in the morning my mom's friend drove us around her area so we could get a sense of the history and saw a minuteman statue. then she took us to where japanese princess masako used to live. you know, i don't give a shit over royalty. this lady though is not royalty by birth. she was the daughter of an ambassador and lived in this area during her teenage years, something like that. the house was quite plain from the outside. then we used the gps to guide us to aunt #1's house in new hampshire. about 10 minutes away from our exit, i called aunt #3 to let her know our whereabouts. she said they're not at aunt #1's house. they've gone shopping at the kittery and are going to have lunch soon at the fox run mall. i don't know where that is but i looked off the freeway and for once instead of trees i saw buildings. i described them and my aunt said that's the mall. so we got off, circled the mall, and waited for the rest to show up.

an amusing bumper sticker

everyone was having lunch together except for my grandfather who was at dialysis and aunt #1 and her husband. so by everyone i guess i mean the out-of-towners and not the disabled in our party. now my uncle's wife had flown in and joined us. she brought my uncle's gps so he wouldn't get lost either. also there was my dead aunt's other child, with her friend and children. it was a large gathering. the place was like fresh choice on the west coast. they had many options but instead of serving yourself, which you partially get to do at fresh choice and souplantation, you placed your order and picked it up. a couple people got a burrito but i refuse to eat a burrito made by someone who is not hispanic or not myself. sorry but others usually don't make it right and i don't think i can get a decent burrito in this part of the country. suprisingly they offered a stir fry and with the option for several sauces or your choice of meat or tofu. so i got the tofu and teriyaki sauce. my mom didn't realize this option was available and wished she got the same thing instead of a burrito. (the menu said fajita and she thought it was the kind where you put it together yourself with bell peppers.)

towards the end of lunch, some left and we started chatting about what we're going to do for the day and also regarding my dead aunt's things. she had a storage unit and stuff is still in there. the eldest child of the dead aunt was complaining how none of her sisters can agree on what to do, that it's all trash but they don't want to get rid of it. i couldn't stand to hear such bullshit after just spending time with the other two and hearing their version. after a bit i had to vent and say that the others said almost the exact same thing and you guys need to grow up, put aside your differences for the next few days, and just get this settled. then there was the issue of where to put the papers that are in storage because they might be important. the eldest again was complaining about she has no place to put them, etc. god, you know, shit just has to get done so do it. i can't stand talk and no action. aunt #2 had to take control and say just box it up and ship it to california and grandmother will take care of it.

my mom started making conversation about what to the colors in the american flag stand for. people offered their opinions. my uncle whipped out his ipaq and there was free wifi so he gave us 3 versions from the internet. then my grandmother said she has always wanted to take the harbor cruise. so my uncle looked up the cruise, got the info, and we were booked to sail for the sunset cruise. in the meantime, everyone had things they needed to do or places they wanted to go. in short, we went our separate ways. my mom and i decided we better go to aunt #1's house because that's where we're staying tonight. now that my uncle's wife is here, they've got a hotel room and they won't be crashing with relatives.

we arrived at my aunt's house and she was just about to leave for a job interview, one that's she's so terribly excited about that if she doesn't get it, it'll be devastating but if she gets it, she might become terribly obnoxious. i don't know how else to put it. this gave us the opportunity to get to know her husband, a man i know practically nothing about. i never liked him as a kid because i never got to know him. all i knew was he had been married before and had kids already, meaning he was much older than my aunt. i guess i've always disliked such arrangements.

aunt #1's cat

my aunt's husband showed us around the house and as we were walking around the backyard, he noticed some blueberries might be ripe enough to eat. he offered a few to me, not bad but almost ripe. then my mom commented that the swing chair they have is a perfect place to relax and read a book so he suggested that we move it in the shade and have some beers. i never drink beer but fuck it, now's the time to do so. we sat back there and talked. i took pictures of their cat. it was nice to get to know him. he's not a bad guy. he's a nice guy. i like him. he's much more friendlier than his wife. i've noticed that dynamic though between straight couples. if the woman is strong (i.e., bitch), then the man is usually very quiet and nice. but perhaps that is deceiving. perhaps when such couples are alone, the man must be very strong in order to be supportive to the wife and have the relationship work. after the beer, we went in the house and he showed us pictures from his trip last year to china. his son from his first marriage lives in beijing now and he's going to visit again this year. we tried to read some of the chinese characters, though their meanings can be different in japanese, to understand what the buildings were and he laughed and jokingly thanked us for explaining where he went.

the boat we took for the portsmouth harbor cruise

then it was time for the harbor cruise so he drove since he knows the area much better than we do. we went to portsmouth, which people tend to pronounce as 'portsmith'. (and "dick smith" sounds like 'dick smurf' in new zealand! hahaha) we had some time to wait before the cruise over the piscataqua river so i tried to take some pictures of the family. i didn't care if people slapped me, i thought as i packed my camera for the trip. perhaps i'll even become a grief photographer. on the cruise i really got a lot of shots in during a touching moment between my grandmother and my dead aunt's daughter, though i was way too close and didn't have time to adjust everything and so many times their hands are blurry. enough excuses, i hope at least one decent shot came out of their crying and hugging session. i also stealthily tried to take a happier picture of my grandmother because she doesn't let anyone take her picture these days, though reviewing my photos i realize she did let me take a few shots while we were waiting for the boat. oh, i forgot to mention that during the lunch my grandmother flipped off one of my relatives, i don't remember over what. damn that my camera wasn't ready! later she apparently did the same as we were waiting for the boat and my cousin begged my grandmother to do it again so she could take a picture. i think it was after that that my grandmother didn't want any pictures of her taken.

portsmouth sunset cruise

during the cruise, i noticed aunt #2 take a picture with her cellphone and send it to her kids. i decided to do the same. that's when i noticed i had a missed call from a private number and a voicemail. i listened to the voicemail in horror. it was a wrong number but due to the message, i was afraid. i should give this message to the police, but which police? it was a private number. there is no indication in the message of the location of the person who left the message. the message was of a drug deal gone bad, something like that. the man said he went and there were narcs all over the place and it's done, he's threw, don't call his cell, and he'll contact in another way. it's scary to hear such a voicemail 'cos i don't want the police thinking i had anything to do with it but it'll make a great sample!

after the cruise, we all went to dinner at applebee's. i didn't think there was anything i could eat, but i veganized the vegetarian pizza appetizer. the waitresses suggested instead of just removing the creamy spinach and artichoke dip they use as a base, that they have marinara sauce for a kid's menu item. she also asked if i wanted any extra vegetables, such as broccoli. i said yes. damn that was a good pizza! that broccoli tasted so good. it was on a tortilla or lavosh type flat bread base instead of a dough base. everyone seemed to be in a good mood after the cruise and dinner. tomorrow is the funeral.

summary for today: let's see. some racial incident always happens when i am on the east coast time zone. i was waiting for this trip's incident. it came when my grandmother said it's nice to be where people speak english because where she lives there are so many japanese and mexicans. i can't remember her exact words but damn grandma, can you word that a bit differently in my presence? sheesh!