11:14p

we are family
i think I might be coming down with something...my throat felt a little scratchy earlier and i was sort of getting the chills.
'went to tita's Wake service. wow, sooo many people showed up.
I really didn't expect it.
All of my boyfriend's family came out of the woodworks for sure!
I swear, it was like sensory overload..."oh look, there's tita___, and over there is tito__"
SO MANY FAMILY MEMBERS THERE!!
It was great.

I thought a lot about that....about the connections we've made with people
throughout our lives.
We've been pretty lucky to have so many different groups of "family".

Growing up, my "family" became my mom's co-workers at City Hall in SFO.
All of us kids referred to eachother as "cousins".
Most of my blood-relatives are in the PI's, so the only family I really had here in the states
was my extended family from City Hall.
We call ourselves CHP (City Hall Posse). hehehe...

I feel lucky to have experienced that.
Having an unorthodox family make-up really drove home the
true definition of "family".
And honestly, being able to forge so many different connections with people
has made this world, at least for me, so much smaller.

Perhaps my friend was right. Part of creating a revolution does have to do with building relationships.

x-mas already!
before typing up this blog, I tried to shop on-line for my family's x-mas gifts.
since i'm pretty good at bargain shopping, i dunno if this on-line thing will work for me.
I think I do much better when I actually go to the store to purchase stuff.

since my boyfriend and I are spending a lot of money for our Vegas trip and
we may take a trip to Whistler Canada for his 30th b-day, we both agreed
that we wouldn't buy eachother anything.
We're just going to cook a nice meal together.

so that leaves me with my bother, mom and dad.
still....they aren't the easiest to shop for.
especially my mom and dad.
I think I already have an idea for my dad and brother, though.
Actually, I think i have an idea for gifts for all of them.
My goal is to complete all of my x-mas shopping before Thursday, Thanksgiving.
There's really no need to create any more stress than necessary.

anyhow, better get to bed so I can get as much rest as possible.