Hosive

so i asked our friend leo chen one day, if his name is short for anything or is it just leo? he said….just leo. it got me thinking where that name came from. then we just started making up origins of the name. and started calling him permutations of leo.

so for one year, i’ll present one a week until we’ve exhausted the possibilities. we are in the second half! we are close to having enough for the year but you can still help if you’d like. get your suggestions in before the doors are closed!

this week…..i will call my friend leo, galileo.

look at what i’ve called my friend leo so far

leonardo

leopold

for christmas, noel

leotard

leopatra

leoben(for bsg)

leometro

bibliotecha

fileo fish

leodis

leodore

leonazi

leopard

diosleos!

le occitane

speleology

leo and behold

leona helmsley

leogeo

leolithic

hustle and fleo

leonidas

los angeleos

liopleurodon

l-eon flux

the kings of leon

chameleon

jaleo

i blog primarily to document my life. our lives in and around the agapeshack.

we’ve been painting the wrong picture for you…..we don’t eat out all the time…we actually cook a lot. especially after theresa finished classes at the french culinary institute. so as we transition into our baby days and eating out less….here are some of the everyday things we eat…because we cook them on a regular basis.

raising up zoe pax has been a family affair. theresa and i are busy enough feeding, changing, burping, holding z that we have little time to think of food let alone planning to have good grub for ourselves. luckily we roll with a large entourage. here theresa’s mom and grandma are bbq’ing some pork belly aka meaty bacon. they have also cooked some clear noodles with beef with the usual roster of small korean appetizers.

my mom is also here putting the touches on 2 chinese chickens along with soup.

we are not just eating…we are feasting on a regular basis because our family is around and involved. plenty of leftovers deep into the week.

enough even for visitors! ricky and annie brought drinks to add to our banquet. they were thinking of bring over shake shack but i discouraged them because of the bounty we have….and encouraged them to come over as quickly as they could because the food was getting cold!

then again….it might be only a village of women at work. the men got to play with and stare at zoe while the ladies worked. they did help eat.

no restaurants for awhile during theresa’s healing….but we’re not missing much.

my friend jon moy tagged me on this…but i was unsure of the rules except what was in the title. he wanted to do a version of the random 25 that was not as pretentious. in my continuing efforts to descend the ivory tower that seems to be my lot in life, i did this too. i promised to periodically post videos of the songs i picked as a public service to people who want to hear the soundtrack in my head. today’s track as done by u2 on the eve of the european leg of their tour.

these are songs that i chose for a mix of reasons….some define me…some played crucial roles at turning points in my life…some continue to shape me….some i can listen to over and over…some i would jump to hear live…and many if not most, encompass all these reasons.

here’s the complete list:

U2 bad
U2 all I want is you
U2 stay
Radiohead let down
Rolling stones under my thumb
Beatles in my life
Arcade fire wake up
Killers all these things that I’ve done
Stone temple pilots plush
Frank Sinatra new york, new york

speaking of the impending tour…..there are only 2 or 3 days left(depending on how you count)until the tour begins. u2.com has been posting countdown videos…here’s one of them:

a strangely timely comedy for me and theresa:  a couple goes on a road trip to see where they may live and what experiences they want for their child to come. in our postmodern atmosphere where we’ve rejected the standard and traditional answers, we have to find our own answers. in their early 30′s, the couple is nervous that they have none or even worse….they have chosen the wrong answers.

the movie has been criticized for having a self righteous tone. the roadtripping parents are clever, well adjusted and loving while almost everyone else they meet are wackos. they are right and everyone else is wrong. but i think that’s how most people come to evaluate life….the movie is simply honest about the fact that we do go around thinking that we are the norm+ and other people are(slightly)inferior. we are a prideful species. and a judgemental one. but i also happen to think that the leads are the sanest of the roster of parents we meet! its not unusual that the main characters are also the heroes.

you may also be surprised to hear that this is a sam mendes effort but it is nowhere as dark and depressing as american beauty or revolutionary road. it really is a comedy!

i love road trip movies with different locales and interplay with cultures and perspectives even though many of the places they said to have visited could have easily been filmed in the same town….were they?

i would watch this again to revisit the different episodes in each city they visit. some of them were laugh out loud in the theatre funny with many charming turns. i may buy this if the price is right. theresa will like this when she gets around to it.

arms up……..

….arms up!

arm across the body, both arms in the same direction…..

….arm across the body, both arms in the same direction!

a little mirror image but common formations on the same nights/early morns.

yup….she’s her baby.

i’ve been pausing and blogging about child slavery as i have been meditating on the birth of my daughter, zoe and the world that i am bringing her into.

in my faith, we give thanksgiving offerings as a sign of gratitude for such gifts of life and joy. such grace. i’ve decided to give to speak up, an international human rights organization committed to the eradication of modern slavery and human trafficking. this is a gift for a better world for my girl…and a lot of other baby girls.

