognize the remodeled front yard and was thrown off from the circus Mexi-records. Of course, she brought the kids, who wore me out.

Two of the coworker girls were the ones dancing the entire time, but my mom, dad, AND GRANDMA got down also! It was funny seeing my dad cause my sister, her husband Nate, and the kids were straight up clownin’

LA time. My cousin Krisha and I left Delano in the wee morning and went straight the to MOCA. It turned out that the Murakami site was next to the Japanese American National Museum, but we checked the art on the Grand Ave center.

Inspo for the life size Nat

Unfortunately you cannot take photos in the Murakami exhibit, so I didn’t…kind of. Once I entered the warehouse full of his work, I was overwhelmed and excited. You know you’re ballin’ when you have a Louis Vuitton store in your exhibition.

We were exhausted, but we still had to see the Giant Robot exhibit next door, which there we were able to shoot photos of the work.

Driving to Geisha House, we crossed by Jollibee, a Filipino fast food chain. Krisha said she had to take a photo with the bee and as tempting and as hungry as I was, we couldn’t stop to eat there.

The Geisha House was fancy, but for some reason I thought it would be fancier. The rolls we had were so good, but I couldn’t tell you what we ordered…except for a spicy tuna roll, which is a must with me. We added to the fat factor by getting desert, a fruit wonton. And sitting right next to us was Heroes star Hayden Panettiere sat right next to us. Just kidding it wasn’t really her, just some girl who looked like her.

It was time to leave. We made a pit stop at Goldilocks, another Filipino restaurant. Although we had some Filipino food during the Filipino Mexican hybrid party it wasn’t what I was craving, Palabok. I also stocked up on this cheese bread thingy which lasted me for a week.

I labeled this the pre up edition because I’m heading back to Cali on the 19th on another longer adventure. Maybe this time I will get some skating and not quit after 5 minutes of rolling around the park.

Note: so far that last line didn’t happen.