All posts by Dean

Locked Out

Journal

There’s no worse feeling that the blood-curdling realization that you’ve locked yourself out of your own apartment or car. This has embarrassingly happened to me a few times in the past year. This post is a chronicle of my stupidity.

Scenario 1: It’s a cold January day. The keys are sitting in ignition and the car’s started up to warm up the interior/ defrost the windows. I close the driver’s side door, scurrying off to clean off all the snow and ice that accumulated overnight. I attempt to re-enter the car. DAMMIT. The doors are all locked.

  • Solution: Borrow Dave’s car to drive to my parents house in Lincolnwood and pick up the spare key. I left my car running for about 30 minutes in total.
  • Lesson learned: Irrationally roll a window down or leave door open while brushing off car. Or just clean off the car without idling the car (which is supposed to be bad for it, anyways).

Scenario 2: Lauren and I decide to stay in, watch a movie, and order some take-out Chinese food. We drive over and pick up said Chinese food. We get back to my apartment. DAMMIT. I left my house keys in my other coat pocket.

  • Solution 1: Call landlord. She left the building 30 minutes ago.
  • Solution 2: Call Dave. He’s in Pilsen. Pick up drunk Dave from Lagunitas Brewing company.
  • Lesson Learned: Have only one coat for all seasons.

Scenario 3: I’m working a half-day. I wake up, throw on some pants, and head out for work. I work for a few hours and come back home in the early afternoon. DAMMIT. I left my house keys on my dresser-drawer.

  • Solution: Call landlord. She opens the door for me! And having been called upon to open her tenant’s door twice, she gives me the best advice: Don’t forget your keys!
  • Lesson Learned: Maybe I should get a spare key and hide it in a rock.

Scenario 4: I don’t remember where I was, but I remember feeling my back pocket and realizing I didn’t have my house keys on me. DAMMIT. I’m the worst.

  • Solution: Luckily Dave was home when I got back to the apartment and he buzzed me in.
  • Lesson Learned: Never let Dave leave the apartment.

And here’s the latest boneheaded move by me, this past weekend.

Scenario 5: After going to church with Lauren, I head over to Costco to get some super cheap gas, get my bulk quantity shoppang on, and maybe get a hot dog or sandwich for lunch. Many cars are lining up for extremely cheap gas, so I have to wait 10 minutes to self-serve my car up some $2 regular-unleaded. Costco is packed with Sunday grocery shoppers and the lines for the cash registers look like hell on earth. I’m hungry now. All I want is to get rung up and to get a sandwich from the Costco food court shortly thereafter.  The line for the food court looks to be another 10 minute wait. “Screw it, I’ll just eat at home,” I think to myself. “Oh, and I think I’ve got a stick of string cheese in my car’s trunk!” I exit Costco and throw my groceries in the trunk. I reach for the string cheese, close the trunk, and put away my shopping cart. I reach for the car keys in pocket and my eyes open wide. Wait. I frantically start searching around my car and in my now empty cart for my car keys.“Did I drop my keys in the trunk while I was getting that string cheese?”  DAMMIT. I’m stuck at Costco.

  • Solution 1: Call home/mom’s cell phone to see if she can drive over and bring my spare key. She doesn’t answer.
  • Solution 2: Call Lauren to come pick me up. I go back to the food court and wait in line to woof down a sandwich to ease the hunger pangs. Lauren arrives and we drive to my parents place. Pick up the spare. Drive back to Costco. Retrieve dropped keys from trunk.
  • Lesson Learned: Never leave string cheese in my trunk ever again.

Normally, I am very meticulous when it comes to checking if I have everything (wallet, keys, phone) as I’m about to leave. Really. I’m only a dummy sometimes.

keys
My keys. Bottlehook keeps house keys on jeans (and opens beer bottles).
Bears lanyard helps keep car keys visible. Like the football team, sometimes it doesn’t do a good job.

2014 In Review

Administrivia, Journal

It’s been exactly one year since I’ve updated this page, and looking back on my 2014, I’m happy to say that I lived it as best I could. January was a minefield of emotions between getting dumped after New Years, losing my closest grandmother, then losing another grandmother, and getting my first traffic ticket (which isn’t really a big deal — but coming from someone who never got a detention in grade/high school, it kind of is a big deal). All combined it was a pretty rough month — one that left me continuously reminding myself that my life had nowhere else to go but up, from there.

And it did! In February I met Lauren. Lauren, my girlfriend, who I am so giddily in love with almost a year later. It’s funny how quickly the time flies by when you’ve got someone so wonderful to share it with. For me, it’s all been a whirlwind of nerdery, laughs, and just being weird around each other. Sometimes I’ll forget about places we’ve been and things we’ve done together. But, seemingly she remembers each and every detail down to what clothes we were wearing. And I’ve always prided myself in having a pretty excellent memory. A handful of times, I’ve asked Dave, my roommate, what we did Friday night the week before. Or, say, what we did on St. Patricks Day the year before. He’ll usually not remember and shrug it off. I’ll think about it and quickly piece it back together with my darn good associative memory. But not so with dates with Lauren. I guess the thing I remember the most is just being pretty happy.