Speak Up asked my friend jonathan wu to film and create videos to help promote their ongoing efforts in Bangkok. these are a few of them….

if you are interested in joining me in giving…..

1) Send checks payable to SPEAK UP

Speak Up
PO Box 5595
Pasadena, CA 91117

2) If you’re on Facebook, go to http://apps.facebook.com/causes/252674 and donate through
Speak Up’s Causes page. Again, by April 14th if possible.

Speak Up is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, making your donation tax-deductible.

i am interested in matching your donation to double your giving power. please touch bases with me on that.

in this segment, i’ll detail my amore for the art and medium of comics. the title comes from a comic shop i frequented as a kid and a nod to my boy q and his blog.

my mom let me read anything and everything when i was a kid. and with nearly weekly visits to forbidden planet on the weekends, i picked up all sorts of titles that became my “friends” during the summers; part of the comic reader childhood experience where imagination, superheroes and pulp literature intersected with long evenings during june, july and august.

many of the comics from my youth were thrown out or lost along the way. close to 10 years ago, i came across a comic liquidation…and they were selling two of my most beloved titles. arak, son of thunder…a conan the barbarian fantasy series that was way too adult and should have been way intense for me as a 10 year old but ok’d by my mom with her limited english skills; and mazing man…a quirky comic about a delusional wanna be super hero living in queens. i also unearthed and picked up another fantasy series called amethyst that i had minimal exposure but always wanted to try.

they had the entire runs of each of these comics including the specials, mini-series and annuals.  my scholar training from my master’s days always encouraged me to buy books even if i did not get to them right away because one day i might. i doubt my profs thought i would apply this principle to comics but i bought them all with that hope.

during my paternity leave, i’ve had time to dig up these comics, bag and board them and prepare them to be read. the first few weeks of baby life is close to the rhythms of war…long periods of waiting(or napping)and then brief moments of intense action. during my waiting times, i’ve decided to restore these comics to their current state. i’ll report on the actual content in the future. excited to be reunited with friends from nearly 30 years ago???

so i asked our friend leo chen one day, if his name is short for anything or is it just leo? he said….just leo. it got me thinking where that name came from. then we just started making up origins of the name. and started calling him permutations of leo.

so for one year, i’ll present one a week until we’ve exhausted the possibilities. we are in the second half! we are close to having enough for the year but you can still help if you’d like. get your suggestions in before the doors are closed!

this week…..i will call my friend leo, jaleo. with our hearts thinking of md/dc…this is a dc spanish tapas place.

look at what i’ve called my friend leo so far

leonardo

leopold

for christmas, noel

leotard

leopatra

leoben(for bsg)

leometro

bibliotecha

fileo fish

leodis

leodore

leonazi

leopard

diosleos!

le occitane

speleology

leo and behold

leona helmsley

leogeo

leolithic

hustle and fleo

leonidas

los angeleos

liopleurodon

l-eon flux

the kings of leon

chameleon

i blog primarily to document my life. our lives in and around the agapeshack.

we’ve been painting the wrong picture for you…..we don’t eat out all the time…we actually cook a lot. especially after theresa finished classes at the french culinary institute. so as we transition into our baby days and eating out less….here are some of the everyday things we eat…because we cook them on a regular basis.

we throw dinner parties quite a bit with friends….especially when there are visitors from out of town…..the s-o-d-a, the lambic framboise and the wine are flowing…..

and the legendary cajun roast is in the oven….marinated for a few days and then slow cooked for a few hours until a juicy medium…with many parts medium rare. those who like it cooked more, can nuke it or feast on the burnt ends.

but theresa calls this perfect…..

most agreed with theresa but as you can see, val who is allergic to the cow…well, we got her some latin chicken from around the corner.

get yourself invited!

strangely, though we say that giving gifts is not a primary love language for either of us….and we say we don’t want to receive gifts and promise not to give gifts for holidays and anniversaries or birthdays, we almost always give each other something. maybe its more that we don’t want the other person to get us monumental expensive gifts. little gifts….small winks and reminder type gifts seem to be our style.

technically, theresa did not get her first mother’s day since zoe was not born yet. but i got her something anyway. something mama related and something she would enjoy playing…the new entry in the nintendo mama gaming empire. she loves her ds…the best gift i’ve ever gotten for her, years ago.

she got me a literal token gift…..token cuff links. we don’t use the metal coins anymore in the city with our metrocard system in place so these are prety nostalgic for me from when i used them as a kid.