neither twiddle thumbs nor i have been home to see the family for a holiday in a couple years so this year we decided to drive down to LA for thanksgiving. halfway there, i stopped for gas at a city named after one of the boats columbus sailed on to india, oops, america. i lived there for 1 month when i was 6 years old. i really don't remember much. however, i thought if i could just see it, if i could just drive around, maybe some memories would get jogged and i would be able to find the house i lived in. yeah right, forget it! after driving down the street for a couple of lights and not recognizing anything, i made a u-turn to go back to the gas station closest to the freeway. but 1 block before the gas station, i looked down a side street and saw something that i had been looking for: the elementary school i attended! naturally, i had to visit and take pictures.

i have a few distinct memories from when i attended that school. these memories are pretty much in the third person. i play them back in my mind as if i'm recalling a film i had seen. 1. having my classmates rat me out for saying a bad word ("stupid"). having to stand in the corner and count to 100 for saying the bad word. having the kid who monitored me counting to 100 say that i didn't count to 100 so i had to do it again, fucker. 2. telling my dad that he didn't have to pick me up after my first day, i would ride the bus. (exciting! always wanted to ride the bus, god knows why, probably because i had never.) 3. being in the huge cafeteria, watching a dumb ass film about how long 1 minutes is. 4. being in the cafeteria, meeting a girl who had her finger sliced off by a paper cutter. 5. playing on the huge ass swings.

other than that, i have no recollection of what that place was like. one of those memories was playing on really high swings in the back of the field and trying to see how high i could go. well, seeing it in person as an adult was a real eye opener. the school is tiny. i didn't look for the cafeteria but i bet it's tiny as well. also, the yard and swings were not how i remembered. either they removed the swings or everything is huge when you're a kid. the swings were not in the back of the yard but up front. also, they were regular size. not tall at all. of course, i had to swing on them.

after about 1 month of living in that small town, probably even less than that, my dad went into the hospital. they couldn't help him and shipped him to a much bigger hospital in the county. my last memory of my dad is watching him being loaded into the ambulance for transfer. shortly after that, i was shipped back to LA to live with my grandparents. my dad died soon after. given that my memories of that time, that town, and that school aren't the most pleasant, i really only had one thing to express while i was there.

get back in the car and drive, drive, drive. after a couple hours, i reached LA county. i knew i was home once i saw the traffic. check out those lanes, 4 on each side. a real freeway! not the 2 lane shit i drive in santa cruz. getting from point A to point B took a little over 6 hours. that is amazing time considering it's one the worst days to be on the road.

but reaching the border of LA is not my destination. i have to drop off twiddle thumbs at her parents' house. while i'm there, they show me their dog in his thanksgiving costume.

this side of LA is not my final destination. i'm from the suburbs on the other side, over by the amusement parks. i keep on driving. eventually i made it to my grandparents' house. i stood next to my 13 year old cousin that is supposed to be 6'2". no way! he's not that tall. he is big though for his age. he'll probably go beyond 6'2". my estranged uncle was there. bizarre. i've only met him a few times in my life. perhaps few enough to count only on one hand. also, i found out that all of my grandfather's siblings are dead now. (he's the youngest of nine.) they have all been gone for two years now. (why doesn't anyone mention anything to me? i'm totally out of the loop.) nine years ago, i met all of them who were still living, 3 of them. as much as i might think i'm already mentally conditioned to death, it's strange to think that they're no more. then again, they're quite old. in a few months, all of my living grandparents will be in their 80s. what a day. i think i'll continue this trip down memory lane while i am in town. it's time to visit the other elementary schools i attended. in first grade, i attended three different elementary schools. the mind is a blur.

i showed my class film to my family. my mom didn't get it at all. my grandma got it right away. she knew what was happening way in advance, probably because she's older than the movie industry ;)

after all that family stuff i drove to my mom's house. i did the usual thing i do when i'm home: tech support! i helped her do some things she wanted to do with her web site. what's great about my mom's house now is that she has dsl. this thing is great! i love it. now we're going to watch "ringu". i want her to see it. i want to know if she thinks it's scary. she saw the crappy american version and now i want her to watch the good stuff.