OTTO Update
Otto went for his first official grooming today at Petco. It's strange...we've only had him for two-and-a-half months?! He's almost 50 pounds now. A few pics and a video below:
We had to load him up in the back of my dad's pick-up truck, in a dog cage we bought a few weeks back. Whenever we start driving, he gets really scared and gets as close to the ground as he can. I think these trips on the truck might be adding to his fear/anger/fascination towards cars (see video below)
Otto at 4 months old
Otto at 1.5 months old.
Stupid video I took of Otto when we went out for a walk today. This is only the third time he's been out for a walk. He still doesn't understand what cars are, so he either 1. Barks furiously, 2. Stares them down, or 3. Runs away in fear and hides behind one of us.
Fundraising Dinner for the Cambodian Nutritional Services Program
Friday night was also the annual fundraiser dinner for the Cambodian Nutritional Services Program, hosted by API Older Adults Task Force. APALC was generous enough to send my coworker Sophaleena and myself to the dinner, since both of us work with the Cambodian community as representatives of APALC.
The dinner was a bit mind-blowing, for several reasons.
1. The food was delicious. I have only had Cambodian food maybe...3 times in my life, and I think this time was tops. I'm not even going to try and describe the food (won't do it justice) but I'll just say this: it was a lot of really good seafood. *Looking at this picture, I realize now I should take pictures BEFORE eating.
2. Traditional dances were performed by some of the seniors who are in the Nutritional Services Program. There was a lot of teasing by the people in the audience about how young the women were, and asking where the seniors went. It was cute.
3. So I had been told it was going to be a night of traditional Cambodian performances. The program agenda confirmed that. But then for the second round, the group of seniors danced to Achy Breaky Heart. It was defn not traditional dance, but it was damn entertaining. I know, I know...I'm encouraging old people to shake their fannies.
4. So after the program was over, the dance floor lit up and EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHERS (literally) went to the dance floor and got boogy-ing. Some of these folks (like the two pictured above) DEFINITELY took lessons before.
Thursday and Friday at the Advancing Justice Conference
Spent Thursday and Friday at the Advancing Justice Conference, hosted by APALC (the org I work for). It was a packed house of activists from across the country, from Washington DC to Biloxi, Mississippi (Trinh and her friends from the South came!) As with most events, I was given the opportunity to be the camera person. I know I haven't been getting all that better with my camera shooting, but it's sure fun to gain more experience with this digital slr camera.
This is the first year this national conference has been held, and it all came from this guy, Stewart Kwoh. He's the executive director of APALC and has done so much for the community. He inspires me to continue to kick ass for the community. *I don't know why I like his pose in this picture.
My brothas and sistas from the PI community brought their voices in full force for the PI workshop. Even though it was put together kind of last minute, they pulled through and gave a presentation that really made the Asians in the room think twice about what it means to say ASIAN and PACIFIC ISLANDER. *In this pic is Joe Fa'avae talking about PI poverty levels.
I think the theme of the workshops was: BIG NAME PEOPLE FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY SPEAKING TO AND WITH YOU.
In addition to the workshops, I noticed a lot of networking. As much as people may hate networking, it is possible that one of the connections made at this conference could lead to something much, much bigger for our communities.
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More pictures from the conference here
Lookin' forward to the next conference, which will be in DC.
A bit proud
Had a legislative visit today with a CA congresswoman to discuss health care reform. I got the Chief of Staff for the Congresswoman to raise his eyebrows and say "Wow" when I started talking about Asians and Hep B.
Dope 
*1 in 10 Asians have Hep B. Yeah, recognize the disparity!
Open
Even if one is not an actual immigrant or expatriate, it is still possible to think as one, to imagine and investigate in spite of barriers, and always to move away from the centralizing authorities towards the margins, where you see things that are usually lost on minds that have never traveled beyond the conventional and comfortable.
- Edward Said, Palestinian-American literary scholar and activist (1935-2003)
Read this quote off the Sojourners email this morning. How awesome would our world be if this was etched in to everyone's minds? Educating more people and opening their eyes to the thoughts behind this quote are good goals to strive for.
BOO!
Happy Halloween season folks! The pumpkin says BOO!, not BOI! as it looks like in this picture (bad camera angle)
*I was taking a look at old pictures, to see what I dressed up as for Halloween as a kid. Wow...maybe I'll show folks if we barter for it.
Lost Moments
I don't want to be the husband or the dad who was too busy for his family.
*version 2 of this pic
Hm
Went to church this morning and there was a visiting pastor from China who gave a sermon. At one point in his message, he was talking about an experience he had while in Beijing. A woman, who was telling the pastor and a few others about how miserable her life was and how much hatred she harbored towards her mother (who had abandoned her in the midst of the Tiananmen Square Massacre) suddenly started yelling, rolling on the floor, and then foaming at the mouth. When this happened, the pastor started praying with his group, because he felt that she was being controlled by a demon. After much praying, her face suddenly changed and she was a different person. Happier.
I don't know if I buy it, especially after hearing from my coworker Connie that a mentally-ill Korean girl was killed because they were trying to exorcise a demon from her rather than find her proper treatment. If someone started yelling and foaming at the mouth, would you really just start praying?
I've been conflicted on this idea of demons. If the devil really wanted people to falter, you'd think he'd give us less to work with than demons. The presence of demons would do more to convince people to BE christians. I think the true demon among us is complacency. If we think our lives are fine, and there's no need to challenge ourselves and grow, that's much worse.