Amongst all the other particulars of 2014, life was quite alright. Work was stressful most of the time and I’ve survived a few layoff scares. I did receive a promotion to Senior Test Engineer, which I am pretty proud of. I’m young and performing well, so I’m not too scared about job security at the moment. Hopefully things will improve with my career in 2015, and maybe even the commute will be nicer! My 2001 Nissan Altima is holding up all right, despite me rear-ending someone like an idiot one hum drum workday morning a few months ago. I sometimes daydream about buying a nice, tall AWD SUV through the harsh Chicago snow drifts, and realistically it will probably happen later this year or next. (Probably a Mazda CX-5. But not a Honda CR-V. That new design is butt-ugly). I’ve also been spending a lot of time making my apartment feel like home. And I’m pretty content with all the crap I’ve got in it right now. Moving will be a bitch (whenever that day comes) so hopefully Dave and I will just be renewing our lease this year.

So yeah, 2014 was nice. 2015, here I come. I’ve got a lot of stuff I want to tackle in 2015, probably enough for another post. I’ll try to post more often now, and they probably will not all be this long and I will still feature my photography heavily (I NEED TO SHOOT MORE). But with regards to this site… In the past, I’ve run this blog with the perspective that I don’t want people who read it to get too much insight into my life. In fact, for the most part, I was content in just posting photos of things I saw and found interesting, times I’ve spent with friends, and places I’ve gone — with no comment from me at all. I think I’ll be changing that from here on out. The thing is, the internet is a scary place and putting yourself out there, removing all sense of anonymity and mysteriousness, is pretty daunting. But I think this tone, with more internal insight from me, is a little bit nicer. It’s freeing, if anything. And I don’t mind if anyone reads it. Even you, mom (assuming you’ll ever check your Facebook, and can figure out how to get to my profile, and will somehow miraculously click on the link I will post).

images
Oh yeah, inline sarcastic picture commentary.

Lola Adang In Memoriam

Family

Some time ago, one of my friends asked me if I remember what my earliest memory was. After Lola passed away last week, I remembered this question and the answer I gave to my friend:

In 1990, our family drove down to Orlando for vacation when I was three years old. When we went to the Universal Studios amusement park, Chee and Ian were able to ride the E.T. ride with my mom and dad, but I was not allowed to because I was too little. So, while the rest of my family waited in line for the ride, Lola and I stayed behind. Well, I fell asleep and had a nightmare that E.T. kidnapped my family. I remember being upset and distraught. I remember being afraid that E.T. had stolen my family away from me. But what I remember most is that Lola was there when I woke up crying, and she was there to comfort me.

Looking back, Lola is present in most of these early memories. Here’s a list:

  • I remember being 2 or 3 years old, potty training, and yelling for Lola to come to the bathroom to wipe my butt.
  • I remember Lola teaching me to sing “I have two hands.”
  • I remember crying because of Kuya teasing me, and Lola saying her “Why are you crying, kitten?” mantra.
  • I remember Lola singing about the bahay kubo.
  • I remember playing video games and watching TV during the summer, while Lola ironed my clothes and watched an American soap opera in another room. She knew all the character names and some of the plot lines.
  • I remember Lola getting out her sewing equipment from a big old re-pourposed cookie tin.
  • I remember getting off the school bus in grade school and Lola always waiting at the door when I got home.
  • I remember coming home after school and eating Lola’s spaghetti with pinapple and hot dogs in it. I always ate a full bowl.
  • I remember giving Lola her eye drops after her surgery and getting a warm towel ready for her eyes.
  • I remember when Lola broke her leg, and I signed her cast.
  • I remember all of Lola’s filipino home cooking. It was the best. She always made egg rolls for when I had functions at school. That I will never get to taste her pancit, sinigang, kare-kare,  diniguan, puto, and all the rest – that makes my stomach very sad.
  • I remember Lola putting on her powder (pulbos) before we went out
  • I remember Lola always leading rosary prayers in Tagalog at family parties.
  • I remember getting out of church during the Chicago winters and Lola singing her “Ma-la-mig!” song while we helped walk her to the car.
  • I remember Lola applying for her citizenship and being extremely proud when she passed the test.
  • And I remember Lola walking up two flights of stairs to go to sleep on her fold-out bed in her and Sheila’s room.

When I was very little, growing up, Lola was not just my caretaker and grandma, but also my best friend. I miss you so much Lola and I know that you are in a better place right now.