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May. 23rd, 2006
Postcards from home
May. 23rd, 2006 11:01 pmSo yeah, I spent the weekend up north, as mentioned. The trip up went smoothly until we reached Casa de Fruta, this tourist trap rest stop in the middle of nowhere, about an hour from San Jose. We stop for a quick leg stretch and bathroom break, I pick up some dried fruit as a gift for the parents just because, and then we all pile back into the car... and it gurgles. And stalls. And generally refuses to go. We'd noticed a bit of gurgling as we pulled in, but we figured it was nothing... joke was on us. So after checking the obvious for problems, we drag in both Triple A and Allen's parents, one to retrieve the car and the other to retrieve us. Arrival time was thus two hours later than planned. (Turned out the water pump broke down, meaning the radiator wasn't getting water, if you were curious.)
Saw my good friend Cheryl that evening, along with some of her friends. (I owed her that after not seeing her once all Christmas break, due to one complication after another.) Followed that up with seeing my grandmother (who's getting chemo right now but is holding out okay) for lunch the next day, and the usual crew at church on Sunday. This was not, however, the best choice of weekends if I wanted to see my parents; they were highly busy due to some church planning event (there's some major redecorating coming up in the next few months), so I barely saw them at all Saturday and only saw Mom for most of Sunday. But I did get to spend the last bit of Friday afternoon watching a DVD with both of them.
Still, it was good timing in one other respect. There's this elderly lady I'll call L who was going through some trouble last year and, with the encouragement of her friend R, sought a lawyer... namely, Pam. Coincidentally, R was (and still is) a member of Santa Clara First Baptist; she had no idea until she walked in the door that I was working for Pam as an assistant, but she was glad to know I'd be helping out. I moved down south before the case was resolved completely, but it was basically a stunning victory for our side, and no one was more pleased than L (who was convinced she was screwed and there was no point to fighting it). But I bring this up because R continued being L's friend, and invited her to church, and by another sheer coincidence, L got baptized this Sunday. So it was just cool to see how much better she was doing. I made sure to say hi after the service and congratulate her.
Trip back south was uneventful, although I wasn't able to sleep through as much of it as I did on the way up. Also made sure to bring south as many books as I could pack; I had left most of them behind when I moved for space reasons.
And oh yeah, while I was up there, I was helping Mom out at Costco briefly, and while I was there I poked around the bargain bin computer games, and behold! Brand new, 16 bucks. I haven't seen it used for less than $14. Can you say "Score"? Good!
Saw my good friend Cheryl that evening, along with some of her friends. (I owed her that after not seeing her once all Christmas break, due to one complication after another.) Followed that up with seeing my grandmother (who's getting chemo right now but is holding out okay) for lunch the next day, and the usual crew at church on Sunday. This was not, however, the best choice of weekends if I wanted to see my parents; they were highly busy due to some church planning event (there's some major redecorating coming up in the next few months), so I barely saw them at all Saturday and only saw Mom for most of Sunday. But I did get to spend the last bit of Friday afternoon watching a DVD with both of them.
Still, it was good timing in one other respect. There's this elderly lady I'll call L who was going through some trouble last year and, with the encouragement of her friend R, sought a lawyer... namely, Pam. Coincidentally, R was (and still is) a member of Santa Clara First Baptist; she had no idea until she walked in the door that I was working for Pam as an assistant, but she was glad to know I'd be helping out. I moved down south before the case was resolved completely, but it was basically a stunning victory for our side, and no one was more pleased than L (who was convinced she was screwed and there was no point to fighting it). But I bring this up because R continued being L's friend, and invited her to church, and by another sheer coincidence, L got baptized this Sunday. So it was just cool to see how much better she was doing. I made sure to say hi after the service and congratulate her.
Trip back south was uneventful, although I wasn't able to sleep through as much of it as I did on the way up. Also made sure to bring south as many books as I could pack; I had left most of them behind when I moved for space reasons.
And oh yeah, while I was up there, I was helping Mom out at Costco briefly, and while I was there I poked around the bargain bin computer games, and behold! Brand new, 16 bucks. I haven't seen it used for less than $14. Can you say "Score"? Good!